Imperial Sugar CEO defends Chambliss over subpoena

"He has behaved appropriately with integrity and character at all times," CEO John Sheptor told reporters after a groundbreaking ceremony at the Port Wentworth refinery. "We have not tried to influence Sen. Chambliss in any way."

While the Republican senator campaigns to win a Dec. 2 runoff against Democrat Jim Martin, he's also fighting a subpoena by a Savannah attorney seeking to question Chambliss in a lawsuit against Texas-based Imperial Sugar.

Attorney Mark Tate, who's suing the company on behalf of four victims and their families, says he believes Imperial Sugar executives persuaded Chambliss to harshly criticize a company whistleblower at a Senate hearing on the explosion.

The whistleblower, Vice President of Operations Graham H. Graham, testified at the July hearing that the company ignored repeated warnings about potential dust explosions. Chambliss said Graham, who had worked at Imperial Sugar for just three months before the explosion, was trying to protect himself and should have done more to improve conditions.

"This guy Graham knows he's on the hook," Chambliss said in an interview after the hearing.

Tate also says his clients have complained that Chambliss tried to discourage them from suing during a meeting with victims and families arranged by the company.

"To think that Saxby Chambliss was acting on his own is naive beyond all belief," Tate said.

Sheptor denied that the senator had acted in the interests of anyone other than his constituents.

"None of these allegations are truthful or factual," Sheptor said.

Chambliss' campaign has also denied he tried to deflect blame from Imperial Sugar at the company's request. Senate attorneys have asked a judge to throw out Tate's subpoena.

They argue Chambliss is immune from submitting to a deposition under the "speech or debate" clause of the Constitution, which shields members of Congress from testifying about legislative business in private lawsuits. They also say Senate rules prohibit Chambliss from testifying or disclosing documents without a waiver.

Tate says Senate attorneys are interpreting the constitutional immunity of members of Congress too broadly.

"There's nothing that says because you're a member of Congress that you're immune from deposition," Tate said. "The fact that the Senate has some rule Saxby has to comply with, that's his problem, not mine."

The Feb. 7 explosion at the sugar refinery near Savannah killed 14 workers and injured dozens more. Investigators determined the blast was caused by sugar dust that ignited like gunpowder in the plant's storage silos.

Tate's lawsuit says Imperial Sugar was negligent and seeks unspecified damages for two workers injured in the explosion and the families of two employees who died. His subpoena sought to question Chambliss on Thursday, but the timetable's been pushed back until a judge rules on Chambliss' motion to dismiss it.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has tried to make the Chambliss' subpoena an issue in the runoff campaign. Democrats need to win two undecided Senate races--in Georgia and Minnesota--to have a filibuster-proof majority of 60 seats in the next Congress.