[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 116 (Thursday, August 1, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H9832]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TREATING PEOPLE LIKE THIS IS A DISGRACE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Rohrabacher] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, today we learned the joyous news our 
colleague, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. McDade], was found not 
guilty on all charges against him. Joe was one of the most admired and 
distinguished Members of this body. He is much beloved by his 
constituents of his Pennsylvania district. Joe, however, was targeted 
by a prosecutor looking for a trophy. He wanted to put a trophy of Joe 
on the wall, he wanted to convict a Congressman, a prosecutor intent on 
bringing Joe down in order to further his own career.
  Well, as time went on it was clear that Joe was innocent. The 
prosecutor, however, had to double his efforts or admit that he had 
wasted the taxpayers' time on a questionable, very questionable 
prosecution.
  Today, after over 4 years of brutal attack by an abusive prosecutor, 
Joe McDade was found innocent of all the charges against him. A jury of 
his peers heard the evidence and decided that they were groundless. 
Unfortunately Joe's defense cost him his entire life savings. He has 
been put through a travail that none of us would like to emulate.
  Well, we rejoice with Joe, but we also add the fact that he was found 
innocent, and we stand committed to try to make up at least for the 
financial loss that he suffered. He has suffered a catastrophe at the 
hands of an out-of-control prosecutor, a prosecutor gone berserk in 
order to bring down a public official in order to make himself look 
good.
  And what has the cost been to this man personally, a loyal 
hardworking public servant who committed his entire life to his country 
and to his constituents? We will welcome Joe back here joyously after 
this great victory.
  But today something else happened. Today President Clinton announced 
that he is reneging on his agreement, as stated by his White House 
spokesman, to sign a bill which would pay for the legal expenses of 
Billy Dale. This is a bill that passed this House overwhelmingly, to 
pay the legal expenses of Billy Dale.
  Now you may remember who Billy Dale is. Billy Dale was the civil 
service employee at the White House who ran the travel office. He was 
fired by the White House early on in order to give basically a relative 
of the President a chance to take over that office and to give a 
Hollywood chum of the President a chance at the contracts to give 
travel services to the media who cover the White House.
  Billy Dale was fired unjustly, and when there was a large protest 
about this, the President decided, and whoever it was, that they would 
not just be satisfied with firing Billy Dale, but they would have to 
file charges against this man, this guy, this ordinary working man who 
spent all of his life trying to do his duty, had been in the military.
  He was there in a bipartisan job in the White House, just a little 
public servant, somebody, a civil service fellow, and he was fired, and 
he was then not only fired but prosecuted in order to cover up the 
wrongdoing and the wrong action that was taken against him.
  Well this was something that was again confirmed by the fact that 
Billy Dale, with all of the prosecutorial power of the Federal 
Government against him, when it was taken to court it took 2 hours, 2 
hours for a jury to find that Billy Dale was innocent of all the 
charges against him.
  Yet, like Joe McDade, Billy Dale was not a rich man, and Billy Dale's 
entire life's savings was destroyed by trying to defend himself against 
a vindictive President who was trying to cover up his own wrongdoing.
  Now, after the President agreed through his spokesman at the White 
House that he would sign a piece of legislation, legislation that 
passed overwhelmingly in this body, to make up at least to some small 
degree the injustice that was given to this man, Billy Dale, who ran 
the travel office there at the White House, the President now is 
reneging on that agreement. The President said, ``Oh, not until all the 
legal fees of all the people who were being investigated by this 
Congress are paid are we going to pay for Billy Dale.''
  Well let me remind the President, and I guess I cannot speak directly 
to the President, but let me remind all of you that the President of 
the United States is talking about people who were not found innocent 
of crimes, or are being investigated, versus Billy Dale who was found 
totally innocent of all the charges against him. This is an absolute 
travesty.
  President Clinton must stand by his word. Through his spokesman, he 
committed to sign the bill that would pay Billy Dale's legal expenses 
and make up for the wrongdoing that his administration was involved in 
in basically relieving Mr. Dale of his job in the first place and then 
bringing criminal wrongdoing against Mr. Dale to cover up that tactic 
against this civil servant.

  Mr. Clinton has gone too far, he has to keep his agreement with us, 
and he must keep faith with the values of the American people instead 
of treating some civil servant like this. It is a disgrace.

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