The High Price of Friendship

By David Beckwith/Washington

Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Michael K. Deaver stood stiffly beside his lawyer in a federal courtroom in Washington last week, expecting the worst. His lawyers, in a long-shot gamble, had presented no evidence to counter the assertion by Independent Counsel Whitney North Seymour Jr. that Deaver had repeatedly lied under oath about his lucrative lobbying business. When the jury returned guilty verdicts on three of five counts, canny Defense Counsel Jack Miller manfully shouldered the blame: "We didn't put on a defense because we didn't think we had to. The jury verdict suggests I may have made a mistake."

Maybe not. By keeping Deaver off the witness stand, where he would have been subjected to withering cross-examination, Miller won not-guilty verdicts on two key counts. Moreover, Deaver and others are challenging the constitutionality of the 1978 law that established independent counsel. Two of Deaver's three guilty verdicts came on charges of lying to Seymour's grand jury that was investigating him for possible ethics-law violations. If the independent-counsel law is overturned, Seymour's work would be thrown out, and Deaver would be liable for retrial only on a single count of falsely testifying to a congressional committee. Given the evidence against Deaver, it was perhaps the best Miller could have done.

The seven-week trial provided a rare glimpse into the world of Washington special pleading, particularly at the Reagan White House. A top Boeing executive told the court that his company chose Deaver to lobby for a lucrative contract to build a new Air Force One because of Deaver's familiarity with the "personal tastes and preferences of the President." Deaver was paid $250,000, and Boeing eventually landed the $200 million contract.

Former White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan testified about his efforts to prevent a Korean client of Deaver's from getting a two-minute meeting with , the President. Regan said he repeatedly vetoed the trade-related meeting, only to see it reappear on Reagan's schedule. Deaver was paid $475,000 for setting up the appointment and doing a few other errands for the Koreans. Philip Morris paid Deaver $250,000 to help win access to the South Korean tobacco market; company officials acknowledged they were overjoyed when Deaver obtained an hour-long meeting with South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan in Seoul and another, five-hour session with Korea's top trade official.

Telephone logs showed that former Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole received a call from Deaver to discuss attempts by his client TWA to avoid a hostile takeover. Dole was never called to appear as a witness, but Deaver was found guilty of lying about the matter to a grand jury.

Canadian Ambassador Allan Gotlieb refused to waive diplomatic immunity to testify about a lunch he had with Deaver in January 1985 to discuss acid rain. Without evidence about the lunch, that section of the count was dismissed. The jury finally acquitted Deaver of the remaining charges involving acid rain.

Deaver faces a sentence of up to 15 years and a $22,000 fine at his sentencing Feb. 25. After the trial, Seymour blasted the climate of "too much loose money and too little concern in Washington about ethics." Lobbyists "will continue to undermine public confidence in government," said Seymour, "until lawmakers, business and community leaders and individual citizens decide to cry 'Enough!' "

The President and his wife issued a statement saying they were "sorry" about Deaver's conviction. But when Nancy Reagan was asked whether the Deavers would be invited to Christmas dinner at the White House this year as usual, her eyes widened, her features twisted into a grimace, and she answered, quietly but firmly, "No."