[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 79 (Tuesday, June 21, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 21, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
 TREASURY, POSTAL SERVICE, AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  1995

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.


                           Amendment No. 1825

  Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Mr. President, I ask that the amendment that I 
previously sent to the desk be read, please, and I ask for its 
immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. If there is no objection, the motion to 
recommit is set aside and the clerk will report.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from North Carolina [Mr. Faircloth] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 1825.

  The amendment is as follows:

       At the appropriate place in the bill add the following: 
     ``Notwithstanding any provision of law, the President must 
     certify to Congress, annually, that no person or person with 
     direct or indirect responsibility for administering the 
     Executive Office of the President's Drug-Free Workplace Plan 
     are themselves subject to the program of individual random 
     drug testing.''

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Mr. President, when a person goes to work at the White 
House they are supposed to be given a drug test. Additionally, 12 
percent of employees who are in what are called testing designated 
positions are supposed to be randomly given drug tests every year.
  But, Mr. President, there is yet another category of people who are 
given drug tests. These are people who the Secret Service has 
determined have a recent and/or extensive history of drug use. They are 
subject to what is called the individual random drug testing program.
  These are not people who experimented with marijuana in college years 
ago, even those who did not inhale. They are people who have a history 
of serious narcotics abuse.
  In testimony before the House, we have learned that there are 10 or 
11 people in the White House who are in this category; 10 or 11 are in 
this category that I am talking about that have serious problems with 
drugs.
  Again, not people who experimented with drugs 15 or 20 years ago, but 
rather, 10 or 11 people who the Secret Service and the White House 
legal counsel's office have apparently determined need to be tested 
frequently because of recent and/or significant narcotics abuse.
  Mr. President, this amendment is straight forward and direct. It 
simply says that the President must certify to Congress that the people 
who are in charge of the White House drug testing program do not, 
themselves, have a recent and/or extensive history of drug use.
  It just makes common sense that someone with a history of drug 
problems should not be involved in administering drug testing programs.
  While it should go without saying that a drug addict should not be in 
charge of the drug testing program, it should be noted that the White 
House Drug Testing Program is administered by the Office of 
Administration. The Office of Administration is run by a woman named 
Patsy Thomasson. And Patsy Thomasson is the former right hand woman to 
a man named Dan Lasater.
  Dan Lasater is a convicted cocaine dealer who gave President 
Clinton's half-brother Roger a job, and was later pardoned by Bill 
Clinton. Dan Lasater held fundraising parties for Bill Clinton, flew 
the Clintons around in his jet, and paid off Roger Clinton's drug 
debts.
  Federal and State law enforcement documents describe widespread 
cocaine use among Lasater, his employees, his business associates, and 
his friends. Those same law enforcement documents describe parties at 
which vials of cocaine were distributed as party favors. Ashtrays 
filled with cocaine were spread among the hors d'oeuvres, and cocaine 
was served on the Lasater corporate jets.
  After Bill was reelected to the Governor's mansion in 1982, Lasater's 
bond firm made millions of dollars in underwriting State of Arkansas 
bonds. His firm even made $750,000 by underwriting bonds for a new 
State Police radio network. This was despite the fact that Lasater had 
told an investigator sent by Bill Clinton's Director of the Arkansas 
State Police that he was a cocaine user.
  Dan Lasater's chief financial officer in this operation was Patsy 
Thomasson, the woman who now has oversight over the White House drug 
testing program.
  Six months after he was awarded the State Police radio bond contract, 
Dan Lasater formally became the target of a joint State-Federal drug 
task force investigating cocaine distribution in Little Rock. FBI 
documents show that he later confessed to using cocaine, and to giving 
it away to friends, employees and business associates on more than 180 
occasions.
  In October 1986, Dan Lasater was indicted for possessing and 
distributing cocaine. The U.S. attorney said that Lasater and his 
associates were blatant in their drug use. Lasater maintained a supply 
of cocaine in his pockets, and even snorted it at his office.
  He pled guilty, and as part of his plea he agreed to make detailed 
statements about his cocaine use. He also agreed to identify the people 
he gave cocaine to during parties, during business meetings, and as 
part of his business entertainment. When Dan Lasater went to jail for 
cocaine trafficking he gave his power of attorney--his power of 
attorney--to Patsy Thomasson, the lady now in charge of White House 
administration and the Drug Testing Program.
  A power of attorney is one of the most powerful legal documents that 
exists. Patsy Thomasson had complete control over Dan Lasater's affairs 
while he was serving his prison time for cocaine trafficking. In 
business and other legal matters, Patsy Thomasson and the cocaine 
kingpin Dan Lasater were one and the same.
  In his application to Bill Clinton for a pardon, Dan Lasater excused 
his criminal behavior, saying that the cocaine was used in social 
situations. He compared it to--and I quote--``paying for dinner and 
drinks for my friends.'' A strange way to do business.
  Mr. President, there are many people in high places in the White 
House who associated with Dan Lasater. In light of the fact, the U.S. 
Senate should have the FBI list of the 180 occasions that documented 
Dan Lasater's cocaine use, and the people that he supplied it to--and 
we should have it immediately, if not sooner.
  But until it gets that FBI cocaine list, Congress should--at a very 
minimum--demand that the President certify that the people in charge of 
the White House drug testing program do not themselves have a history 
of recent or extensive drug abuse.
  Patsy Thomasson, the righthand woman of the man who admits to 
snorting cocaine with friends and business associates, and who was the 
person who had that cocaine distributor's power of attorney while he 
was in prison, now is in charge of the White House drug testing 
program!
  Mr. President that is wrong. We do not know if anyone in the White 
House were at any of Dan Lasater's cocaine parties. But it is wrong to 
have a business partner and confidant of a drug dealer in charge of the 
White House drug testing program.
  Patsy Thomasson refuses to disclose to Congress whether the people 
monitoring the White House drug testing program--including herself--are 
among the specially tested group of people with histories of serious 
drug abuse.
  At the bare minimum, the President should have to certify that no one 
with responsibility for that drug testing program has a history of 
recent or extensive drug use themselves.
  Mr. President, Congress should see to it that drug addicts are not in 
charge of the White House drug testing program. That is what this 
amendment will do.
  Mr. President, on this amendment, I ask for the yeas and nays at the 
appropriate time.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. PRESSLER addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Boxer). The Senator from South Dakota.
  Mr. PRESSLER. Madam President ask unanimous consent to speak for 2 
minutes, as if in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Hearing none, it is so 
ordered.

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