[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 62 (Tuesday, May 7, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H4432-H4433]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONCERNS ABOUT THE ETHICS PROCESS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May
12, 1995, the gentleman from New Hampshire [Mr. Bass] is recognized
during morning business for 5 minutes.
Mr. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address an issue that has
always been a priority of mine since I first served in the New
Hampshire legislature back in 1982, and that issue is ethics. One of my
first responsibilities back then was to serve on a task force to make
recommendations on the establishment of a permanent ethics committee
and guidelines for Members of the New Hampshire legislature and the
State senate, by the way, who are only paid $100 a year.
As a result of this and subsequent efforts, I was pleased as a New
Hampshire State Senator to author the law that established a permanent
legislative ethics committee, and I served as chairman for 2 years. By
the way, part of this process involved crafting the law. We studied
other models in other States, including the model here in Washington
that is used for Congress.
Because of the work I was able to do with Democrats and Republicans
in New Hampshire, including now Governor Steve Merrill, many of the
procedures that we used in New Hampshire are based on ethics standards
rules that we follow here in Congress. We felt that it was critical
that our ethics committee always work on a bipartisan basis and that
the actions of its Members be totally above reproach. We adopted
language which would require that any Member of our ethics committee
recuse himself or herself from any deliberation if there was any
possibility of a conflict of interest.
Last week I was surprised to read in the April 30, 1996 edition of
the Washington Times an article about a possible conflict of interest
involving the ranking minority member of the Committee on Standards of
Official Conduct. At this time, Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent
that the article from the Washington Times be included along with my
statement in the Record.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New Hampshire?
There was no objection.
Mr. BASS. Mr. Speaker, the article reveals that the same individual
who drafted several complaints filed against the Speaker also helped
raise tens of thousands of dollars for the campaign of the ranking
minority member of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. The
article also revealed that the political consulting firm header by the
individual in question, Mr. Steven J. Jost, also received over $14,000
in payments from the ranking minority member's campaign committee.
Mr. Speaker, in no way am I implying that the distinguished ranking
minority member of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct has
acted in an unethical fashion, but in the same manner that questions
were raised by the minority whip concerning Republican Members of the
committee and alleged conflicts of interest, similar questions should
also be raised regarding any connection between the ranking minority
member of the committee and the individual who helped raise money for
him and also drafted many of the complaints filed against the Speaker.
It is vital, Mr. Speaker, that the ethics process in Congress remain
fair and above reproach, and that we retain the confidence of the
American people for this important process. I hope that we will receive
in the coming days a full and complete explanation of the ranking
minority member's association with this fundraiser and this
fundraiser's dealings with the ethics committee regarding filings made
against the Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I submit the following article for the Record.
[From the Washington Times, Apr. 30, 1996]
Gingrich Critic Aided Ethics-Panel Democrat
(By George Archibald)
The top Democrat on the House ethics committee received
tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions
raised by a firm whose senior partner spearheaded ethics
complaints against House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Rep. Jim McDermott, Washington Democrat, who says he knew
nothing of the fund raising and therefore didn't violate
committee conflict-of-interest rules raised more than $36,000
from political action committees at two receptions organized
last year by Fraioli/Jost, a PAC money-raiser for
congressional Democrats.
At the same time, Mr. McDermott was the point man pushing
for the House ethics committee to appoint an outside counsel
to investigate complaints against Mr. Gingrich.
The complaints were researched and legally drafted under
the direction of Steven J. Jost of Fraioli/Jost.
Mr. Jost was the chief fundraiser for Ben Jones, the
speaker's 1994 Democratic opponent, who launched the anti-
Gingrich ethics complaints formally filed by House Minority
Whip David E. Bonior of Michigan.
The complaints accused Mr. Gingrich of improperly
commingling funds and activities of GOPAC, which helped
achieve the GOP takeover of Congress, and a nationally
televised political science course the speaker taught from a
college in his home state, Georgia.
``We're stringing up the electric chair here, but we didn't
make him guilty; he made himself guilty,'' Mr. Jost told the
Wall Street Journal about Mr. Gingrich last year after the
complaints were filed.
Documents purported to show ties between the college course
and GOPAC were obtained by Mr. Jost in Georgia during Mr.
Jones' 1994 campaign. ``Mr. Jost decided they would be useful
as a campaign weapon,'' the Journal reported. ``So he hired a
Democratic lawyer, Bob Bauer, to fashion them into an ethics
complaint for $4,500.''
Mr. Bauer represents House Minority Leader Richard A.
Gephardt of Missouri, another Fraioli/Jost client.
The Landmark Legal Foundation appraised the House Ethics
Committee last year of ties between Mr. Jost and Democratic
House leaders in the anti-Gingrich campaign. The panel,
formally known as the Committee on Standards of Official
Conduct, refused to look into the matter.
``Mr. McDermott had a duty to step aside when any complaint
with Mr. Jost's fingerprints on it came before the ethics
committee,'' said Mark R. Levin, Landmark's director of legal
policy.
``Members of the ethics committee are supposed to consider
all ethics complaints with a nonpartisan, unjaundiced eye.
The record would appear to show that Mr. McDermott and Mr.
Jost are joined at the hip,'' Mr. Levin said. ``We are
reviewing this information and seriously considering filing a
formal complaint.''
Mr. McDermott yesterday denied any conflict with committee
rules requiring impartiality and lack of bias in the Gingrich
case.
He also denied knowledge of filings by his political
committee, Friends of Jim McDermott, listing payments of
$14,160.61 to Fraioli/Jost for last year's PAC fundraising
activities.
``I don't know who did the fund raising,'' Mr. McDermott
told The Washington Times in an interview just off the House
floor. He then walked back onto the floor, where reporters
are barred, to avoid further questions about campaign
committee filings by Charles M. Williams, his $106,044-a-year
chief congressional aide.
Mr. Williams, who runs Mr. McDermott's Capitol office,
serves as treasurer of Friends of Jim McDermott. Mr. Williams
did not respond to inquiries yesterday.
Reports he filed for the campaign committee in December and
February list contributions totaling $36,000 to Mr. McDermott
from 52 PACs, each of which gave $500 or $1,000 at Capitol
Hill fundraising receptions organized by Fraioli/Jost on
April 5 and July 15, 1995.
Mr. Jost, who left partner Michael Fraioli in June to start
his own fund-raising company, said Mr. McDermott ``first
approached us'' to do his fund raising in the 1993-94
election cycle. ``As I recall, one of the other members of
Congress referred us to him,'' Mr. Jost said.
Mr. Jost said his income from Fraioli/Jost, even after Mr.
Jones ceased being a client of the firm, enabled him to spend
time advancing the anti-Gingrich ethics campaign. ``I have
never been compensated for any work by anybody on any of the
Gingrich stuff, except for news organizations that have
reimbursed me for photocopying expenses.'' he said
Mr. Jost said he saw no conflict in Mr. McDermott's
reliance on Fraioli/Jost for fund raising are his own work in
the Gingrich camp while Mr. McDermott was sitting in judgment
of the speaker.
``It sounds like the worst thing you could accuse me or Jim
McDermott of is being Democrat,'' Mr. Jost said. He said
committee Republicans Porter J. Gross of Florida, Jim Bunning
of Kentucky and Nancy L. Johnson of Connecticut, the panel's
chairman had greater conflicts.
``Your're alleging . . . a conflict that is far less direct
than, for instance, Mr. Goss' giving $5,000 to GOPAC at the
time the ethics
[[Page H4433]]
complaint is before his committee, or that Mr. Bunning and
Mrs. Johnson participated in GOPAC activities,'' Mr. Jost
said.
____________________