WXPost sEp 1 2 1913 The Washington Merry-Go-Round THE WASHINGTON POST Wednesday, Sept. 1973 B9 Agnew Lent Support to Friend's Firm By Jack Anderson tacted you on behalf of gaps, eral agency on behalf of a for- weapons systems, including Inc., a Baltimore firm, which mer crony, the RLA said, "We "heat-seeking" missiles, dan- Vice President Spiro Agnew had expressed an interest in treated it like any other com- gerous. The missiles, they fear, has twice pressured a small doing topographic mapping for munication about a constitu- might even zero in on an oil rig, federal agency to give hand- your agency." some no-bid contracts to a ent" destroying the rig and its work- The vice presidential mes- At Agnew's office, Sohmer ers. Maryland company run by an sage went on to praise Maps, refused to speak to us, but a old friend and political cam- Inc. at some length, then added spokesman said, "We regard The Pentagon has a $1.5 bil- paign contributor. pointedly: "Any consideration this very much in the nature of lion investment in the five Flo- The lucky company was Maps, that you might be able to give a routine referral. No pressure rida bases. A classified con- Inc., of Baltimore, which does to .their interest would be ap- at all was intended." In fact, gressional report bottled up in aerial photography and related the House Appropriations Com- preciated by this office." such referrals are "routine" mapping. Until his death in On Sept. 24, exactly a month only from Congressmen. When mittee indicates that the bases January, 1971, its president was after the Agnew letter, Maps, they come from the White and their 50,000 civilian and Thomas Collins, who had been Inc. got a $158,600 contract from House or vice president, they military employees might have a member of the Baltimore RLA. Once again, a competing have the earmarks of direct or- to be moved at a staggering cost County Personnel and Salary firm told RLA it had been un- ders. to the taxpayers of $3.4 billion. Board while Agnew was the fairly treated. Footnote: Neither the FBI Secret meetings betweed county's chief executive. In Dundalk, Md. the Bahl- nor the Justice Department has Pentagon and Interior officials A few months after Agnew be- more suburb where Maps, Inc., contacted RLA or Maps, Inc., in have failed to reach an accom- came vice president, Collins is located, Mrs. Collins, who connection with the federal modation on auctioning lands began to seek a $121,900 air briefly succeeded her husband probe into possible kickbacks to the oil companies. A session map contract with the Redevel- as president, explained: "The given to Agnew and other Mary- last month between Interior opment Land Agency, a hous- Agnews were our friends. Tom land political figures. Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton ing and planning agency in and Ted knew each other well. Oil and Secrets—Efforts by and Deputy Defense Secretary Washington. Aware of his old So did Judy (Agnew's wife) and the White House to ease the William P. Clements Jr. ended friend's new power in Washing- I. They lived about a mile from energy crisis with off-shore oil in polite disagreement ton, Collins called Agnew. • us." and gas drilling have run Besides the military's objeer Agnew had an aide call RLA, She insisted that to the best smack into the Pentagon's se- tions, the Interior Departments and the agency awarded the of her knowledge her late hus- cret installations in the Gulf of has to contend with the opposi. contract to Maps, Inc. One com- band's political donations to Mexico. tion of Gulf coast public offi- petitor protested loudly to RLA Agnew were in the form of Under orders from the White cials who fear a repeat of the that political pressure had fund-raising tickets and were at House, the Interior Department Santa Barbara oil spill could been exerted, but the com- most in the low hundreds. plans to lease huge new under- ruin the white beaches. plaint was ignored. At RLA, a spokesman said sea tracts to the oil companies In 1971, RLA was preparing Meanwhile, the Interior De- Maps, Inc., "did a good job on for exploration and production. partment is grumbling that if to award another mapping con- both contracts"—which our Unfortunately, the drilling po- tract, and the agency's execu- its leasing plans for the Gulf study of the files tends to con- ses a threat not only to the envi- are thwarted, they may open up tive director, Melvin Mister, got firm. The spokesman said: "It ronment, but to the Pentagon's an unusual letter from Agnew's the Atlantic seaboard to off- was a validly awarded contract choicest defense sites. shore drilling, an even hotter administrative assistant, Ar- The contacts (by Agnew's The Defense Department has thur Sohmer. political potato than the Gulf office) had no effect" As to the complained that giant station- controversy. "Two years ago," Sohmer re- propriety of a vice president us- my rigs in the Gulf would make, minded Mister, "this office con- ing his office to pressure " 1973, by UNITED Feature Sundicate, a fed- low altitude flights and tests of Inc.