[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 14 (Tuesday, January 24, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H541]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   FORMER REPRESENTATIVE GINGRICH WOULD URGE ETHICS INVESTIGATION OF 
                        PRESENT SPEAKER GINGRICH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 1995, the gentleman from Oregon [Mr. DeFazio] is recognized 
during morning business for 2 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, there are those on the other side of the 
aisle who make light of the pending investigation on ethics of Speaker 
Gingrich. I believe they do so at their own peril, and in contradiction 
of the position taken by Representative Gingrich in July 1988.
  In July 1988, Speaker Gingrich, or at that time Representative 
Gingrich, waxed very eloquent in a press release regarding the duties 
and the burdens of the Speaker and the duties and burdens of the House 
in investigating the Speaker of the House, and the fact that it should 
not be done by peers in the House of Representatives but in fact by an 
outside counsel, because it is so important to assure the integrity of 
that office.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, we are confronted with a situation where several 
Members, several Republican Members of the Ethics Committee, have past 
associations with GOPAC, the secret and multi-million-dollar slush fund 
which is the subject of the ethics complaint.
  Here we are, we have members of the committee who have a conflict of 
interest, who should recuse themselves, but if they recuse themselves, 
only new members could be appointed by the Speaker, so the Speaker in 
effect would be appointing his own judge and jury.
  There is only one way out of this for Speaker Gingrich. That is for 
Speaker Gingrich to take the advice of Representative Newt Gingrich in 
1988 and appoint an outside counsel, so the American people can be 
assured that the integrity of this office is upheld and the integrity 
of the U.S. Congress is upheld without any possible assertion of undue 
influence.


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