Political Quotes

“as a member of the Ethics Committee, I rise here disappointed and troubled by the resolutions that are before us, for I fear that they could jeopardize two longstanding traditions of this House that have served this House well and have served the American people well. The first principle is that the Ethics Committee must work in a bipartisan fashion. As the gentleman from Iowa [Mr. Grandy] has pointed out, we have worked in a bipartisan manner. There has been no disagreements within the Ethics Committee as to the actions of the Ethics Committee. We have reviewed this matter in September 1992, September 1993, October 1993, and unanimously deferred action at the request of the U.S. attorney. The second tradition that I am afraid that we jeopardize is that this House should not compromise a criminal investigation under any circumstances. Our constituents want us to be held accountable criminally, as any other citizen should be held accountable, if we violate the criminal statues. And yet we are perhaps today willing to jeopardize that because we think we are an independent branch of Government and should do something more.”