[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 28 (Tuesday, March 14, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H935]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            HERE WE GO AGAIN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Biggert). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, I might point out to the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) that all the money that is in the estate has 
already been taxed and what Republicans are trying to say is why should 
the Government tax twice this money that is there.
  Madam Speaker, I am here because of recent newspaper articles that 
have been published, especially in the New York Times. Last Thursday, a 
Federal jury convicted Maria Hsai, a friend and a political supporter 
of Vice President Al Gore, on five felony counts for arranging more 
than $100,000 in illegal donations during the 1996 presidential 
campaign.
  Prosecutors allege that Hsai tapped a Buddhist temple and some of her 
business clients for money to reimburse Hsai donors who were listed as 
contributors in campaign records.
  Hsai was charged with causing false statements to be filed with the 
Federal Election Commission. According to evidence presented in the 
case, $109,000 in reimbursed donations went to the Clinton-Gore 1996 
campaign and to the Democratic Party.
  Hsai's fund raising also included $65,000 in Hsai donations which she 
funneled through monks and nuns the day after Vice President Gore's 
1996 visit to the Buddhist Temple in California.
  Now, of course, Madam Speaker, the Vice President initially had no 
recollection that he was attending a fund raiser but believed, rather, 
that he was attending a community outreach program. That is, of course, 
until the video footage surfaced showing him at the temple and after 
documents turned up that referred to the event in advance as a fund 
raiser. Only then, Madam Speaker, did the Vice President modify his 
characterization, saying he thought it was a finance-related situation.
  Ironically enough, in response to Hsai's conviction, the Attorney 
General, Janet Reno, said, ``The verdict sends a clear message that the 
Department of Justice will not tolerate violations of our Federal 
campaign finance laws.''
  Evidently her comments need to be revised to mean the Department of 
Justice will tolerate campaign finance laws in some cases and not in 
others, for the Attorney General's action indicate there are certain 
violations of our Federal campaign finance laws she is willing to 
tolerate or unwilling to get to the bottom of.
  The Los Angeles Times reported last Friday on Charles LaBella's 
report to Attorney General Janet Reno warning that numerous conflicts 
of interest made the Justice Department's insistence that its own 
lawyers handling the inquiry into the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign a 
``recipe for disaster.''
  Madam Speaker, my colleagues will recall that Mr. LaBella was hand 
picked by the Attorney General to head the Campaign Financing Task 
Force and to take over the Department of Justice's public integrity 
section's investigation into political fund-raising abuses.
  Mr. LaBella's report, which the Attorney General has still kept 
sealed for nearly 2 years, found ``a pattern of conduct'' on the part 
of White House officials, including the President, that warranted an 
independent counsel probe.
  Additionally, Mr. LaBella found that senior Justice officials engaged 
in ``gamesmanship'' and legal ``contortions'' to avoid an independent 
inquiry into the Clinton-Gore fund-raising abuses.
  According to the L.A. Times, Madam Speaker, Mr. LaBella found ``The 
campaign finance allegations present the earmarks of a loose enterprise 
employing different actors at different levels who share a common goal, 
bring in the money.''
  Among those singled out for special treatment according to the 
LaBella report were the President, Vice President Al Gore, First Lady 
Hillary Rodham Clinton, and former White House aide Harold Ickes.
  The Times said the report was the first indication, the first 
indication, that Mrs. Clinton's involvement in the fund-raising scandal 
arising from the 1996 presidential election was under scrutiny.
  Since the fund raising first made headlines in 1996, Attorney General 
Janet Reno has refused to allow outside prosecutors to narrowly focus 
their investigations of alleged White House wrongdoings. Examples 
include her refusal to appoint investigations into fund-raising 
telephone calls by the Vice President from the White House and the 
issue ads funded by the Democratic National Committee.
  To further confound matters, she has long gone against her own FBI 
director.

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