[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 46 (Thursday, April 17, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H1622-H1623]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          NO PRICE ON HONESTY

  (Mr. DOGGETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, it has been said that no price can be 
placed on honesty, not $3, not $300,000.
  After 3 months of carefully calculating every angle, of exploring 
fully the political calculus of every other alternative, the Speaker 
has reluctantly decided to do what law violators do in America every 
day: pay the fine for an offense on which a guilty plea was entered and 
a conviction found.
  This decision, though belated, should be accepted by this House on 
both sides of the aisle, accepted but not applauded, not applauded any 
more than we would applaud the decision of a major polluter who had 
injured the public health and welfare through its pollution and then 
paid a fine for the conviction.
  For pollution is what has occurred here, lies and deception that 
threaten the very fabric of our democracy. Nor does this payment remove 
other offenses that are still pending, some over 18 months. There is 
nothing noble about the payment of the fine. There is

[[Page H1623]]

something very ignoble about the conduct that produced it.

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