PORT OF NEW YORK AUTHORITY THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1960 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE No. 5 OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, New York, NY. The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, at 9:30 a.m. in courtroom 705, U.S. courthouse, Foley Square, New York City, Hon. Emanuel Celler (chairman) presiding. Present: Representatives Celler, Rodino, Holtzman, Toll, McCulloch, and Meader. Also present: Herbert N. Maletz, chief counsel; Julian H. Singman, associate chief counsel; Cyril F.Brickfield, counsel; and William H. Crabtree, associate counsel. Also present: Representative Ray. The CHAIRMAN. The meeting will come to order. On behalf of the committee, I want to make a statement. The public prints last night and this morning indicated that officials or an official of the port authority and his counsel were going to present to the constituted authorities the transcript of the record of the proceedings yesterday with a view to prosecuting Mr. Myron Rand for perjury. Those charges are utterly ridiculous and utterly unfounded. And this committee is going to send a communication to the Comptroller General of the United States testifying to the efficiency, painstaking efforts, and honesty of Mr. Myron Rand. Mr. WOLF. Mr. Chairman, when the committee adjourned last night, you requested me to sit down with Mr. Rand and go over his schedule, item by item, and compare the entries on his schedule with the supporting materials which we had furnished to the committee investigators. We have done that. And on the schedule prepared by Mr. Rand, entitled "Entertainment and Gifts Provided" The CHAIRMAN. Wait a minute. We are going to go into that, Mr. Wolf. And I can assure you every effort will be given to you along those lines. So just be patient. Mr. WOLF. Mr. Celler, may I just make a brief statement of the results of the review of this Mr. Rand and I did together. The CHAIRMAN. I was going into it more carefully. Mr. WOLF. I would just like to have a statement of our position at the outset of the hearing, because there has been some inaccuracies here which I think should be straightened out in such detail as the committee sees fit. Mr. MALETZ. Mr. Chairman, may I interject this question? First, to get the record straight, as you testified last evening, the Doyle-Olsen table is a substantially accurate reflection of your records, is that correct? Mr. WOLF. No. It is not correct. We pointed out some inaccuracies. But, Mr. Maletz The CHAIRMAN. It is a substantially correct statement, subject to the inaccuracies you are going to point out. Mr. WOLF. That we pointed out yesterday. Mr. MALETZ. The record will speak for itself on that. Mr. WOLF. Now, Mr. Chairman, I am going to the other table. Will you give me a chance to state my position, Mr. Maletz? This has been put in all the newspapers, and we should have an opportunity The CHAIRMAN. Don't start those Austin Tobin tactics. I don't want to you to do that, Mr. Wolf. Mr. WOLF. I am not, Your Honor. We went over the scheduleThe CHAIRMAN. If you make any mention of that again, you are going to get into trouble. Don't make any characterization of this committee's activities. The CHAIRMAN. Go on and carefully indicate what you want this committee to know. Mr. WOLF. I apologize to the Chair. We have reviewed, with Mr. Rand, the schedule prepared by Mr. Rand entitled "Entertainment and gifts provided Port of New York Authority employees by J. S. Frelinghuysen Corp., 1959 and part of 1960." There are on this schedule 79 items which did not appear on the Doyle-Olsen schedule reviewed yesterday. Of these 79 items, 12 are correct, and 67 are incorrect. Mr. MALETZ. Which table are you talking about? Mr. WOLF. I am talking about the table entitled "Entertainment and gifts provided Port of New York Authority officers and employees by J. S. Frelinghuysen Corp." Mr. MALETZ. What is the total amount Mr. WOLF. Mr. Maletz, may I please finish my statement? It will be very brief. I will not impose on the committee's time. Mr. MALETZ. Very well, sir. Mr. WOLF. There are 79 items which we have compared with Mr. Rand with the vouchers. There are 67 erroneous ones, and 12 correct ones. The erroneous ones include such matters as lunch with E. W. Melley, FIA. The transposition to the committee's schedules involves the elimination of the initials of FIA, and the putting of Mr. Melley's name in the list in the column entitled port authority employee who received the entertainment or gifts. There are a number of such cases. There are a number of cases where The CHAIRMAN. You said you would be very brief. Now, if you Mr. WOLF. One more sentence. The CHAIRMAN. I am afraid I will have to ask you to wait, so we can do this in an orderly fashion. Mr. WOLF. One more sentence, Mr. Chairman, and I will be finished. There are also many cases where the participants in the lunches or dinners are affirmatively identified on the invoices or expense accounts as persons who are not port authority personnel, and nevertheless they are reported as port authority personnel. The 12 items remaining, whose correctness we concede, come to 10 business lunches, 1 dinner, and 1 gift of flowers to Mr. Friedman of the PA The CHAIRMAN. I asked you to give conclusions, not testimony. Mr. WOLF. I am giving the total of the items which we agree are correct. The CHAIRMAN. What items on the other tabulation are incorrectthe ones that involve Mr. Doyle and Mr. Olsen? Mr. WOLF. Well, I can't duplicate the work we did yesterday, Mr. Chairman. We went over that item by item, you recall. The CHAIRMAN. Those are substantially correct? Mr. WOLF. Subject to the inaccuracies pointed out. The CHAIRMAN. But they are substantially correct? Mr. WOLF. I can't characterize it as substantially, Mr. Chairman. We pointed out some inaccuracies. They may be substantial and may not be. Mr. MALETZ. Mr. Chairman Mr. WOLF. Mr. Chairman, I will have an opportunity subsequently The CHAIRMAN. A little later on you will have an opportunity to go into this in detail. Counsel will now have an opportunity to question you. TESTIMONY OF MORTIMER WOLF-Resumed Mr. MALETZ. Mr. Chairman-Mr. Wolf, we are now talking about the big table. What is the total amount listed in the big table? Mr. WOLF. Well, it is totaled by Mr. Rand at the end-$4,148.71. Mr. MALETZ. What was that Mr. WOLF. Over a 20-month period. Mr. MALETZ. You claim many items are inaccurate, a total of about 66? Mr. WOLF. The items on this list, which do not appear on the other list, come to $1,765 Mr. MALETZ. $1,765? Mr. WOLF. And 54 cents. The ones that are correct Mr. MALETZ. Just a second, now. That leaves $2,383.17, is that correct? Mr. WOLF. Which is covered by the other list; yes, sir. Mr. MALETZ. Sir, do you recall that your treasurer wrote me a letter stating that, "to the best of our recollection and belief, the amounts expended by J. S. Frelinghuysen Corp. during 1958 for lunches, dinners, and meetings at which the Port of New York Authority personnel were present were approximately the same as those expended during 1959." Do you recall that letter? Mr. WOLF. Oh, yes; I wrote it. Mr. MALETZ. How much should we add now for 1958? Mr. WOLF. Well, you make the computation, Mr. Maletz. You have a 20-month period here, so you must reduce it to a year. Mr. MALETZ. All right. Let us do that right now. pretty good mathematician. You are a Mr. WOLF. I do not have a record of the items that we discussed line by line yesterday which were not accurate, and, therefore, I cannot make a deduction here. It is obvious to me Mr. Maletz. Just a second, Mr. Wolf, please. Mr. WOLF. If every item The CHAIRMAN. Just a moment, please. Mr. MALETZ. We are going to get that calculation. The CHAIRMAN. You could not make the calculation. We are going to try to make it now. Mr. MALETZ. Of course, it is clear for the record, is it not, Mr. Wolf, that the records for 1958 were destroyed? Mr. WOLF. We explained why, Mr. Maletz. Mr. MALETZ. Yes. It is still clear, is it not? Mr. WOLF. It was never denied. $1,429.89-which means that Mr. WOLF. What is that figure? Mr. MALETZ. Which means that according to your interpretation of the data, which Mr. Rand and his associate, Mr. Kasesak, do not accept, $3,803.06 was expended by the Frelinghuysen Corp., to use your language now, for lunches, dinners, and meetings at which the Port of New York Authority personnel were present. Mr. WOLF. You are asking me that as a question? Mr. MALETZ. Of course, it is correct, is it not? Mr. WOLF. Are you asking me that as a question, Mr. Maletz? Mr. WOLF. The answer is "No," it is not correct. Mr. MALETZ. What does your letter mean? You prepared the letter. The CHAIRMAN. This letter says: At your request, this will confirm that, to the best of our recollection and belief, the amounts expended by the J. S. Frelinghuysen Corp., during 1958 for lunches, dinners, and meetings at which the port authority personnel were present were approximately the same as those expended in 19.59. Mr. WOLF. Mr. Chairman-but because of the errors in these lists, we have not established what the figure is for port authority lunches. The CHAIRMAN. We have established what the figures are for 1959, subject to your corrections, which you made on the record yesterday. You simply double this amount, because the same amount was expended in 1958 as was expended in 1959. Mr. MALETZ. We took your minimum figure. Mr. WOLF. You did not, Mr. Maletz. Mr. MALETZ. I asked you how many items you challenged-and, incidentally, your objection has not been accepted by the accountants. Mr. WOLF. I understand that. Mr. MALETZ. Accepting your minimum figure, which you read to me, you said you challenged $1,765.54. Subtracting $1,765.54 from the total of $4,148.71, the result is $2,383.17. You said that should be prorated over a period of 20 months. We then divided the $2,383.17 by three-fifths and got a figure of $1,429.89, which represents the allocation for the year 1958. We added that to the $2,383.17 and get $3,813.06. |