- In a little-publicized, little-noticed state government
regulatory hearing in Oklahoma, Sen. Hillary Clinton, former White House
Chief of Staff Thomas F. "Mac" McLarty III, the late Commerce
Secretary Ron Brown and a convicted Clinton fund-raiser were linked by
witnesses to a scandal involving massive overcharges in natural gas prices,
money laundering and more.
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- Nolanda Butler Hill, a former business partner of Brown,
testified before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission January 31 that Hillary
Clinton, Brown and McLarty were all up to their eyeballs in a scam designed
to bilk consumers out of $35 million to $65 million in overcharges.
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- The story was first reported in a little alternative
publication called the Oklahoma Constitution.
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- It's an ugly, complicated and twisted little scandal
that may involve more than money -- as two of the principals have met untimely,
mysterious deaths.
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- Last month, the commission voted to require two Oklahoma
Natural Gas suppliers to provide records to determine if customers were
getting bilked. There is suspicion that at least one supplier, Dynamic
Energy Resources, has charged far more than market prices.
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- Dynamic Energy Resources was started by Nora and Gene
Kung Ho Lum, who had no prior experience in the oil and gas business. But
they were politically connected. The Lums, associates of John Huang and
James Riady, would later be sentenced to prison and fined for illegal campaign
contributions to President Clinton as well as tax evasion.
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- To get their feet wet in the gas business, however, the
Lums called on Stuart Price, a Democrat congressional candidate for Oklahoma's
first district and himself a Clinton fund-raiser. Price, too, was well
connected. His wife's uncle was Sen. George Mitchell, then majority leader
of the U.S. Senate. But to cover all the bases, the Lums also cut in Michael
Brown, son of the Democratic National Committee president and later Commerce
secretary, for 5 percent of the deal.
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- Helen Yee was also placed on the board. Her daughter,
Melinda Yee, was Ron Brown's personal assistant at Commerce. Yee the younger
had handled arrangements for foreign trade missions involving Democratic
Party contributors. Yee had also worked for the Lums during the 1992 presidential
campaign. The Lums' daughter, Trisha, had worked for Ron Brown at Commerce.
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- In other words, this was one real inside job. It wasn't
so much a matter of what you knew at Dynamic Energy Resources, but who
you knew.
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- On Oct. 2, 1992, Commissioner Bob Anthony announced that
he had been assisting the FBI in uncovering corruption inside the regulatory
agency. ARKLA (Arkansas Louisiana Gas Co.) lobbyist William Anderson and
Commissioner Bob Hopkins were later convicted in a bribery case. There
were allegations against other utility executives, but the Clinton Justice
Department reportedly passed on prosecution. It's little wonder why.
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- Anthony says he received covert payments from top executives
at ARKLA when it had multimillion-dollar rate cases before the commission.
The chairman of ARKLA was none other than Mac McLarty.
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- And that's where Hill's January testimony comes in.
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- "I learned several years ago, through my association
with the late Ronald H. Brown, former chairman of the Democratic National
Committee and secretary of Commerce, about the involvement of a highly
placed Clinton administration official, Mac McLarty, in what became an
egregious financial transaction centered around the supplying of gas to
ONG," she said.
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- Hill recalled a spring 1993 meeting with Brown and first
lady Hillary Clinton in which she "acknowledged his efforts toward
resolution of Mac McLarty's problem in Oklahoma." Hill said she warned
Brown off any involvement. But Brown told her "it was critically important
for him to help Mr. McLarty in any way he could, as he, Secretary Brown,
remained an outsider as regarded what he called the 'Arkansas Mafia.'"
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- Brown later died in a plane crash in Croatia. A cylindrical
hole in his head, the size of a .45-caliber round, was never explained.
No autopsy was performed.
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- Ron Miller, a principal in GAGE Corp., another utility,
began cooperating with the FBI shortly after Anthony announced his role
with the agency, vowing, according to sources, to "vigorously pursue
those who directed the conduct of Mr. Anderson." After selling his
company, Miller also helped news reporters and other government authorities
-- including investigators with the Government Reform and Oversight Committee
-- to nail the Lums.
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- Miller turned over to the FBI on Aug. 5, 1997, 165 tape-recordings
of conversations he had with the Lums and their associates. He was interviewed
by the congressional committee staff Aug. 12. On Sept. 2, the committee
subpoenaed documents from Miller concerning Brown, the Lums and Dynamic
Energy Resources.
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- Three days later, the committee deposed McLarty. He denied
knowing the Lums, and questions about ARKLA and its convicted lobbyist
were largely diverted by his attorneys. Seven days later, PBS "Frontline"
broadcast interviews with Miller and Anthony. The congressional committee
was set to begin formal proceedings Oct. 8.
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- But on Oct. 3, Miller, 58, was admitted to the hospital
with an unknown illness. He died nine days later. The cause is still unknown.
Earlier, Miller told a few people he feared for his life. In a police report
in January 1997, he identified Don Sweatman as the man who told him: "You
hadn't been shot at yet." And who is Sweatman? He was associated with
the Lums, often dropped Ron Brown's name and, according to others, sometimes
identified himself as "Bill Clinton's personal representative."
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- Miller's death is a mystery four years later. The medical
examiner's office speculated that it might be a case of the rare Adult
Respiratory Distress Syndrome. The office could identify only one other
possible case -- on June 8, 1997, Maxwell Dennis Hames, 41, died under
nearly identical circumstances, the office said.
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- Hames was a technical investigator for the Oklahoma City
Police Department who received -- sit down for this one -- special recognition
for his work on the Alfred P. Murrah bombing case.
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- Joseph Farah is editor and chief executive officer of
WorldNetDaily.com and writes a daily column.
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