[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 147 (Tuesday, October 28, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H9610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ABUSE OF SUBPOENA POWER

  (Mr. MORAN of Virginia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks and include 
extraneous material.)
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, a constituent of 
mine by the name of Ted Hudson, received a subpoena for all of the 
telephone records of his wife from the U.S. House of Representatives, 
the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, investigating 
campaign financing. This subpoena was issued only because his wife's 
name is LiPing Chen. His wife has a Chinese surname. Mr. Speaker, this 
is a 20-year civil servant who categorically denies any involvement by 
him or his wife in political fund-raising for any party in the 1996 
campaign or any other campaign back to 1986 when the $50 tax credit was 
repealed and at that time he was a Republican.
  The only reason his wife's telephone records were subpoenaed is 
because she has a Chinese surname. This Congress has no business 
turning our Government into a police state. This is totally 
inappropriate and I will come to the floor every day until this 
subpoena is withdrawn and an apology is issued to this family.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit for the Record a letter I received from Mr. 
Hudson and an attachment from his telephone company.


                                               Alexandria, VA,

                                                 October 26, 1997.
     Hon. James P. Moran,
     House of Representatives, Cannon House Office Building, 
         Washington, DC.

     Re Committee on Government Reform and Oversight abuse of 
         subpoena power.

       Dear Mr. Moran: My wife, LiPing Chen Hudson, received the 
     attached letter on Saturday, October 25, from the telephone 
     company stating: ``We received a subpoena from the House of 
     Representatives of the Congress of the United States of 
     America, requesting toll billing records for your telephone 
     number . . . for the period of January 1, 1994 through 
     September 17, 1997.''
       My wife is a citizen of Taiwan, an alien with conditional 
     permanent residency in this country (in 1995 your office was 
     instrumental in getting the Immigration and Naturalization 
     Service to process our application), who spends most of her 
     time caring for our 22-month-old daughter. As we are on the 
     verge of applying to remove the conditional status, I am very 
     concerned about how the INS may view a Congressional subpoena 
     on her record.
       We do not know why she is being investigated. The committee 
     doing so is the one investigating alleged campaign 
     fundraising abuses. Li had a Chinese surname. She once held a 
     low level job (translating and staffing meetings with the FBI 
     and Secret Service) in the security office of the Taiwan non-
     embassy here (a job that she resigned in 1995 in order to 
     marry me, a one-time registered Republican (I was a callow 
     youth at the time) and currently a 20-year mid-level Federal 
     civil servant who hasn't given a penny to any politician or 
     party since the $50 tax credit was repealed in 1986). In her 
     job, she had no contact with American political parties or 
     politicians.
       We categorically deny any involvement, by my wife or 
     myself, in political fundraising for any party in the 1996 
     campaign or any other campaign since 1986.
       I would like for you to intervene on our behalf. I would 
     like this committee to withdraw this subpoena and expunge it 
     from its records.
       Thank you for your help in this matter.
           Sincerely,
     Ted Hudson.
                                                                    ____



                                          Bell Atlantic Corp.,

                               Cockeysville, MD, October 17, 1997.
     Liping Chen,
     Alexandria, VA.
       Dear Customer: It is this Company's policy to notify a 
     subscriber when we receive a subpoena or summons for our toll 
     billing records for a subscriber's account.
       We received a subpoena from the House of Representatives of 
     the Congress of the United States of America, requesting toll 
     billing records for your telephone number xxxxxxxxxxxx.
       This subpoena demands billing records for the time period 
     of January 1, 1994 through September 19, 1997. This Company, 
     in response to this subpoena, will furnish the available toll 
     billing records to the Committee on the Government Reform and 
     Oversight on or before October 20, 1997.
       Any questions, you may have about the subpoena, should be 
     referred to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight 
     on 202-225-5074.
           Sincerely,
     Doris Cox.

                          ____________________