Monday, Sep. 29, 1997
WHERE THERE'S SMOKE...
It was one of the darkest mysteries of Congress: who was the mastermind behind the biggest heist of the year--the delivery of a $50 billion tax break for tobacco companies? Now a prime suspect has emerged: former Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour. Two Republican Party officials told Time last week that Barbour, now a millionaire tobacco lobbyist, had gone to House Speaker Newt Gingrich and majority leader Trent Lott and persuaded them to slip a giant gift to his clients into the must-pass balanced-budget agreement just minutes before it was inked. For weeks it looked as if the two g.o.p....
- Find this article at:
- http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987058,00.html