Political Quotes

“I rose in opposition a year ago because I was concerned about the effects on criminal justice and specifically the effects on law enforcement, but I have to point out that the chairman and the Committee on the Judiciary, as has been noted, in a bipartisan manner has done a tremendous job to ease those concerns. They have provided us great improvements on the bill. The compromise provides important procedural protections to law-abiding property owners without compromising law enforcement's ability to shut down criminal enterprises. Specifically the bill shifts the burden of proof in forfeiture cases from property owners to the government with the appropriate threshold of a preponderance of the evidence. The compromise also limits the appointment of court-appointed lawyers to indigent claimants whose primary residence is subject to forfeiture. I want to say that there is one concern that I have and I think a couple of my colleagues have as well as it relates to this legislation, and, that is, that we have a continuing reservation that the removal of the cost bond requirement could impair the asset forfeiture program in the future.”