No Exceptions For Miller

WHEN G. William Miller was named to head the Federal Reserve Board, he testified he had tried to run a "super clean" company during his 22 years as an executive of Textron, Inc. An investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) suggests Miller, now Secretary of the Treasury, may have soiled his hands while working for Textron.

The SEC contends, first, that Textron made $5.4 million in improper payments in 10 countries, largely to government officials, between 1971 and 1979. It says unnamed Textron officials falsified records and lied to a Senate committee to cover up the payments, which were made by a division Miller supervised before he became the company's chairman in 1974. Second, the SEC alleges Textron often overbilled customers, remitting them the difference under the table. Finally, the SEC charges Textron with spending $600,000 to "entertain" Defense Department employees illicitly and without normal substantiation in company records.

On two separate occasions Miller told shareholders there had been no improper or illegal payments. The SEC calls these statements "erroneous and misleading," and says they were "made by the chairman without his having a reasonable basis." In addition, the SEC accuses Miller of knowing about the concealed expenses on the Defense Department accounts.

While conceding he failed to prevent improper payments, Miller denies having had any knowledge of them, and he points to explicit orders he issued against such practices. No one has clearly proved that Miller knew or took part in the payments. However, the evidence for a pattern of improper conduct that would have been hard to hide from Textron's top manager is strong--strong enough to cloud the office of Secretary of the Treasury with the kind of doubt last raised there by the tenure of John Connally.

William Proxmire (D-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has proposed the Attorney General appoint a special prosecutor. We urge Benjamin Civiletti to reconsider his earlier rejection of this move. Only a special prosecutor can probe the past conduct and present candor of a Cabinet member without suspicion of political influence. President Carter's campaign literature trumpets his insistence "that everyone in government be held to the highest standards of ethics and accountability, with no exceptions." The Secretary of the Treasury should not be an exception.