[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]




         INDEPENDENT COUNSEL NOW FOR COMPLAINTS AGAINST SPEAKER

  (Mr. DOGGETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, with September drawing to a close, 
troubling ethical questions concerning the process of ethics in this 
House linger on.
  As a recent supreme court justice, I am concerned about the rule of 
law, about ethical standards, about the precedents of this House. The 
precedent of this House is that in every significant case since 1979, 
before the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, an independent 
counsel has been proposed and has been implemented.
  The words of the gentlewoman who heads that Committee on Standards of 
Official Conduct today are that she thinks that naming an outside 
counsel could get in the way of the committee. And she says, and these 
are really her words this week, ``The letter of the law is not 
compelling to me. My goal is to have a process that the committee 
members feel good about.''
  We do not need to feel good. We need the letter of the law. We need 
the rule of law.
  There is another precedent. It's called the Packwood precedent. 
Delay, delay, delay, until the people of this country demand action. 
That is what they need to do about Speaker Gingrich.

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