THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 19, 1994 TAG: 9412190047
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Sen. Jesse Helms is no friend of the U.S. Agency for International Development, but a letter seeking help in landing a $19 million AID project for North Carolina State University has his name on it.
Helms, R-N.C., complained last month that AID had spent an estimated $2 trillion of American taxpayers' money, ``much of it going down foreign rat-holes, to countries that constantly oppose us in the United Nations, and many of which reject concepts of freedom.''
The tone of an Oct. 31 letter to AID director Brian Atwood was noticeably different.
``The research programs funded through the AID Collaborative Research Support Programs (CRSPs) have been greatly beneficial for N.C. agriculture,'' read the letter bearing Helms' signature. ``I ask for your continued support in restoring funding for Small Ruminant, Soil Management and peanut CRSPs.''
N.C. State researchers would use the money to create programs that will help poorer nations develop more efficient farming operations, The Charlotte Observer reported.
A Helms spokesman who didn't want to be identified said the senator probably never saw the letter to Atwood. The aide said a staffer probably had written the letter to AID thinking it was a routine matter and used the office signature machine to sign Helms' name.
Another Helms aide, who also didn't want to be named, admitted that somebody goofed. ``It just made us look bad,'' the aide said.
The aide said the $19 million to N.C. State wasn't supposed to be part of the foreign aid program. Helms tried, but failed, to get the money inserted in the agriculture bill, and had to slip it into the foreign aid program, the aide said.
Helms has turned down requests for constituents seeking help for international projects funded with U.S. money, the aide said, pointing to a request earlier this year by three N.C. State researchers for $3 million to help restore a farming program for Costa Rica.
Helms rejected the plea because Costa Rica has unjustly confiscated property from American citizens, according to a letter released by Helms' office.
A Helms aide said AID deliberately leaked the letter to embarrass the senator. It was first reported Friday in the current edition of Business Week. Asked about it, an AID official said, ``I really don't want to get into that.'' by CNB