[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 125 (Thursday, September 18, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H7593]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           MEMBER RESPONDS TO MENENDEZ PRIVILEGED RESOLUTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I want to take this time to do something 
that I was not allowed to do, because I was given no time in the debate 
concerning our friend Bob Dornan and the banning of Bob Dornan from the 
House floor under what I would consider, in the least, a very flawed 
hearing, if you could call it that, a gathering of Members who heard 
the prosecutorial statement, heard the statement by the gentleman who 
claimed that he was wronged, with absolutely no defense allowed to be 
given, no time for a defense, and then a vote and a punishment.
  Mr. Speaker, all we can do is give our own perspective of events from 
our own experience. I want to do that right now.
  Bob Dornan came in here the other day, a couple of days ago, walked 
over to a bunch of us right here at the majority leadership table, and 
had small talk with us. He did not lobby for any cause, much less for 
his cause. He chatted with us. In fact, he said at one point, ``I know 
I can't lobby here. I just want to see how you guys are doing.''
  After a few minutes, we walked back to the cloakroom. As we sat down 
in the cloakroom, the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Menendez] came 
rushing out on the floor and proceeded in a very pointed way to attack 
Mr. Dornan. He did not attack him by name. He asked the Speaker to tell 
him what the rules were with respect to whether or not a former Member 
could lobby Members of Congress on the House floor, come out here and 
lobby.
  Of course, the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Menendez] being an old 
hand at this, knows you cannot lobby. He also knows that Mr. Dornan had 
just been on the House floor and was the only person there, and it was 
a very pointed attempt to embarrass Mr. Dornan, and it worked.
  So Mr. Dornan rushed back on the House floor and talked to the 
gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Menendez] right over here and told him 
what he thought of him. Maybe he should not have told him what he 
thought of him. Maybe he should not have used harsh words, but on the 
other hand, Mr. Speaker, we have had Members of Congress grab each 
other, mug each other, put each other in headlocks, punch each other, 
do all kinds of things, and that includes members of the leadership, 
Mr. Speaker, and we have never banned any of them from the House floor.
  I just want you to consider that when a former Member comes out here, 
he cannot defend himself. The one thing all of us can do if another 
Member takes us on, especially if they take us on personally, is we can 
get time at the mike and we can get up and defend ourselves.
  But a former Member who comes out here, who is embarrassed and 
humiliated by a sitting Member who stands up and starts to imply that 
he is out there lobbying, which is not legal or against our rules on 
the House floor, that former Member can do nothing. He has to sit there 
and take it and be humiliated.
  Interestingly, in all of these other cases that have come before us 
when Members have grappled, punched, and done other things to each 
other, we have always looked at the full context of the case. We have 
never just taken a snapshot and said, ``You shouldn't have done that.'' 
We have said, ``What happened? What provoked it?'' Was there a 
provocation?
  In my assessment, Mr. Speaker, there was absolutely a provocation. 
Mr. Dornan was provoked to do this. The other Member did this simply to 
embarrass him. He knew what the rules were. He did not have to learn 
the rules anew. He knew darned well you cannot lobby on the House 
floor. He also knew that everybody who had seen Mr. Dornan on the House 
floor would realize that those pointed remarks were directed to him. He 
knew it would embarrass Mr. Dornan, and he did it, and then he 
proceeded to say, look what has happened to me, and to reap the benefit 
of that, which is this precipitous move to ban a former Member from the 
House floor based totally on what the prosecutorial side says happened.

                              {time}  1930

  None of us who wanted to defend Mr. Dornan had a chance to defend 
him. We did not have any time. I got up to make my statement, and we 
were out of time, because we were only given 20 minutes apiece.
  So, Mr. Speaker, this has been a sad chapter in the House of 
Representatives, a sad chapter for people who talk about due process, 
talk about letting everybody have a fair hearing, talk about people 
being able to present their part of the evidence, present their views, 
their opinions. There was none of that. There was a self-serving 
statement by the prosecution, and then we all voted. It was a mistake, 
Mr. Speaker.

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