PARTY OFFICIAL DISMISSED

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26877, 1 November 1952, Page 7

PARTY OFFICIAL DISMISSED

alleged help with STATE CONTRACT

. WASHINGTON. October 30. .An official of the Democratic Party ? as been dismissed for allegedly helpto negr i.-ite a 9.000.000-dollar Government contract while working for national committee of the party. R /he Democratic chairman (Mr Mitchell) said the official was ? r Lawrence Westbrook, a former cplonel and research and deengineer, who has served January 5 as liaison man beP ®en the committee and members of Mr Mitchell said Mr Westbrook had £ “‘sought to use improper influence tnij e arra ngement, but he said he had 4 Mr Westbrook there could be no xception to the rule forbidding party burip rs rom m ixing in Government feu l *. “New York Herald-Tribune” 1(1 it was the “biggest 5 per cent.

deal ever exposed in Washington. Mr Westbrook and two other men stood to share 450,000 dollars in commission. The contract, which was for tungsten between a Portuguese company and' the Defence Materials Procurement Agency, was cancelled on October 27 The company had violated the contract by going into the open market for tungsten to sell to the United States, instead of keeping its pledge to supply metal from the mines it claimed to control. , . Mr Mitchell said Mr Westbrook had explained that he had opened negotiations before he was employed oy the national committee, and that h_ thought the terms of the Government contract had been settled before he began his new work.