[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 194 (Thursday, December 7, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H14177]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            DEMOCRATS VOW TO GET EVEN WITH SPEAKER GINGRICH

  (Mr. BALLENGER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, remember back when Speaker Jim Wright had 
to resign from Congress due to his ethics problems? Remember when the 
Democratic whip, Tony Coelho, had to resign from Congress due to his 
ethics problems? Back in 1989 the Democrats held Newt Gingrich 
responsible for Wright and Coelho and vowed to get even with him, 
saying they would destroy Gingrich if it is the last thing we do.
  Well, we have to give the Democrats credit for trying to do just 
that. Majority whip Bill Alexander filed 467 ethics charges against 
Speaker Gingrich in 1989. All charges were resolved. This year the 
Democrats filed 65 charges against Speaker Gingrich and all but 1 has 
been resolved by the nonpartisan Committee on Standards of Official 
Conduct. The last charge involves a complex Tax Code which an outside 
counsel will look at.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time to quit all these ridiculous character 
assassinations and get down to the legislative business at hand and 
work on balancing the budget.

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