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Show A The Salt Lake Tribane Saturday, April 28, 1984 Mondale to Return Funds To Delegate Committees New York Times Service LUBBOCK, Tex. Walter F. Mondale, bowing to criticisms from his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, announced Friday that he would return an estimated $300,000 in contributions, largely from organized labor, to committees supporting delegates backing his candidacy. Mondale acted two days after announcing that he would terminate all such committees but would not return the money they had raised. On Thursday he had told reporters that it was all right for the groups to keep the money. Mondale said that, because of questions raised about the finances of the delegate committees, the money the groups had spent in behalf of the Mondale candidacy would be counted toward his $20.2 million federal limit on spending in the nomination battle. The groups were set up to be independent of the Mondale campaign as it began facing a financial squeeze in January that threatened to push the campaign up to the federal spending limit in the spring, at a time of critical primaries and caucuses. Sen. Gary Hart has said the committees were aligned with the Mondale campaign and thus illegal. In Nashville, Hart said he was pleased with Mondales decision but that many questions still remained about the former vice presidents victories in some states. In Louisiana, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, also praised the decision. In his unexpected announcement Friday, Mondale said that because federal elections laws were "not d and were "ambiguous, he wanted to resolve this matter and remove any lingering doubts about the financing of his campaign. I believe that public servants, in. cluding myself, have a duty not just to avoid improprieties but to avoid the appearance of impropriety, Mondale told a news conference here after a picnic at the Lubbock Civic Center. The blurred i Mondale added, Itandards governing delegate committees lead me to direct my campaign to take additional steps. : He said his campaign would inform the Federal Election Commission that we will refund all contr- - Mondale has vowed, in the past, not to accept PAC money. Federal law bars individuals from contributing more than $1,000 to a presidential campaign, but delegate committees may have been used as a loophole by some contributors who could give $1,000 each to various committees. Mondale aides said they did not have an estimate on the total of any such contributions. On Wednesday, Mondale ordered the termination of all 127 delegate committees. This prompted Hart to say Mondale should take one simple cleansing step and return the labor money gathered by the committees. Jackson made similar comments. Mondale said his delegate committees would lose their independent status and be directly affiliated with our campaign. Action Upholds Eviction Policy - A federal WASHINGTON (AP) judge refused Friday to block U.S. marshals from carrying out a tough new eviction policy for the nations capital. Thee is absolutely no merit in this litigation, U.S. District Judge Aubrey E. Robinson Jr. said in denying the temporary restraining order sought by lawyers for 11 community action groups. Youre making a valiant effort for a worthy cause, dont misunderstand, he told the lawyers. But you are in the wrong church and cant find a pew to sit in. Robinson said he was not sure the case should come under federal jurisdiction, but rather under that of the District of Columbia Superior Court. Robinson suggested federal attorneys file a motion to have the entire case dismissed. Guidelines that went into effect on April 16 call for the serving of 60 eviction writs a day for six months to help clear up a backlog of more than 2,300 cases. Swedish Firm Fined $3.12 Million For Selling U.S. Parts to Soviets - A federal WASHINGTON (AP) judge fined a Swedish firm $3.12 mil- lion Friday for treacherous conduct in secretly selling to the Soviet Union the American technology that enabled the Soviets to use a civilian computer and radar system to track U.S. bombers. The government said in court papers that executives of the Swedish company smuggled computer parts into the Soviet Union that enabled the Soviets to upgrade the radar system and increased their ability to defend themselves against manned bombers and to coordinate air attacks on Western Europe. U.S. District Judge Gerhard Ge-se- ll accepted a plea of no contest from Datasaab Contracting A.B. but brushed aside a joint recommendation from the Justice Department and the defendant that he fix the fine at $1 million. He said he could have imposed a fine of more than $13 million but noted the cooperation extended by another Swedish company, L.M. Ericcson, after it took over Data- saab. Ericsson discovered the violation of U.S. export controls, called it to the attention of the U.S. government and agreed to stop providing spare parts and service to the Soviets, minimizing the potential damage to the United States and its NATO Joseph E. diGenova, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, described Datasaabs action as one of the most significant breaches of United States national security in the technology transfer area. The Commerce Deparment said the fine was the largest criminal penalty ever imposed for violation of the Export Administration Act. A government document submitted to the court summarized the evidence the United States would have presented had the case gone to trial. The paper said that in 1977, the Commerce Department authorized the export of parts and equipment in the radar system but imposed 10 restrictions intended to limit the systems capabilities only to track ci- vilian aircraft for air safety purposes. The government said Datasaab liknowingly violated its export cense for the export of an air traffic radar system known as TERCAS for Traffic "Terminal and Control Automated System. En-Rou- Gesell used the term treacherous conduct when discussing the governments allegations. Lawyer Edward Bennett Williams, representing Ericsson, did not contest those allegations. well-define- ibutions made to delegate committees which would not have been been acceptable if made to the campaign directly. Maxine Isaacs, Mondales press secretary in Washington, said in a telephone interview that the $300,000 estimate of what would be returned included contributions from political action committees of organized labor as well as any contributions in excess of $1,000 made by individuals. Trade Deficit Continues Record Pace WASHINGTON (AP) - For the the United t wm wmmm pw VMS 7 mmM third straight month, States broke the record for deficits in foreign trade with a new high in March of $10.3 billion, the government said Friday. The Reagan administration said there might be some improvement in the trade picture by years end, but private analysts said the new report just confirmed the widespread belief that the country is headed for its worst trading year ever. The Commerce Department said the deficit last month rose $200 million over the February record of $10.1 billion. February, which marked the first time a monthly trade deficit had broken into double digits, followed a record $9.5 billion imbalance in January. The countrys trade woes have led to demands in Congress for trade barriers to protect American indus- tries such as steel, autos and textiles against foreign competition, and trade has become an issue in the presidential campaign. In an interview this week, former Vice President Walter Mondale charged that because of the deficit the country was in full rout internationally and losing market shares that may take us years to recover, if ever." He blamed 80 percent of the trade problem on administration economic policies If deficits ran at the same pace for the rest of the year as they did from January through March, the country would suffer a $119 3 billion deficit in 1984, far surpassing last year's record $69.4 billion in red ink. All economists are predicting a deficit over $100 billion for the year and some say it could hit $120 billion. The poor trading performance is generally blamed on two factors a strong U.S. dollar which makes imports relatively cheap and US goods more expensive and a lag in recovery in other countries which has hurt U.S. markets abroad Reacting to the report. Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige focused on the improvements in exports. He said exports were growing "despite the drag of a strong dollar" because of an upturn in recovery abroad. 3U iLi itiiAKiIsI IffLvZI 4 |