[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 66 (Thursday, May 21, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S5269]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     NOMINATION OF JAMES C. HORMEL

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I rise to speak one more time--and I 
have done this from time to time on the floor of the Senate--on behalf 
of the nomination of James C. Hormel to be U.S. Ambassador to 
Luxembourg. I have talked about Mr. Hormel's qualifications before, so 
I need not repeat that.
  We are talking about someone who is a loving and devoted father and 
grandfather, an accomplished businessman, dean of students at the 
University of Chicago Law School, on the board of directors of all 
sorts of organizations, from the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce to 
Swarthmore College--you name it.
  One of my colleagues--and I think it is extremely unfortunate--has 
compared Mr. Hormel, a highly qualified public servant and nominee, to 
Mr. David Duke who, among other credentials, is a former grand wizard 
of the Ku Klux Klan, founded the National Association for the 
Advancement of White People, and claimed that the ``Holocaust is 
primarily a historical hoax and not against Jews but perpetuated on 
Christians by Jews.''
  Mr. James Hormel has been compared with this man, David Duke. I want 
to say to my colleagues that, given this kind of statement made 
publicly by a U.S. Senator, this kind of character assassination, it is 
more important now than ever that this man, Mr. Hormel, be allowed to 
have his day in the court of the U.S. Senate. There is overwhelming 
support for his nomination. He should be brought to the floor of the 
Senate, and we should have an up-or-down vote.
  I want to just announce my intention to colleagues that when we come 
back, I will have sense-of-the-Senate amendments that the majority 
leader should bring this nomination to the floor of the U.S. Senate. 
When colleagues start making comparisons to David Duke to someone who 
has been such a sensitive, good public servant, that man or that 
woman--in this particular case, Mr. James Hormel--deserves, out of a 
sense of decency and fairness, to have his case brought before the U.S. 
Senate. I am going to be pushing very, very hard on this when we get 
back.

  I thank my colleague from Nebraska for his courtesy.
  I yield the floor.




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