Sen. Gregg blasts ‘incomplete’ AP article

Sen. Judd Gregg attempted to do some damage control on Friday in the wake of a news article that reported the lawmaker steered taxpayer money to the redevelopment of a former Air Force base as he and his brother engaged in real estate deals there.

Gregg (R-N.H.), President Obama’s former nominee to become Commerce secretary, sent out a lengthy statement to what he deemed an “incomplete” AP story.

{mosads}Earlier Friday the AP reported that Gregg had invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in Cyrus Gregg’s office projects at the Pease International Tradeport, a Portsmouth business park built at the former Air Force base in New Hampshire. The lawmaker netted at least $240,017 and as much as $651,801 from his investments there, financial disclosure forms show.

Gregg told the AP that he violated no laws or Senate rules. In the statement, he also said at least $66 million in earmarks he secured for the area in and around the former Air Force base were supported by the National Guard, the mayor of Portsmouth, or “other public officials,” and did not “involve my initiative but only my support of the requests.”  

Gregg also stressed that he served as a “passive investor” in several limited liability partnerships managed by his brother and plays “no active role in business decisions related to these investments at Pease.”

An AP spokesman said the wire service stands by the story.

A Gregg staffer told The Hill that the senator does not have veto power over different real estate investments under consideration.

“He has no influence in the management’s decisions whatsoever and he chooses to have no influence over management decisions,” the aide said.

“With regard to my personal finances, I have made numerous investments over the years in real estate primarily in New Hampshire, including at Pease International Tradeport,” Gregg said in the statement. “Each year, all of these investments have been publicly disclosed and are transparent. However, as solely a passive investor, I play absolutely no active role in business decisions related to these investments at Pease. In my various capacities as an elected public official, I have been committed to bringing private capital and investments to New Hampshire in an effort to create jobs and shore up economic confidence in important areas throughout our state, including the Seacoast region.”

Gregg’s office also sent reporters a quote from Maj. Gen. Kenneth Clark, adjutant general of the New Hampshire National Guard, about the projects. In it, Clark said the projects were funded for the Air National Guard at Pease and were part of a master plan developed in the spring of 1989 when the base’s closure was first announced.

 “The language of the closure bill stipulated that the Air Guard should stay at Pease if local officials elected to continue the operation of the airfield,” Clark said. “All of the projects were necessary to allow the Guard to operate independently of the surrounding reuse portions of the base. Sen. Gregg has always been a strong supporter of the Guard and has answered our calls for assistance repeatedly.”

In its article, the AP reported that Gregg stressed that his decision to withdraw his name from consideration for the Commerce secretary post had nothing to do with anything the White House uncovered during the vetting process, and instead, was entirely ideological. The story also noted that no one from the AP had called the White House or Gregg’s office about the story before his withdrawal announcement.

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