On the recordJune 9, 2014
I come to the floor to speak about the nomination of Peter Kadzik to be an Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs in the Justice Department. I happen to know that the majority leader hasn't yet filed cloture on this nomination, but I expect that he will in the near future. So now I take the opportunity to speak about that nomination. It is no secret that I have concerns about Mr. Kadzik's nomination. I opposed his nomination in committee, and I will oppose it when it comes to a vote on the floor. The reasons are pretty simple. Mr. Kadzik has been acting in that position since April 2013--in other words, in the very same position for which he has been nominated. His job is to respond to questions from Members of Congress. We have a clear track record to judge his performance, and that record has been dismal. Letters go unanswered for months. Then, when answers come, they ignore or dodge the questions. Even before coming to the Justice Department, Mr. Kadzik had shown a lack of respect for congressional oversight. While he was in private practice, he represented the billionaire tax fugitive Marc Rich. Rich was infamously pardoned at the end of the Clinton administration following a large donation by Mrs. Rich to the Clinton Presidential Library. No fugitive has ever been pardoned before--let alone a billionaire fugitive who owed millions of unpaid taxes. In the course of the congressional investigation into that controversy, Mr.…
