Political Quotes

“I think the Conyers amendment is inappropriate, but I do not disagree with the underlying thought, which is that independent counsels ought to be accountable. I go back to the Iran-Contra days when Elliot Abrams was destroyed by an independent counsel, I thought very unjustly, when Caspar Weinberger was indicted three days before an election, and there is just no accountability; so there ought to be. This is not the time to do it. The time to do it is when we reauthorize the bill next year. In 1994, when we reauthorized the independent counsel, I had some suggestions for accountability. They were shot down by the chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary then, they were shot down by the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. They were perfectly happy with the language of the bill as it then existed. Now, of course, experience has changed their mind. So I agree, but never forget the ultimate discipline is with the Attorney General. She can dismiss the independent counsel, and if he is half as bad as people say, I wonder why she has not dismissed him. But that is a question for another day. But any lesser sanction would erode the independence of the independent counsel, and we must keep the independent counsel independent. So I think the gentleman's amendment is mis-timed, overshoots the mark and ought to be defeated.”