[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 12, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H6187]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   300 FILES A BUREAUCRATIC MISTAKE?

  (Mrs. SEASTRAND asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. SEASTRAND. Mr. Speaker, they say that nothing ever stays the 
same, and I suppose that applies even to Bill Clinton's beliefs about 
how personal FBI personnel records are.
  When the American public was concerned in 1992 about Governor 
Clinton's military record, or lack thereof, the Washington Times filed 
a Freedom of Information request to check on discrepancies between 
Clinton campaign statements and his letters to ROTC officials.
  At that time, the Clinton campaign said ``It's a personal file. He's 
not going to [release the records]. [Clinton] just doesn't have to 
disclose every shred of his personal life, and the American people 
don't expect him to.''
  Apparently, Clinton did not expect that same sort of privacy for 
other citizens. He has raided the personal files of Reagan and Bush 
political appointees, yet it was only a bureaucratic mistake. A 
misplaced paper or misfiled form may be a bureaucratic mistake, but the 
personal files of over 300 people?
  Clinton once thought those 300 files were personal. The American 
people, and the people whose privacy were violated by this 
administration deserve an explanation.

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