April 10, 1974

Judge Lee P Gagliardi rules that it is not relevant in Mitchell-Stans trial to call as witness former pol campaign mgrs, including campaign mgrs for Dems; rules that he will not allow defense to put on witness stand other witnesses who were large contributors to Nixon campaign; rulings seriously restrict defense; Chicago millionaire W Clement Stone is allowed to respond to Aquestion about record $2-million campaign contribution he made to Pres Nixon and to reply to question about a pol fund-raising dinner he attended at $1,000 a plate in Washington in Mar '72 at which Mitchell was his invited guest; says Mitchell arrived late, after reception that preceded dinner; there has been testimony to effect that at reception, Mitchell warned campaign aide of Stans that it would be best if aide stayed away from 'Vesco matter'; ex-HEW Dept Sec R H Finch testifies about campaign meeting he attended with Stans and others on Mar 13 '72; says meeting was called to discuss and decide whether or not contributions up to Apr 7 '72 were to be made public, since law did not require it; says consensus was that names of contributors prior to Apr 7 would not be revealed and that Stans suggested that if they were to be revealed, he 1st had obligation to offer to return contributions to donors; Finch was called to support testimony of DeVan Shumway; pors of Stone and Finch (L)

NYS Investigation Com charges that NYC area judiciary has failed to properly investigate and discipline judges; after reviewing all complaints lodged against judges in 1st and 2d Judicial Depts between Jan '68 and Dec 73, comm finds that serious allegations of corruption and judicial misconduct received little or no investigation; concludes that present practice of allowing judiciary to police itself does not work; urges const amendment abolishing present Ct on the Judiciary and establishing ind comm on judicial conduct made up of 4 judges, 4 lawyers and 4 laymen, plus full-time chmn, that would have power to remove, retire and censure judges; notes Appellate Div's failure to probe case of Sup Ct Justice Mitchell D Schweitzer after Life magazine article in '69 accused him of accepting money to fix case; finds that 1st Dept failed to warn Sup Ct Justice Gerald P Culkin that he should no longer sit on cases in which Joseph Aronstein represented defendant; other recent proposals for dealing with judicial misconduct noted (M)

MTA Chmn William J Ronan is expected to be nominated as chmn of Port Auth of NY and NJ; Ronan is strong advocate of mass transportation and expert on public finance; his nomination will most likely intensify pressures to force bistate agency to undertake new financial and managerial responsibilities for mass transit in NYC met area; Ronan por (L)

White House tells HR Judiciary Com that it needs more time to decide how to respond to com's request for 42 tapes of Pres conversations relating to Watergate; Pres Nixon's counsel James D St Clair, in lr to com counsel John Doar, says White House will be ready to furnish materials that 'will enable the com to complete its inquiry promptly'; lr contains no pledge to provide all materials com has sought since Feb 25 and implies that White House will decide which of tapes it considers relevant and release only those; Reprs P W Rodino Jr, J R Waldie, T F Railsback and R McClory comment; possibility of subpoena noted; text of St Clair's lr (L)

Sen, breaking 11-day filibuster, votes, 64-30, to cut off debate on major campaign reform bill that would use public funds to finance Pres and Cong elections starting in '76; bill faces strong HR opposition and possible veto from Pres Nixon; provisions of bill noted; key to successful vote ending filibuster was switch by Sens G D Aiken, L Chiles, J B Johnston and W V Roth Jr; before this vote, Sen voted, 46-43, to adopt proposal by Sen J B Allen to reduce specified spending limits for Fed campaigns by 20%; spending limits would be based on number of eligible voters in each election; Allen's amendment cuts that limit to 8c for each voter in primary elections and to 12c per voter for gen elections; effect of Allen's amendment would be to reduce estimated maximum cost of Pres campaigns to about $17-million for each nominee in gen election from previously proposed $21-million; Sen votes, 66-23, to table proposed compromise by bipartisan group of Sens lead by A E Stevenson 3d that would have reduced public funds available for Cong and Pres gen election campaigns (L)