Reno vs. Belo

The U.S. attorney general accuses WFAA of violating anti-wiretapping laws in the Peavy case

Comments (0) By Jim Schutze Thursday, Aug 19 1999

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Lurking beneath the surface of this case and all those that preceded it is the mystery of the "Sandy Kress tapes," in which Kress, a former Dallas school board president, is alleged to have made damaging remarks. Sources on all sides of the case now on appeal in New Orleans say tapes of Kress talking to Peavy are part of the evidence in the case and suggest that keeping the case sealed may be part of an effort to keep the Kress tapes out of public hands.

After Peavy and Oliver were acquitted of insurance-fraud charges, Coggins' critics complained that the Harman tapes could have been introduced to help make the case against them but for some reason were not. Some critics suggested the tapes were not used in order to protect Kress. Kress, Buchmeyer, and Coggins are friends and political allies.

Doug Milner

Former DISD trustee Dan Peavy believes his privacy was violated by a conspiracy between WFAA and his neighbor. U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno seems to agree.

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Peavy declined to comment on the content of the Reno intervention itself, citing the seal, but he said he felt strongly vindicated by the attorney general's overall position. "In a general sense, without discussing the contents of the pleading, the way Dan Peavy feels," Peavy says, "is that his rights to privacy were violated by a conspiracy between my neighbor and Robert Riggs and WFAA. I believe the law ought to apply to everyone."