The Nation - News from Dec. 8, 1987

A federal judge refused to allow the ex-chief of staff to former Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret M. Heckler to withdraw his guilty plea to improperly accepting $33,450 from a private foundation. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Gerhard Gesell means that C. McClain Haddow must soon begin serving a one-year sentence for conflict-of-interest violations. The judge also refused to reduce the $15,000 fine Haddow received for his guilty plea to a separate count of improperly accepting $21,790 from a speech-writing contract he had arranged for two friends. Haddow’s wife was a paid fund-raiser for the T. Bear Foundation. Haddow was an unpaid director of the foundation that was set up to promote hand-washing among doctors and nurses to reduce hospital-based infections.