Bob Wise: “when Oliver North was called in front of the Iran Contra Committee, he complained that he would not be a potted plant.…”

“when Oliver North was called in front of the Iran Contra Committee, he complained that he would not be a potted plant. When we pass these rules, we are going to make the Democratic side an entire garden because that is what these rules are designed to do. I want to talk about the precedent of practice. I have heard a lot about what the rules were in the past. Let us look at the precedent of practice. The precedent of practice says that from 1971 to 1994 no Democratic chairman issued a unilateral subpoena; they went and they got the concurrence of the minority, the other side, as well. In this year alone, February to June of 1997, our chairman has issued 156 unilateral subpoenas. ``Unilateral'' means one person. Nobody argues about issuing subpoenas. I want subpoenas issued when it is valid, too. But I think in order to have a credible investigation, a bipartisan investigation, both sides have to be involved in which we bring it to the minority member for concurrence, and if we do not get that, then we bring it to the full committee for a vote. As a Democrat, I am very concerned about the allegations and the possible cloud that may hang over fund-raising practices of my party. As a Republican, I would be even more concerned, being in the majority, that their significant allegations are not even going to be looked at.”