[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 48 (Monday, April 27, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3646-S3647]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, Calendar Nos. 554, 
558 and 569 are confirmed.
  The nominations were considered and confirmed, as follows:


                             THE JUDICIARY

       Garr M. King, of Oregon, to be United States District Judge 
     for the District of Oregon.
       Gregory Moneta Sleet, of Delaware, to be United States 
     District Judge for the District of Delaware.


                       RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD

       Cherryl T. Thomas, of Illinois, to be a Member of the 
     Railroad Retirement Board for a term expiring August 28, 
     2002.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the President will 
be notified of the confirmation of the nominations.


                   nomination of scott snyder fleming

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, since September of 1997, the General 
Accounting Office, at my request, has been conducting an investigation 
into possible anti-lobbying violations--as well as possible violations 
of the Federal Advisory Committee Act--at the Department of Education.
  This investigation is ongoing and I have no reason to believe at this 
time that the nominee in question, Mr. Fleming, is a key figure in this 
investigation nor have I been presented with any evidence of wrongdoing 
on his part that would compel me to oppose his nomination. I would, 
however, like to take this opportunity to urge Mr. Fleming, in his new 
capacity as Assistant Secretary of Education for Legislation and 
Congressional Affairs, to cooperate fully with the GAO investigation in 
order to resolve this matter expeditiously.
  Mr. President, let me explain my involvement with this issue and my 
concerns as they relate to allegations of an unusually close, and 
perhaps improper, relationship between the Department of Education and 
certain lobbyists in this town.
  This matter was first brought to my attention by an editorial that 
appeared in the Washington Post on September 4, 1997.
  That editorial, written by nationally syndicated columnist Robert 
Novak, described how--each week while Congress was in session--senior 
Department of Education officials and special interest group 
representatives gathered in Secretary Riley's conference room for what, 
in my opinion, amounted to `political action' or `legislative planning' 
sessions.
  News of these meetings surfaced in a report published by the Alexis 
de Tocqueville Institution's, Paul Steidler. For seven months, Mr. 
Steidler attended these meetings and kept detailed minutes of what was 
discussed. What emerges from the Steidler notes, if substantiated, is 
extremely troubling.
  Without discussing the particulars of this investigation, Mr. 
President, let me note that I take Mr. Steidler's allegations very 
seriously. Collusion between special interest lobbyists and the 
executive branch for the express purpose of defeating or promoting 
specific legislation, at the grass roots level or here in Congress, is 
unacceptable.
  Mr. President, the GAO investigation into these matters is still 
underway. And, as I said, it does not appear that Mr. Fleming was a 
central figure in the formation or conduct of the weekly meetings in 
question.
  My concern is that the Department of Education cooperate fully with 
this investigation so this body and the American people can be certain 
that the Department of Education's interests correspond with our 
children's best interests and not just the needs of those special 
interests that dominate the landscape here in Washington.
  I ask unanimous consent that the Novak editorial be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the editorial was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               [From the Washington Post, Sept. 4, 1997]

                          Triumph of The Blob

                          (By Robert D. Novak)

       At 4 p.m. today, some 45 education lobbyists--``back to 
     school'' after the August congressional break--will resume 
     weekly sessions with Department of Education officials in the 
     secretary of education's conference room. There is doubt 
     whether these meetings are legal but no question that they 
     have been effective and, until now, a rare Washington secret.
       They began in 1995, when what former education secretary 
     William J. Bennett calls The Blob--the special-interest 
     groups that want to maintain the educational status quo--
     feared the worst from a newly Republican Congress. With more 
     than a hundred bills for abolition of the Department of 
     Education introduced, the Thursday meetings began without the 
     formal notification required by law for ``advisory 
     committees''. After 2\1/2\ years of this collaboration the 
     tide has turned on education, with the Republicans in full 
     retreat.
       ``It's pretty much an open meeting,'' Acting Deputy 
     Education Secretary Marshall (Mike) Smith, who usually 
     presides, told me. He added that I would be welcome, which he 
     conceded would make me the first journalist there. In fact, 
     the sessions have been attended almost exclusively by The 
     Blob, providing intelligence for the government bureaucrats 
     who in turn disclose Clinton administration strategy. ``We 
     rely on you, partly, as your eyes and ears,'' Smith told 
     participants July 24.
       But an interloper appeared at this year's meetings. Paul 
     Steidler, senior fellow of the conservative Education Reform 
     Project, heard about them and asked to attend. He got 
     permission after interrogation by reluctant education 
     officials. Steidler's subsequent weekly minutes offer a 
     wondrous insight into how Bill Clinton's Washington works.
       ``There was boisterous conversation, and one could sense 
     the camaraderie in the air,''

[[Page S3647]]

     Steidler said of the atmosphere preceding his first meeting. 
     The regulars represent such pro-Clinton groups as the 
     National School Boards Association, the American Association 
     of School Administrators and the American Federation of 
     Teachers. First among equals is the National Education 
     Association (NEA), the powerful teachers' union. Joel Packer, 
     the NEA's expert lobbyist, sits next to and is deferred to by 
     the Education Department's senior official present.
       When an Education Department official described Republican 
     Sen. Paul Coverdell's proposal for $50 million in grants to 
     fund school-choice pilot programs somebody exclaimed. ``Yeah, 
     the fear voucher.'' Another voice joined in: ``You get it if 
     you are scared.'' Steidler noted: ``There was loud and 
     sustained laughter. I found this to be quite chilling.''
       Through seven months of these minutes, the administration 
     and The Blob marched in lock step to maximize federal funding 
     and suppress school choice, with scarcely a critical word for 
     the Clinton administration and no kind word for Republicans.
       When it was mentioned that former education secretary Lamar 
     Alexander would testify to Congress, ``moans and snickers'' 
     were followed by the NEA's Packer saying, ``It's called Mr. 
     Voucher time''. Commenting on a C-SPAN broadcast of 
     Republican congressmen discussing education, then-Education 
     Department lobbyist Kay Casstevens said: ``If you didn't see 
     it, you're probably better off.''
       Ad budget negotiations neared their climax, Smith asked 
     everybody to make sure they could be reached if they left 
     town. The joint Education Department-NEA clout soon was 
     demonstrated.
       At the June 16 meeting, the NEA's Adele Robinson alerted 
     the department to House committee approval of Democratic Rep. 
     Benjamin Cardin's proposed $150 tax credit for after-school 
     private tutoring. Smith declared: ``It drives a stake through 
     [the president's] America Reads [program]. It's close to a 
     voucher, folks.'' Cardin's proposal was eliminated, thanks to 
     administration pressure.
       So was a Coverdell amendment to the tax bill permitting 
     parents to use their own tax-free savings for kindergarten 
     through 12th-grade private schools. ``On behalf of the NEA,'' 
     Packer said at the July 31 meeting, ``I want to profusely 
     thank the administration for its stand on Coverdell.''
       Is the administration's failure to list these meetings in 
     the Federal Register a violation of the Federal Advisory 
     Committee Act (FACA)? ``The meetings are not covered by 
     FACA'' acting Education Department General Counsel Jiumenne 
     Studley told me, because they have no fixed membership or 
     specific purpose. ``Anyone who wants can join in,'' she said. 
     But her assertions are refuted by Paul Steidler's minutes, as 
     Mike Smith may hear when he comes up for Senate confirmation.