Tom Udall: “I had the honor to serve New Mexico as Attorney General. As Attorney General, I had the unfortunate task to prosecute…”

“I had the honor to serve New Mexico as Attorney General. As Attorney General, I had the unfortunate task to prosecute elected officials for their violation of the law and the public's trust. Although, I accepted this duty, this was not an easy task to perform but one that had to be done. The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct has been asked to take on a difficult charge to examine whether Representative Traficant violated the Code of Official Conduct while serving as a Member of Congress. And if so, whether those violations warrant his expulsion from the U.S. House of Representatives. I thank them for their service on this difficult matter. This great body has expelled only four Members (three Members and one Member-elect) in its history--Three of whom were expelled during the Civil War period in 1861 for disloyalty to the Union and the fourth occurred in 1980 following a bribery conviction. There have been other Members who were subject to expulsion for offenses such as bribery, illegal gratuities and obstruction of justice--but rather than force the hand of the House to expel them, they took the noble way out and resigned their office. I had hoped that Representative Traficant would have done the same thing, and resign his office rather than force the House to remove him. However, the current situation is before us, and we must act.”