LOBBYING

By Adam Zagorin/Washington

When senators of both parties questioned the special access granted big Democratic Party donors by the National Security Council, NSC boss TONY LAKE pooh-poohed the charges. But last week the NSC admitted that the month beore last year's presidential election, Lake did meet with MAURICE TEMPLESMAN, the deep-pocketed Democratic donor who was the companion of JACQUELINE KENNEDY ONASSIS.

Templesman, a diamond dealer with long experience in Africa, was seeking loans from the Export-Import Bank and loan guarantees from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation for a multimillion dollar diamond deal in Angola. After the meeting, a sympathetic Lake decided to intervene: he directed an NSC staff member, with approval from legal counsel, to call Ex-Im and OPIC. The message: Templesman's venture had "merit." But TIME has obtained the text of a recent letter from Angola's ambassador in Washington that bluntly asks the U.S. to stop attempts to broker a diamond deal and, in an apparent reference to Tempelsman, criticizes similiar attempts by "private companies." The Angolan letter, as well as Administration maneuvers on behalf of Tempelsman, have raised concerns among senior G.O.P. legislators--concerns discussed with the State Department. As for Ex-Im, a spokesman says that Tempelsman did meet with a mid-level official who informed him that backing for a project in war-torn Angola would not meet the bank's standards. Tempelsman was in Angola last week, conferrring with U.S. Ambassador DONALD STEINBERG and still trying to clinch a deal. He had no comment.

--By Adam Zagorin/Washington