Political Quotes

“Last week Carolyn Lerner, the special counsel who leads the office, wrote us a letter explaining the status of the matter. She wrote that the parties had agreed to participate in mediation. She also wrote, ``If mediation is unsuccessful, the case would return to the Office of Special Counsel's Investigation Prosecution Division for further investigation.'' On Monday, she wrote us another letter confirming that the case was still open. We were told the reason we had to move forward with the hearing was because an April letter from the Office of Special Counsel was made public. The justification for holding the hearing was since that issue was made public, the nominee should have had an opportunity to respond at the hearing. But, of course, there was nothing confidential in the Office of Special Counsel's letter. I am not about to hide this issue from the public. It is relevant to our inquiry as to the qualifications of the nominee. Moving forward under these circumstances is not consistent with past committee practices. Of course, there are sensible reasons for that committee practice. First, none of us knows what the results of that investigation might be. How are we supposed to make an assessment of the matter while it is still open? Second, how are we supposed to ask the nominee about the results of the investigation when the investigation has not been completed?…”