Bob Wise: “Mr. Speaker, I rise perhaps to offer the experiences of one who has not been on the ethics committee but who has chaired…”

“Mr. Speaker, I rise perhaps to offer the experiences of one who has not been on the ethics committee but who has chaired a subcommittee which has had jurisdiction for 4 years, all during a Republican administration, that of President Bush, on sensitive matters and sensitive criminal investigations. Mr. Speaker, a previous speaker spoke of not wanting the ethics committee to punt, he said you should not punt. Well, Mr. Speaker, this is not punting. The job is being done. It is the issue of whether or not one fumbles the ball, and what the U.S. attorney is asking is that the ball not be fumbled. But in my experience, Mr. Speaker, I chaired the Subcommittee on Information, Justice, Transportation, and Agriculture of the full Committee on Government Operations for 4 years all during the tenure of President Bush, and in that time we had a number of investigations ongoing involving criminal matters, involving handling of criminal matters by the Department of Justice, involving fairly sensitive areas. Repeatedly we were confronted with the U.S. attorney, or his representative, or the Attorney General, in some cases asking us not to hold a hearing, not to continue an investigation, certainly not in public session, because of an ongoing criminal investigation, an ongoing criminal investigation. Mr. Speaker, this was true in the PanAm bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, on a specific matter we were looking into.”