Weaver denies role in Guard scandal

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Monday, Oct. 16, 2006, 9 a.m. -- Candidate Mike Weaver denied any role in the Kentucky National Guard pay-for-promotions scandal 14 years ago, telling the Lexington Herald-Leader he had no knowledge of the scheme.

Weaver was a member of the National Guard Retention Board in 1992 when that body recommended dismissals of 24 Guard officers. A campaign ad for incumbent 2nd District Rep. Ron Lewis is calling Weaver "unfit to serve in Congress" for his role in the scandal.

The ad notes that Weaver defended the firings during an interview with the Courier-Journal, though an FBI investigation determined that the 24 officers dismissed had refused to donate to the gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Brereton Jones. Weaver also was sharing a Frankfort apartment with one of the National Guard officers who pushed fellow officers for $500 donations to the Jones campaign.

In an interview with the Lexington newspaper, Weaver had two retired generals to help defend his role on the retention board. Weaver was one of three members on the board.

The promotion-by-pay scheme stemmed from a 1990 "Preakness Party" hosted by then-National Guard Adjutant Gen. Billy Wellman. Guard officers who were invited were expected to donate $500 to the Jones campaign.

But Weaver says he knew nothing of the scheme or the man behind it.

"I have never met -- what's his name? -- General Wellman. I had no knowledge of that whatsoever," Weaver told the newspaper.

One of the generals there to support Weaver, retired Maj. Gen. Michael Davidson said that to question Weaver's integrity was "both cowardly and despicable."

Weaver defended the high number of recommended non-reinstatements the board issued in 1992.

Ironically, the other retired general who came out to support Weaver also took time to disparage the officers the board kicked out of the Guard 14 years ago.

Retired Maj. Gen. Allen Youngman referred to the disgruntled officers as "the Oprah 15," a group who were shopping their story around to attorneys.

Youngman cited a 1999 Army report that claimed the FBI investigation did not link campaign donations with the retention board's recommendations.

The Lewis campaign disputed Weaver's assertions, citing a 1999 report from the Army's Board for Correction of Military Records. The board awarded back pay for the dismissed officers, citing "an entanglement of partisan politics, official military duties, and obstruction of a Department of the Army's Inspector General's investigation into the relationship between those illegal political activities and the 1992 Selective Retention Board."