Bob Kerrey: “First of all, let me once again say that we make exceptions in order to accomplish something that we believe is…”

“First of all, let me once again say that we make exceptions in order to accomplish something that we believe is important to accomplish. We accommodate the exception in order to stay within the guidelines of the Office of Government Ethics. We did that for Mr. Rossotti. He would not be the commissioner of the IRS if we took a strict interpretation of the conflict of interest law. We just would not do it. He would be disqualified, as would anybody with any real private sector interest or any real private sector experience. It is ridiculous, it seems to me, to suggest that we never make exceptions. This is an exceptional case. We make them all the time. We measure it carefully, and we take care to make certain that the other applicable parts of the conflict of interest law are still enforced. That is what we have done here. The Senator from Tennessee is quite right when he says, gee, you are making an exception of this individual. Yes, we are. Why? He is the only employee representative.”