John Hansen: “out West the predominant church out there in one of the States sings a song that says, ``Oh, say what is true.'' What a…”

“out West the predominant church out there in one of the States sings a song that says, ``Oh, say what is true.'' What a refreshing statement, that you should always say the truth. When I was a freshman around here in 1981, I remember distinctly getting a fundraising letter from an organization, and they wrote to me and they said, if you will only send us some money, $10, $20, $30, $40, $50, we will be in a position to take care of the Chesapeake Bay which then-Secretary of the Interior Jim Watt is polluting. We can take that money and we can step in and we will save Chesapeake Bay. Strangely enough that afternoon Secretary Watt had an appointment with me. He came in the office. I showed him the letter. He got a good laugh out of it and he said, how ridiculous. He said, in effect, we are putting a lot of money into the Chesapeake Bay to take care of it. Out of curiosity, though, I sent them some money and about 6 months later I got an interesting reply that said out of your generosity, Mr. Hansen, we were able to save Chesapeake Bay from the ravages of Secretary Watt and all the rotten things he was going to do. We all know in reality that he did nothing to the bay. In fact he put the money into it, but it was a whale of a good fundraising letter. I think that the American people should realize, Mr. Speaker, that this is the oldest fundraising trick in the book. Create a straw man and knock it down.”