LAWRENCE DEFENDS WAY HARKNESS DID BUSINESS.(MAIN)

Byline: MICHAEL GORMLEY Staff writer

Insurance magnate Albert W. Lawrence said the Olympic Regional Development Authority's payroll and financial records reflected not patronage and mismanagement, but a core of workers long known and fiercely loyal to Harkness that benefited ORDA and the state.

Lawrence Yet Lawrence's work at ORDA and his friendship with Harkness was one of the concerns of the state transition team sent in a year ago to clean house.

Here is part of that relationship: Lawrence, of Rexford, said he has known Harkness since they were both at Cornell University, Harkness as a lacrosse coach and Lawrence as the team manager. A man named Doug Burch was Harkness' hockey manager at Union College …