Over two months after General Colin Powell delivered a speech at Tufts, the secretary of state-designate could face questions about his relationship with the speech's sponsor, former University trustee and Deputy Prime Minister of Lebanon Issam Fares, at today's Senate confirmation hearing on his cabinet nomination. The Nov. 2 address was the most recent installment of the annual Fares Lecture Series.
The speech caught the attention of political watchdog groups and worldwide media when The Jerusalem Post reported this month that Powell had received $200,000 for the appearance. Some organizations have questioned whether Fares used Tufts as a conduit to buy influence with Powell and the George W. Bush administration.
"Anytime somebody is taking speaking fees or receiving money that comes from a source that they are going to be involved with in their official function, it is a concern," said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan, non-profit watchdog group in Washington.
At the time of the speech, Fares told the Daily that he hoped the US would improve its relations with Lebanon.
"We only urge the future president and his administration to make peacemaking in the Middle East an urgently high priority, and to accord to Lebanon - a country that has given so much to the region and the world, and suffered so long - a place of special attention and friendship," he said.
Powell's spokesman called the $200,000 figure "grossly overstated," but neither Powell nor Tufts have come forward with the actual amount. The general said that the fee was comparable to those he received for other recent lectures, reportedly in the $80,000 range.
"If the fee quoted in the paper was accurate, I wouldn't be here today. I'd be out there doing that," Powell told CNN.
The figure could be revealed during today's Senate hearing, as all presidential appointees are required to submit a financial disclosure statement.
At the time of the speech - five days before the presidential election - Powell held no elected or appointed office. Nevertheless, it was widely assumed that he would be appointed secretary of state should Bush win.
Fares' tenure on the Board of Trustees was set to end in 2002, but he announced in October that he would resign effective Nov. 1, the day before the Powell speech. Secretary of the Board of Trustees Linda Dixon, however, said his reasons for resigning were unrelated to the controversy.
"As he was elected deputy prime minister his responsibilities got greater. He resigned because of his large duties in Lebanon," she said.Fares has adamantly denied charges that he sought to influence Powell with the lecture payment. "It seems the Zionist lobby in the United States and its agents in the region were displeased and worried that certain Lebanese and Arab personalities have a friendly relationship with some senior officials of the new American administration," he said in a statement last week.
Powell, who was asked last March to participate in the Fares lecture series, also vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
"It was a regular speech of the kind I give all the time. It is very unfortunate that there is some suspicion created that there was something untoward about the arrangement or something untoward about my participation," he said in Washington.
Others in the capital are also standing by Powell. Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which will conduct the hearing, said the arrangements for the speech seemed routine.
"I take the general at his word," Biden said last week. "Powell makes many speeches and it is unfair to Tufts and to the trustee to suggest there was anything improper about it," said Norm Kurz, Senator Biden's communications director.
Some watchdog groups, such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), said they were more bothered by Fares' response to the Post story than the Powell speech itself.
"We are disturbed by the actions of Mr. Fares," said Ken Jacobson, ADL assistant national director. "It's unfortunate that, when legitimate questions are raised, Zionists and Jews are often blamed."
Fares, along with his son, Fares Fares (LA '93), created the lecture series to bring high-profile figures to Tufts to educate students on Middle Eastern affairs. While Fares maintains close ties to the Republican party, Tufts Provost Sol Gittleman called the series "well balanced."
Several speakers in the program's seven-year history have been prominent Republicans, including former President George Bush, former Secretary of State James Baker, and Powell. Democratic former Secretary of State George Mitchell, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing have also been featured in past lectures.
Powell was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War. Since his retirement, the general has served as chairman of America's Promise, a non-profit community service organization, and has spent a significant portion of his time delivering speeches around the country.
It is typical for senators to scrutinize cabinet appointees about money they received from parties they might later deal with in their governmental role.
President-elect Bush has had difficulties with other cabinet selections, including his original choice for secretary of labor, Linda Chavez, as well as Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft, a staunch conservative. Despite the Fares controversy, the Senate is expected to approve Powell's nomination with little debate.
