[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 154 (Friday, September 29, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H9677]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             FULL INQUIRY INTO ETHICS COMPLAINTS IS MERITED

  (Mr. WARD asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WARD. Madam Speaker, I want to share some newspaper quotations 
from the Hartford Courant, the newspaper in Hartford, CT. In an article 
in Wednesday's edition, the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct 
chairman, Nancy Johnson, was asked why she was treating ethics cases 
this year differently than she, in a 1988 letter, said such cases 
should be treated.
  In 1988, Chairman Johnson insisted that the committee conduct a full 
inquiry into every complaint against then Speaker Jim Wright. Mrs. 
Johnson's explanation in the article is that, and I quote from the 
article, ``This is Newt speaking.'' In 1988, she said that.
  Yes, the very man today who is of a different opinion now than he was 
then; than he and Committee on Standards of Official Conduct Chair 
Johnson were then.
  Madam Speaker, if in 1988 we should have had a full, no-subject-
areas-ignored-and-avoided inquiry, then we should today. We should do 
it the same today as they insisted we do it in 1988.

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