Political Quotes

“Vice President Gore made a promise to the AFL-CIO that he would keep Federal contracts from companies the unions did not like. This "blacklist" would be created under the proposed rules the administration released late last month and would allow unions to punish companies by holding hostage the yearly pool of $200 billion in Federal contracts. Mr. Gore's "blacklisting" regulations kick in far too easily. Under the proposed rule, all it takes for a contractor to be denied a contract is one adverse decision by an administrative law judge. Mr. Speaker, when the Vice President got caught making questionable phone calls for campaign cash, his defense was that there was not any controlling legal authority. Well, Mr. Vice President, administrative law judges' decisions are not "controlling legal authority" either. Their decisions are often overturned by agencies and by the Federal courts. In fact, a court recently overruled an ALJ and the board held that a company could lawfully fire a worker who sabotaged a company's repair work. If Mr. Gore is going to try to punish honest companies and their hard-working employees, let him at least do it upon "controlling legal authority."”