TRIALS: Four Words

At the Senate confirmation hearings for Attorney General Richard Kleindienst on April 19, 1972, California’s Lieutenant Governor Ed Reinecke was asked if it was correct that he had had “no conversation” with anyone in the Justice Department about the fact that “the ITT people had promised to do certain things in San Diego” before the settlement of a federal antitrust suit against ITT. Replied Reinecke: “That is quite true.” For those four words, Reinecke, 50, was convicted of perjury last week by a federal jury in Washington, D.C.

Reinecke admitted to the Senators that he and then Attorney General John Mitchell had discussed ITT’s pledge of up to $400,000 to support the 1972 Republican Convention then scheduled for San Diego. But, he said, this discussion took place only after the antitrust suit was settled in July 1971. In the course of his two-week perjury trial, Reinecke was forced to admit that he had mentioned the ITT offer to Mitchell a full two months before the settlement.

Reinecke’s lawyer, James E. Cox, acknowledged that his client was “a big dummy” who may have made a “mistake” under oath. Assistant Special Prosecutor Richard J. Davis used a harsher term. Said he: “Reinecke deliberately lied for one reason—to protect the still very powerful John Mitchell, a man who could help him become Governor.” Reinecke, who will appeal the verdict, faces a maximum term of five years and a fine of $2,000.