BY The Associated Press
The judge who assigned himself the case of a former Enquirer reporter received campaign contributions from both Chiquita executives and the special prosecutor investigating whether private voice mail messages were stolen from the banana company, a newspaper reported Thursday.
Common Pleas Judge Norbert Nadel on Wednesday assigned himself to the case. He has scheduled a hearing July 22 on whether to grant fired Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Michael Gallagher's request to throw out a subpoena ordering Mr. Gallagher to testify on the matter before a grand jury.
County board of elections records show Judge Nadel received $825 in campaign donations between 1990 and 1996 from Carl H. Lindner, Chiquita Brands International Inc.'s chairman and chief executive officer, and his family, The Cincinnati Post reported Thursday.
Judge Nadel also received a $125 campaign contribution from Perry L. Ancona, the special prosecutor working with the grand jury, according to election records the Post cited. Mr. Ancona issued the subpoena to Mr. Gallagher.
Mr. Gallagher wrote stories The Enquirer published May 3 questioning Chiquita's business practices. Chiquita denied the stories and said they were based on voice-mail messages stolen from Chiquita's voice-mail system.
The Enquirer fired Mr. Gallagher on June 26 and agreed to pay Chiquita more than $10 million to settle claims against it, although Chiquita had not sued the newspaper, owned by Gannett Co. Inc. Mr. Gallagher was not party to the settlement and has been sued by Chiquita.
The Enquirer also renounced the stories June 28, saying it could no longer stand behind them because management believed Mr. Gallagher may have been involved in theft of the voice-mail messages and had deceived his editors about it. Mr. Gallagher, 40, has repeatedly declined comment.
After Judge Nadel assigned himself to handle Mr. Gallagher's case, he said the hearing would be held privately because it is part of secret grand jury proceedings.
Judge Nadel did not return a call to his office Thursday.
Mr. Gallagher and his lawyer did not return calls. Mr. Ancona, reached by telephone, declined to comment.
The Lindner family and its companies have for years been big contributors to many local, state and national political campaigns.
Sandra Heimann, a spokeswoman for Carl Lindner, confirmed his contributions to Judge Nadel. Ms. Heimann said Mr. Lindner has the same right as other Americans to make such contributions. She said they pale compared with the $100 million she said Mr. Lindner has donated to various charities during the past decade.
Prosecutor Joseph Deters had a special prosecutor appointed to handle the Chiquita case in May because Mr. Deters had received campaign contributions from Mr. Lindner and his family.
Previous stories
Ex-reporter tries to avoid testifying to grand jury July 9, 1998
Chiquita sues former Enquirer reporter July 3, 1998
Reporter fights subpoena July 1, 1998
Enquirer employees subpoenaed in probe June 30, 1998
Chiquita accepts apology, $10M from Enquirer June 29, 1998
An apology to Chiquita June 28, 1998
