[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 42 (Monday, March 25, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E445-E446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS OF OFFICIAL CONDUCT MUST ITSELF BE ABOVE 
                                REPROACH

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                               speech of

                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, March 22, 1996

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am very concerned today. I am very 
concerned about the ability of the House Committee on Standards of 
Official Conduct to conduct its business in a fair and impartial 
manner, because of press reports that we have seen throughout this 
Congress expressing doubts about the committee's ability to uphold the 
bipartisan standard of fairness for which it is well-known.
  Just yesterday I read a press report about a new breach or possible 
breach of impartiality, where the committee was accused of 
communicating with a Member who was under review. Surely, Mr. Speaker, 
this must not happen. It is totally unacceptable.
  The group in this House that is charged and given the privilege of 
maintaining the ethics and the decorum of this House must not itself 
come under reproach.
  Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record an article by Larry Margasak on 
this issue.

        Ethics Committee Rebukes Lawmaker, Lets Him Announce It

              (By Larry Margasak, Associated Press Writer)

       Washington (AP)--In an unusual arrangement, the House 
     ethics committee privately rebuked Rep. David M. McIntosh, R-
     Ind., but allowed him to announce the action in generally 
     favorable terms.
       Committee Chairman Nancy Johnson refused to publicly 
     release the panel's letter sent to McIntosh on Tuesday. The 
     letter criticized his distribution of materials at a hearing 
     and religious comments made by an aide.
       The letter found, however, that no rules were violated and 
     two ethics complaints against McIntosh were dismissed.
       Johnson's action broke with the usual practice of publicly 
     releasing letters that complete ethics cases.
       In this instance, the only hints of the letter's criticism 
     came in a news release from McIntosh written with an assist 
     from the committee.
       The congressman's spokesman, Chris Jones, said, ``The 
     committee asked us to include certain things in the news 
     release.'' Those items, in the last paragraph of McIntosh's 
     seven-paragraph statement, made references to the ethics 
     panel's concerns.
       Congressional sources familiar with the letter, speaking on 
     condition of anonymity, said it was far more critical than 
     McIntosh suggested in his news release.
       The complaints were based on McIntosh's actions at a Sept. 
     28 hearing of a House Government Reform subcommittee he 
     chairs and improper remarks by a subcommittee staffer about a 
     Jewish holiday.
       McIntosh displayed a poster and distributed a letter 
     resembling the stationery of the Alliance for Justice, a 
     coalition of civil rights and public interest lobbying 
     groups. The document purported to list amounts of federal 
     grants received by the group's member organizations.

[[Page E446]]

       The documents included no disclaimer saying they had been 
     prepared by McIntosh's staff, and listed grants for at least 
     two groups that say they receive no federal money. The poster 
     also was displayed on the House floor.
       The improper remarks came in a conversation between a 
     subcommittee staffer, John Praed, and Alliance for Justice 
     counsel Deborah Lewis.
       According to Lewis, she asked for more preparation time for 
     the subcommittee hearing because of the Jewish Rosh Hashanah 
     holiday.
       She said she would be off that day and Praed asked, ``Does 
     that mean you have to work Christmas?''
       McIntosh's version praised the Committee on Standards of 
     Official Conduct the ethics committee for its ``fair and 
     nonpartisan consideration of the complaints'' and for 
     reaffirming ``the soundness of the ethics process.'' It 
     quoted a Democratic lawmaker supporting McIntosh.
       But the final paragraph of the news release the portion the 
     committee wanted to include changes the tone somewhat.
       After noting the ethics panel accepted McIntosh's statement 
     that he had no intention to mislead at the hearing, the 
     lawmaker hinted at the committee's concerns.
       ``House members should not use anyone's letter or 
     letterhead and add any extraneous comments because of the 
     potential for confusion about who added the extraneous 
     comments,'' the release said. McIntosh agreed to adopt the 
     policy in the future.
       ``The committee also indicated concern about questions made 
     by a former subcommittee staff member in preparing for a 
     subcommittee hearing,'' McIntosh's news release acknowledged.

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