Word: howser
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...committee probed other payoffs that had reached to the state level. In California, the committee said, representatives of Attorney General Fred Howser had set out to organize protection for all slot-machine and punchboard operations through the whole state. In Missouri, the state government "narrowly escaped falling under the control of gangsters" in 1948, the committee declared. Former State Attorney General Roy McKittrick testified that the late Charlie Binaggio offered him $50,000 to withdraw his rival candidacy to now-Governor Forrest Smith, told him: "I have to have a governor." After election, Binaggio was seen so often leaving Governor...
...time, several California newspapers had also heard about the bribe story from the source, a man of none-too-savory reputation who was also a onetime Howser campaign worker. But they had not dared print it for fear of libel...
Pearson picked up the story on a swing through the West. After talking to public officials and newsmen, he decided that Howser's reputation was such that he could take a chance and make his broadcast...
...last week's trial, two California Congressmen testified that Howser's reputation was fine in 1948. Through his attorneys, Howser denied accepting the bribe and claimed that his career had been "irreparably damaged," since he had been defeated* for re-election last June...
Pearson countered with four California Congressmen, who said that Howser's reputation had been poor in 1948. Pearson's most telling evidence: a deposition from the witness who said he had carried the bribe from a gambler direct to Howser. The jury's unanimous verdict: Howser had not been libeled. Pearson was the winner in his ninth libel suit...