"I Have a Job to Do"

A "special counsel" is assigned to probe those peanut loans

Attorney General Griffin Bell had argued for months that his own people in the Justice Department could objectively investigate the loans, upwards of $4.6 million, made by Bert Lance's Atlanta bank to the Carter peanut warehouse in Plains, Ga. It was a hard argument to sustain. Not only was Bell a Democrat, of course, but he was an old friend of the Carters' and of Lance. Faced with increasing criticism, Bell last week finally decided to put the probe into other hands. His choice was highly qualified: Paul Jerome Curran, 45, who not only is a Republican but had been the U.S. Attorney in New York City.

But as it turned out, Bell's problems were far from over. Trying to resist any comparison with Watergate, Bell made Curran a "special counsel," not a "special prosecutor," the title carried by Archibald Cox and Leon Jaworski when they led the investigations that helped to bring about Richard Nixon's downfall. There was one important difference: unlike the special prosecutors, Curran would not have the power to charge anyone on his own. He would first have to get the approval of Assistant Attorney General Philip Heymann.

Bell promised that Curran would not be overruled unless "the special counsel's decisions were grossly inconsistent with well-established prosecutorial standards." The Attorney General also said that any veto by Heymann of Curran's request would be reported to Congress and the public. In those circumstances--and the certainty that Republicans would be screaming, "Cover-up!"--Heymann would have needed very strong nerves indeed to veto any request by Curran to prosecute. Said Heymann last week: "I can't imagine it."

Republicans in Congress, who had been complaining about the dawdling pace of the peanut probe all along, immediately protested Bell's action, saying that he had not gone far enough to free the special counsel from possible Justice Department interference. Republican Presidential Hopeful Robert Dole called the special counsel role "a perversion of the whole concept of an impartial investigation." Said Senate Minority Leader Howard Baker, who is also expected to declare for the presidency: "It is not proper for the Administration to be dragged kicking and screaming into this investigation."

Nor was the criticism confined to the Republicans. None other than Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd took to the floor to express keen disappointment in Bell's action. He thought that the Attorney General should have named Curran as special prosecutor, and he asked that the appointee be given "explicit protection against removal except for extraordinary improprieties."

That was enough for Bell. Two days later he called a press conference to announce that Curran would not have to get Heymann's approval if he wanted to prosecute someone. One restriction upon Curran's authority does remain. He still must get approval from Justice before asking a court to grant a witness immunity from prosecution. Bell said, correctly, that Jaworski himself had operated under a similar restriction. Bell added that Curran could be removed from office "only for extraordinary impropriety, physical disability, mental incapacity or any other condition that substantially impairs [his] performance."

The strengthening of Curran's status was greeted with applause. Said Robert McClory, senior Republican on the House Judiciary Committee: "The American people have at last been assured that the investigation of these matters will be untainted. For this, I extend my thanks to the Attorney General." Senator Dole praised Bell for acting "in the best interest of the nation and the President." He said that Bell "has apparently moved in the right direction to allay fears that justice might not be done in this case."

Curran will be able to use FBI and Justice Department personnel, and he has plans to form a small staff of his own. He has authority to pursue all questions about the peanut loans. At one point, the company was $500,000 behind in its payments. Implicit in the investigation is the question of whether any of the loan money was illegally used in Carter's campaign in 1976. The investigation will certainly entail a detailed look at the tangled affairs of Billy Carter, who operated the family business while his brother was running for the White House.

Curran will not be joining the main Justice Department investigation of possible violations of the banking laws by Lance. Now 18 months old, this probe reportedly is ready to produce indictments against the man that Carter made director of the Office of Management and Budget. However, Curran will be able to investigate Lance's role in the peanut loans.

In the end, the powers granted Paul Curran will be less important than how aggressively he attacks his job. Those who know him well in New York back him strongly. Says Robert Morgenthau, Manhattan's Democratic district attorney: "There won't be any cover-up with Paul running the investigation." Michael Armstrong, counsel to the Knapp Commission, which investigated New York City police corruption, says, "Curran's tough enough to indict when he should and tough enough not to indict when he shouldn't."

A jaunty and burly Irish-Catholic father of seven, Curran was U.S. Attorney in New York from 1973 to 1975. During his term, he convicted Mafioso Carmine ("Mr. Gribbs") Tramunti for trafficking in narcotics, and helped send Bernard Bergman to jail for operating a chain of nursing homes that were defrauding the Government. From 1968 to 1973, Curran was a member of the New York State commission of investigation, working on cases involving the awards of sweetheart contracts, pornography in Times Square and real estate tax swindles.

Curran is confident about his new position and claims to be undaunted by the possibility that his probe could involve the President of the U.S. Says he: "I have the tools to do the job. I will talk to anybody and everybody I have to. I will pursue this investigation wherever the facts lead."

With skepticism still running high about the Carter warehouse probe, Curran will be watched closely, a fact that he knows full well. Says he: "I have a job to do regardless of the public's attitudes. The people can judge later whether I've done it or not."

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