U.S. Report Accuses Bert Lance of Check Kiting, Bad Banking

ATLANTA — Jimmy Carter’s federal budget director Bert Lance is accused in a U.S. bank examiner’s report of check kiting and unsound banking practices as chairman of Calhoun First National Bank, it was reported today.

A copy of the critical report by National Bank Examiner Lloyd R. Elledge was sent anonymously to a reporter at the Atlanta Constitution and was distributed last month to directors of Calhoun First, the newspaper said.

A letter sent to the directors with the report said they had abdicated their responsibility to run the bank safely and soundly and “permitted Mr. Lance to utilize bank assets for his own personal benefit.”

The letter was signed by Robert Klinzing, Southeastern district administrator for the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency.

Lance, the chairman of the state Democratic Party who resigned as director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in 1977 because of congressional investigations into allegations that he mishandled bank funds, refused to comment to the newspaper on the report.