[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 138 (Thursday, September 7, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S12871]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


        ETHICS COMMITTEE'S RESOLUTION REGARDING SENATOR PACKWOOD

   Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, yesterday, I voted to support 
the Ethics Committee's resolution recommending that Senator Packwood be 
expelled from the U.S. Senate.
  Expulsion meets the criteria I set forth for myself in evaluating 
this case when I was appointed to the Ethics Committee almost 3 years 
ago. That criteria is straightforward.
  First, that the victims' complaints be taken serious and given value. 
That the women who came forward be given a fair shake, and, that they 
be treated with respect and with dignity. And, second, that we clearly 
demonstrate that the Senate could demonstrate that it could police its 
own. And that the Ethics Committee would process this with honor and 
bring honor to the U.S. Senate.
  I believe the committee resolution meets these criteria. The 
committee of which I am a member carefully reviewed the evidence and 
found substantial credible evidence that Senator Packwood's conduct was 
an abuse of his position, an abuse of power and that he brought 
dishonor upon the U.S. Senate.
  Senator Packwood has shown a flagrant disregard for the victims, the 
Senate, and for the citizens of Oregon. His conduct is a systematic 
abuse of women, power, and this institution.
  He has made at least 18 unwanted, unwelcome sexual advances on women. 
He intentionally obstructed the committee's inquiry by tampering with 
his diary. He asked lobbyists for jobs for his wife to reduce his 
alimony payments. His offenses taken cumulatively, and even 
individually, are unacceptable.
  By any standard, in any workplace in the United States of America, he 
would have been fired for this. I voted to fire Senator Packwood from 
the U.S. Senate.
  For me the past 34 months have been extraordinary. When then Majority 
Leader George Mitchell asked me to serve on the Ethics Committee, I 
knew that I would be the only woman on the Ethics Committee.
  I was willing to assume that role. I knew it was a special 
responsibility and a special duty. I knew I had a duty to the Senate. I 
knew I had a duty to the victims and I knew I had a duty to the women 
of America.
  I wanted to be sure that I was a voice for women. Not only for the 
victims whose voices I wanted to be heard, I also wanted to be a voice 
for women in how they are treated in a workplace.
  I wanted to be a voice for women who are victims in situations of 
sexual assault where often they themselves are doubly victimized. 
First, by the assailant and then by the very process of prosecution.
  I also wanted to be sure that I was a voice that women's concerns 
would not be minimized, trivialized, or disregarded. I believe that I 
worked to fulfill that responsibility. I articulated this throughout 
the ethics process on the Packwood matter.
  I articulated this to the men of the committee and those men have 
stepped up and honored that responsibility. I want to thank the men of 
the Ethics Committee for the role that they played in giving value, 
worth, and voice and a fair shake to the women who came forward on this 
the very first case in the U.S. Senate involving victims.
  I also want to thank the women of Oregon for their patience. For it 
is those women who stood by the Ethics Committee in these 34 months and 
placed their trust in the institutional processes of the U.S. Senate.
  I think when our vote was taken yesterday that the Senate showed that 
we could police our own. So, now the work of the Ethics Committee has 
been completed.
  This is a sad day for the Senate, but I am glad that Senator Packwood 
has written his own final chapter and ended his Senate career with 
dignity.


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