[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 113 (Monday, July 29, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9080-S9081]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      THE WHITEWATER INVESTIGATION

   Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, the recently completed report on 
the investigation of Whitewater development and related matters was a 
costly political exercise. I was a member of that special committee and 
wrote about the committee's findings in a weekly column that was 
distributed to newspapers in Illinois.
  I ask that it be printed in the Record.
  The column follows:

      The Whitewater Investigation Was A Costly Political Exercise

                        (By Senator Paul Simon)

       The Senate Whitewater investigation resulted in a political 
     exercise that contributed nothing, except to add to public 
     cynicism and confirming the already widespread belief that in 
     Congress we are playing partisan games rather than tending to 
     the nation's and the public's real needs.

[[Page S9081]]

       Obviously some people broke the law in the Whitewater 
     events, but the evidence indicated neither a violation of the 
     law nor of ethical standards by Bill Clinton or Hillary 
     Clinton while he served either as President or as Governor of 
     Arkansas.
       But the misuse of the FBI files is another matter. Both the 
     White House and the FBI are at fault. The President probably 
     is not personally involved, but it happened in his White 
     House and administration and it should not be treated as a 
     minor mess-up by the President or his staff. The misuse of 
     police powers by governments is as old as governments 
     themselves, and something that must be constantly guarded 
     against.
       The abuse of the FBI files comes at a time when there are 
     two other abuses.
       One is the Senate investigation which spent almost $2 
     million, received testimony from 139 witnesses, and took more 
     time than any investigation of a sitting President in our 
     history--longer than the Watergate or Iran-Contra hearings. 
     ``Where there is smoke there must be fire'' is an old saying, 
     but those hearings were designed to create smoke. Not only is 
     there a product of questionable worth, we took testimony from 
     many individuals who never in their lives thought they would 
     testify before a Senate Committee, such as secretaries. Some 
     were terrified by the combination of coming before a 
     committee and being on national television.
       A second abuse is the multiplying like rabbits of special 
     counsels--really special prosecutors--with no limits on their 
     expenses and their ability to use huge resources from the FBI 
     and other agencies. I voted for the law creating the special 
     counsel, but now I sense we need a better answer.
       Since the FBI and the work of U.S. attorneys fall under the 
     jurisdiction of the Attorney General, my sense is that we 
     should review the possibility of a change in how we structure 
     that office. It differs from other cabinet posts in its broad 
     police and prosecutorial responsibilities, and the recent FBI 
     debacle and the runaway habits of the special prosecutors, 
     might provide an incentive to the next Congress and President 
     to look at this question.
       For example, we might have an Attorney General appointed 
     for a 10-year term, with a small bipartisan group giving the 
     President a list of five names to choose from, and also 
     giving him the ability to request a new list of names if he 
     found them unsatisfactory, but still requiring confirmation 
     by the Senate. And then have no special prosecutors.
       This is not a criticism of Janet Reno, who is a much-above-
     average Attorney General. Another example of a good 
     appointment is President Gerald Ford's naming of Ed Levi, 
     then president of the University of Chicago. No one felt that 
     at any time Gerald Ford could get Ed Levi to do anything but 
     what he believed was in the best interests of the nation. 
     That is the way it should be.
       My hope is that out of the present mini-storms something 
     constructive can happen.

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