[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 20, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2431-E2432]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        OPPORTUNITIES TO CHANGE

                                 ______


                          HON. SUSAN MOLINARI

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 20, 1995

  Ms. MOLINARI. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the December 8, 
1995, editorial from one of my local papers, the New York Post, which 
sums up exactly a sentiment most of us, I think, feel about Newt 
Gingrich. In these times of overt partisanship, the editors write that 
they,

       [H]ope that Gingrich takes heart, stands his ground and 
     stays the course. Opportunities to change the direction in 
     American politics don't come around often; and if the 
     Republicans don't succeed in disrupting business as usual in 
     Washington now, the chance will likely pass.

  We have no choice, for the sake of our children, but to balance the 
budget and I urge Speaker Gingrich to continue his effort to focus this 
nation into realizing fiscal sanity.

                 [From the New York Post, Dec. 8, 1995]

                        The Gingrich Inquisition

       House Minority Leader David Bonior (D-Mich.) and other 
     congressional Democrats have been trying for more than half a 
     decade to pin ethics violations on Speaker Newt Gingrich. To 
     this end, they and their allies in the land of the left 
     leveled endless charges against Gingrich. Indeed, over the 
     course of the last 15 months, the House Ethics Committee has 
     considered 65 separate counts.
       On Wednesday, the committee ruled that with respect to 64, 
     the speaker has been completely or partially exonerated. (It 
     should be noted that one of these charges turned on 
     Gingrich's book contract with HarperCollins, a publishing 
     concern owned by News Corp., which is also this newspaper's 
     corporate parent.)
       Only one of the 65 charges was deemed worthy of further 
     exploration by an independent counsel. Pardon us if we 
     suggest that this six-year fishing expedition has produced 
     decidedly unimpressive results.
       The committee voted to retain a special counsel to explore 
     whether or not the speaker violated the law by using tax-
     deductible contributions to finance a college course he 
     taught at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. Gingrich has 
     expressed confidence that he will be fully exonerated on this 
     seemingly narrow and highly technical charge. In light of the 
     fate of all the other accusations lodged against him, it's 
     hard not to credit this possibility. Many critics on both 
     sides of aisle have contended that, in general, the standards 
     for appointing independent counsels are exceedingly low; the 
     Ethics Committee's decision here would seem to confirm this 
     observation.
       It is worth recognizing a distinction between the ethics 
     problems allegedly swirling around Gingrich and those that 
     brought down ex-House Speaker Jim Wright, a Democrat. The 
     latter came under investigation after years of abusing his 
     power. While Gingrich (as a back-bencher) played a leading 
     role in the campaign against Wright, even loyal Democrats--in 
     the end--couldn't ignore the ex-speaker's transgressions.
       House Democrats, by contrast, have tried to demonize 
     Gingrich ever since his success in that effort. And from the 
     day the Georgia Republican became speaker, the ``get Newt'' 
     campaign has been a central concern of the official 
     Democratic party leadership.
       Such prejudgment suggests that what bothers Bonior & Co. 
     about Gingrich has nothing to do with whether or not tax-
     deductible contributions were mistakenly used to help finance 
     his political science lectures at Kennesaw State. The 
     Democrats object to the fact that Gingrich--the most able 
     parliamentarian in recent memory--is an energetic 
     conservative who's mounted a serious challenge to the 
     national ideological status quo.
       Similarly, it is not the mere existence of the speaker's 
     political action committee, 

[[Page E2432]]
     GOPAC, that disturbs the Democrats (though they are, in fact, urging 
     the special counsel to expand his inquiry to include some of 
     GOPAC's activities). What really distresses the Democratic 
     leadership is the fact that Gingrich has used GOPAC to forge 
     a spirited GOP congressional majority that's serious about 
     welfare reform, tax reduction and shrinking the power of the 
     federal government.
       To a considerable extent, the Ethics Committee's 
     willingness to order just one charge probed vindicates the 
     speaker. We hope, therefore, that Gingrich takes heart, 
     stands his ground and stays the course. Opportunities to 
     change the direction in American politics don't come around 
     often; and if the Republicans don't succeed in disrupting 
     business as usual in Washington now, the chance will likely 
     pass.

                          ____________________