A Little Help for His Friends
For a politician as wealthy as Nelson Rockefeller, money can be a curse as well as a blessing. His millions have convinced some people that because he has everything, he is incorruptible; but those same millions inevitably arouse suspicion among other people that he may be buying political support or unduly influencing public policy for his family's benefit. There is no evidence that the vast Rockefeller family fortune has been so used; nor is Rocky's confirmation as Vice President yet in serious trouble. Nevertheless, the normally chipper and confident Rockefeller was embarrassed and distressed when news of his lavish gifts to a variety of people leaked out last week.
Several gifts seemed wholly innocent acts of compassion, such as covering medical expenses or easing the financial problems of retiring aides. At least one gift came perilously close to violating New York State's conflict-of-interest laws, however, and others raised questions of propriety. Hugh Morrow, Rockefeller's chief press spokesman for 15 years, said that most of the gifts went to longtime employees. "Many of these friends have been in public service where the pay is not always commensurate with what these people could earn elsewhere," said Morrow. A Senate aide described the practice more picturesquely: "It's like the old lords of the manor giving Christmas purses to the retainers." The circumstances surrounding Rocky's gifts varied widely:
HENRY KISSINGER, $50,000. While a member of the Harvard faculty, Kissinger worked for Rockefeller and advised him on world and national issues for 13 years. On Jan. 17,1969, as Kissinger was about to become President Nixon's top national security adviser, Rockefeller told him in a letter that he was arranging a $50,000 gift "as a token of my friendship and my appreciation for the work you have done in service to the people of this country. It comes from Happy and me, with our warmest best wishes." Kissinger consulted White
House attorneys, who made no objection to his accepting the money, then put the funds into a trust account for his two children. Rockefeller paid a gift tax on the money;— Kissinger paid a tax on the trust. Still, North Carolina's Republican Senator Jesse Helms complained in the Senate: "Even if it is legal, there is a question of whether or not it is proper to induce a sense of substantial obligation in a man who is about to become a senior public official."
WILLIAM J. RONAN, $625,000.
While serving in high transportation posts during Rockefeller's 14-year governorship, Ronan borrowed heavily from his boss. Neither Rockefeller nor Ronan would detail the purposes of the loans and gifts further than vaguely citing real estate purchases and financial responsibilities. Ronan in 1968 became the $75,000-a-year chairman of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which owns and operates the New York City area public transit system. He quit last May when Rocky was no longer Governor. Apparently in the few days before Ronan was appointed by the Governors of New York and New Jersey as the unsalaried head of the Port Authority of those two states, Rockefeller canceled the Ronan loans, which then totaled $510,000, and paid a gift tax of $331,000 on this debt cancellation.