Didn’t Discuss Goodyear With Boesky, Investor Says

WASHINGTON — Anglo-French financier Sir James Goldsmith, hotly criticized by lawmakers today over his bid for control of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., denied he had discussed it with stock speculator Ivan F. Boesky, the central figure in Wall Street’s insider trading scandal.

A battery of congressmen on the House Judiciary subcommittee on monopolies assailed Goldsmith’s style of operating and forecast job losses and a financially weakened Goodyear if he succeeds in his hostile takeover bid.

In a hearing interrupted by applauding United Rubber Workers members wearing Goodyear baseball caps, the corporate raider said his takeover bid would rescue the Akron, Ohio, company from “corporate fat.”

Pipeline ‘Wholly Lunatic’

He said that Goodyear management’s construction of a $1-billion oil pipeline appears “wholly lunatic” and that criticism of his takeover bid represents “the usual knee-jerk opposition to free-market capitalism and support for the bureaucratic Establishment.”

Goldsmith’s comments drew a strong response from Rep. John F. Seiberling (D-Ohio), a descendant of the founder of Goodyear.

“Who the hell are you?” Seiberling asked Goldsmith when Goldsmith said he could improve the company.

“I am an active investor,” Goldsmith replied, adding that if he took control of Goodyear he would appoint good managers and let them run the company.

Seiberling asked Goldsmith whether he had conferred with Boesky during his six-week effort to gain control of Goodyear.

326,000 Shares

“No, sir,” said Goldsmith, who has been successful in takeovers of Crown Zellerbach Corp., and a number of other companies.

Robert E. Mercer, chairman and chief executive officer of Goodyear, told the panel that he understands that Boesky has acquired 326,000 shares of the company and that he has been “in and out” of the stock during the last six weeks.

Boesky agreed Friday to pay $100 million in penalties to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges involving vast stock profits rolled up as a result of inside tips from Dennis E. Levine.