Boeing Cancels Bill to Pentagon for Repayment of Political Gifts

WASHINGTON — The Boeing Co. billed the American taxpayer for at least $126,847 in 1982 political contributions, adding the cost to the price of weapons systems it built for the Pentagon. But the aerospace giant abruptly withdrew the request for reimbursement Monday within hours after the billing had been reported by the Associated Press.

Pentagon auditors had called the charges “questionable” and “unallowable,” and the Defense Department had refused to reimburse the contractor.

Request Withdrawn

Boeing’s chief spokesman called the news agency to say that the company had notified the Defense Contract Audit Agency that the request for reimbursement would be withdrawn.

The spokesman, Harold Carr, said that there had been “no intention of charging this to the government” and that the contributions “inadvertently had been placed in the wrong account.”

The charges are among $14.9 million in bills submitted by defense contractors that have been challenged by the Defense Contract Audit Agency. Among them are $4.6 million for General Dynamics, $4.5 million for Rockwell International and $1.5 million for United Technologies Corp.

Earlier Monday, Carr had confirmed the billings listed by the auditors as inappropriate, saying that such expenses are billed to the government routinely as part of the company’s overall cost of doing business.

The Pentagon does allow contractors to charge the government for certain public relations costs and does not specifically ban reimbursement for political contributions, but Pentagon auditors call them unallowable.

Boeing’s contributions were made mainly to state-level politicians and groups in Washington state, which, unlike the federal government, does not ban political contributions by corporations.

$4.3 Billion in Sales

Boeing, which employs about 93,000 persons nationwide, had $4.3 billion in military sales last year, up more than $800 million from 1983.

It is helping to provide avionics for the B-1 bomber and is one of three companies working on Air Force contracts to develop a new short-range attack missile for B-52 bombers. It is also producing the AWACS early-warning aircraft, the E-4 airborne command post and air-launched cruise missiles.