By Roberto Suro and Eric Pianin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, September 10 1997; Page A06

Rep. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is the target of a federal investigation to determine whether Boston businessmen attempted to buy his influence over a huge federal highway construction project, federal officials said yesterday.

Shuster, 65, is one of the most influential and feared chairmen because of his tight control over billions of dollars worth of highway, road and bridge projects of critical political importance to practically every member of Congress.

Subpoenas for records relating to Shuster's activities were delivered last week to the Transportation Committee, the House ethics committee and the chief administrative officer of the House. Under congressional rules the receipt of the subpoenas was announced publicly.

Federal prosecutors in Boston are investigating Shuster's relationship with at least two Boston businessmen who had long legal disputes over land that was taken for the $10 billion Central Artery project, commonly known as the "Big Dig," according to federal officials.

A grand jury in Boston had previously gathered evidence related to campaign contributions from the businessmen but has recently expanded its scope to include allegations that business deals were made with the son of Ann Eppard, a longtime congressional aide to Shuster, in order to win the chairman's help in settling the land disputes, officials said.

A federal official familiar with the probe said that issuing the subpoenas to the congressional offices was an indication that the investigation -- underway since early this year -- has entered a critical stage.

Shuster was unavailable for comment after a phone call to his office yesterday and his office has had no comment about the probe or the subpoenas to Congress. One GOP aide complained that "you've got an overly aggressive U.S. attorney" and that the case has been "strung out" for months.

Shuster's mushrooming legal problems come at the same time he is embroiled in a controversy with House and Senate GOP leaders over his three- year, $103 billion highway reauthorization bill that if adopted would badly rupture the balanced budget agreement between Congress and the Clinton administration.

The Pennsylvania Republican's allies and critics agree that the grand jury investigation has done nothing to diminish Shuster's considerable clout. "That's on the edges," Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest (R-Md.), a Transportation Committee member, said of the probe. "It's not in your thought process, but if someone brings it up everyone is certainly aware of it."

The focus of the investigation is Shuster's relationship with Eppard, who served as the congressman's chief of staff for 22 years before resigning in 1994 -- shortly after the GOP took control of Congress and Shuster was elevated to chairman -- to establish what became a booming transportation lobbying firm. Eppard, a close friend of Shuster's, remained a political adviser and chief campaign fund-raiser, operating out of her Alexandria town house.

Investigators have examined allegations that Shuster and Eppard have used campaign funds for personal use. They also have looked at campaign contributions to Shuster from Nicholas Contos and Richard Goldberg, two Boston businessmen involved in Big Dig land disputes, U.S. officials said.

The Boston grand jury has recently heard evidence regarding business arrangements involving Contos, Goldberg and Eppard's son, Ralph, and federal prosecutors are trying to determine whether the deal was designed to ultimately benefit Eppard and Shuster, the officials said.

Shuster's complex relationship with Eppard -- including Shuster's and his family's frequent overnight stays at Eppard's town house -- has attracted intense press interest in the past two years and triggered a House ethics committee complaint in 1996.

The Congressional Accountability Project, a self-styled congressional reform organization, accused Shuster of accepting illegal gratuities by staying overnight at the town house. The group, citing accounts by the Journal of Commerce, Roll Call and other publications, also described what it said was the highly questionable "web of legislative, political, financial, and personal ties" between Shuster and Eppard.

The ethics complaint has remained in limbo while House GOP leaders have pondered how best to reconstitute the ethics committee. A moratorium on ethics committee cases is due to expire by midnight tonight. Yesterday, Gary Ruskin, director of the Congressional Accountability Project, said he intends to try to amend the complaint to include allegations that Shuster improperly combined fund-raising with official committee business.

Citing press accounts, Ruskin contends that Shuster has frequently insisted that officials and groups promoting transportation projects for their communities organize fund-raisers for him in return for his inspecting the projects as part of his responsibilities.