Baker Decides to Sell Stocks He Now Holds in Blind Trust
ROME — Secretary of State James A. Baker III announced today that he is selling his controversial holdings in a New York bank and all other publicly traded stock that has been held in a blind trust.
Baker announced the decision through a spokeswoman while on a tour of Western European capitals.
His wife, Susan, is disposing of her stock as well. The trust, set up when Baker went to work at the White House in 1981 as former President Ronald Reagan’s chief of staff, will sell publicly traded stock held by their daughter, Mary Bonner Baker.
“While I believe this decision goes well beyond what is required or has been recommended, I think it is the correct decision for someone committed in meeting the highest ethical standards,†Baker’s statement said.
The Washington Post last Friday said White House counsel C. Boyden Gray had pressed Baker to divest himself of substantial stock holdings in Chemical New York Corp., a bank holding company that has $4.5 billion in loans to Third World nations.
The same day, Baker had said he would seek a waiver permitting him to participate in decisions affecting the Third World.
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