Rep. Aspin Is Dating Executive of Tank Parts Supplier

Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), who is leading efforts for more M-1 tanks than the Pentagon requested, is dating a steel executive whose company obtained more than $6 million in M-1 contracts, a newspaper reported.

In today’s editions, the Wisconsin State Journal also said an institute Aspin created to help Wisconsin industry win defense contracts is helping Sharon Sarton’s firm compete for more Pentagon work.

Aspin has been chairman of the House Armed Services Committee since 1985. He was divorced in 1979. He began dating Sarton 3 1/2 years ago. She manages Scot Forge Co.’s Clinton, Wis., plant, which makes a piston mechanism that cushions the shock when the M-1 tank’s cannon fires.

The Washington Times reported last month that Sarton, who is also divorced, accompanied Aspin on a military flight to the Middle East and was listed as his technical representative. Aspin reimbursed the Pentagon $1,765 for her trip.

Sarton also accompanied Aspin this year on a military flight from Denver to Washington after he suffered heart problems while skiing.

“I really resent this,” Sarton said when asked about her company’s defense contracts and her relationship with Aspin, 52.

All contracts between Scot Forge and the Defense Department were won by competitive bidding, she said.

“I guess he does his job and I do my job,” Sarton said.

Aspin and Sarton met while attending workshops in Wisconsin sponsored by his institute, called the Aspin Procurement Institute, said Lauren Ariker, Aspin’s news secretary.

Aspin declined to be interviewed at length by the State Journal, but agreed to respond in writing to written questions.

“I don’t receive direct political benefits from API (Aspin Procurement Institute),” Aspin wrote. “The only benefit I derive is knowledge on the part of Wisconsin businesses and working people that I am on their side.”

Mark Wagner, executive director of the institute, said Aspin and Sarton are careful “about keeping their personal life separate of anything that’s official.”

Mark Davis, head of advice and education for the House Ethics Committee, said Aspin’s relationship with Sarton would not violate rules of conduct for congressmen.

In guiding a defense spending bill through the House last month, Aspin led efforts to buy 60 M-1 tanks and upgrade 480 old ones at a cost of $375 million. The Pentagon sought neither.

Scot Forge Co., based in Spring Grove, Ill., has won 11 Army contracts for M-1 work totaling $6.3 million since 1984, said the General Services Administration’s Federal Procurement Data Center.

Most of the contracts came after the company sought help in 1987 from Aspin’s institute, the State Journal said.