Mosbacher Island Trip Questioned

WASHINGTON — When he was commerce secretary, President Bush’s campaign chief accepted a flight to the Caribbean from the head of a sugar company that has settled fines for alleged labor violations and is negotiating another with the government.

Robert A. Mosbacher, now the chairman of Bush’s reelection campaign, flew with his wife, Georgette, from Palm Beach, Fla., to the island of Antigua at the expense of Jose Pepe Fanjul, according to Mosbacher’s financial disclosure statement, released Friday.

Mosbacher reported the trip’s value at $1,314. The flight took place Dec. 26, 1990.

Mosbacher, an oil multimillionaire and close friend of the President, raised more than $25 million for Republicans in the 1988 campaign. He organized “Team 100,” the group of top GOP contributors who have given more than $100,000 each.

Fanjul, the president of Okeelanta Corp. of Florida, is one of the “Team 100” donors and a vice chairman of the Bush-Quayle campaign’s national finance committee.

It is legal for Mosbacher and his wife to accept such trips. But some critics contend that it is a conflict of interest for public officials to do so. Spokesmen for Fanjul and Mosbacher said Monday there was no impropriety.