[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 29, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H5627-H5628]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           TRUTH IN SPEAKING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Dornan] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, there are so many subjects racing through my 
mind right now for a 5-minute special order. I was going to talk about 
an Army hero who was killed in Bosnia trying to, to use his own words 
from a few hours before his death, clear these stinking minefields for 
the children of Bosnia, but the last gentlewoman began her remarks by 
saying it is time for truth in speaking.
  Let me tell the gentlewoman, as somebody who started investigating 
Little Rock in 1992, before the Clintons were in the White house, I 
think Little Rock, just Little Rock, in an otherwise great State, and 
only in the field of politics with some businesspeople, was a stinking 
hole of corruption; with not this current Governor, but the prior 
Governor, a stinking hole of corruption. And that like Hamlet's line 
about

[[Page H5628]]

murder, though it hath no tongue, will by most miraculous organ out, 
all of this financial corruption will by most miraculous organ out by, 
using her very words, truth in speaking.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. DORNAN. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, what I did in my special order 
was ask a number of questions that were still unanswered. One of the 
questions that I think is very, very important is why did the Arkansas 
Development Financial Authority send $50 million of Arkansas money to 
the Cayman Islands to deposit in a bank in the Cayman Islands, which is 
a major drug transit point acknowledged by almost every DEA agent in 
the world? Why would they send $50 million of Arkansas money down 
there? That is a question that needs to be answered.
  I have the electronic bank transfer statements in my office. I am 
going to put them in the Congressional Record. There is no doubt the 
money was wired to the Cayman Islands. The question needs to be asked, 
why was it wired? Why would the Governor of Arkansas allow that? Why 
would the Arkansas Development Financial Authority, a State-run agency, 
send their money out of the country to a drug haven? I hope that the 
independent counsel will explore that. We are going to ask other 
questions as well.
  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, no one other than the gentleman has 
investigated the Vince Foster thing or analyzed it. And the line of 
Vince Foster's that comes back to us from the grave about the whole 
Whitewater mess and the IRS problems was, these are Vince Foster's 
words, ``This is a can of worms we do not want to open.'' The can of 
worms was opened in front of that jury and they got 24 felony 
convictions.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas, the Portia from 
the other side of the aisle.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I do not know if I will accept 
that. I am the gentlewoman from Texas. I appreciate the gentleman from 
California in his sincerity, and also my friend who is down at the 
well, the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Burton].
  But might I just suggest to both of my colleagues, first of all, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Dornan] speaks highly of those who have 
offered themselves for a military career. Governor Jim Guy Tucker is a 
former Marine war correspondent, a graduate from Harvard, or 
undergraduate, and University of Arkansas Law School, I believe. I do 
not think he engaged in the business of public service to find himself 
where he is today.

  My point being made on the floor is that we have various entities 
that are engaged in investigating these circumstances, including the 
special prosecutor and, in fact, the Senate Whitewater committee. I 
believe they have spent to date some $12.4 million and have yet to find 
or determine anything related to any consequences relevant to the White 
House.
  My only point, made to both gentlemen, is that I think we would do 
well to allow those who have been designated to investigate it, and if 
the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Burton] is involved in the 
investigation, so be it; but the point is we do not add to the 
resolution by false accusations or loose accusations where we do not 
have the proof to answer the questions.
  The gentleman from Indiana has every right to ask a question. I hope 
the gentleman's question is answered. But I do not find it meritorious 
to engage in this kind of debate.
  Mr. DORNAN. I agree. Just to clear the record, for those who were not 
forced to take 4 years of Shakespeare in school, that Portia, because I 
well know the gentlewoman's distinguished name, means a lady lawyer of 
exceeding skill, as in Portia from the Merchant of Venice, who gave us 
the great soliloquy:

       The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
       It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
       Upon the place beneath. It is twice bless'd:
       It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

  I just wanted that on the record.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield 
further, Shakespeare also said:

       The first thing we do is kill all the lawyers.

  Mr. DORNAN. That was in Henry VI. The barber said that. I do not want 
any part of that.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate very much the 
gentleman's compliment. I want it to be acknowledged I am just a humble 
servant from the 18th Congressional District of Texas. But I appreciate 
the kindness of the gentleman from California [Mr. Dornan] and the 
gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Burton]. But I do think it is appropriate 
that we not take yesterday's headlines and be able to determine truth 
or fact here in the House when we do not have all the facts.
  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, in closing, they are taking bets in our 
cloakroom that Al Gore will run one heck of a race in October of this 
very year for President of the United States.

                          ____________________