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“URGING APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL PROSECUTOR FOR CAMPAIGN FINANCE ABUSES” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S8284 on July 29, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
URGING APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL PROSECUTOR FOR CAMPAIGN FINANCE ABUSES
Mr. ALLARD. Mr. President, I rise today to offer my support to the request for a special prosecutor to look into the campaign finance abuses of the last election.
It comes as a shock to me that I even have to give this speech. It is so clearly necessary to have a nonpartisan, noncoercible investigator looking into these issues that the failure to appoint one in itself looks suspicious. The current troubles over election funding are just the sort of situation the special prosecutor idea was created for. The problem is a far reaching, bi-partisan scandal involving two branches of Government. It is also a scandal where those being investigated have the ability and possibly the desire to curb or even block efforts to fully unearth all the relevant facts.
And let me make this clear--it is not a potential scandal, Mr. President, it is a scandal. It is a scandal we see unfolding on TV, in the papers, and in the Hart Committee room with Senator Thompson's hearings.
And by the word scandal, I don't mean it's a little bit of gossip the media can pick over, but a scandal in that the situation is an illegal, unethical, and glaringly blatant violation of what the American people expect from their elected officials. There needs to be a full scale investigation into the entire finance problem, and a special prosecutor is the best way to accomplish this.
I admire Senator Thompson. I admire what he is doing. I have the utmost respect for his investigatory powers, and I truly believe he can do what he says he is going to do. His committee is fairly and bravely shining the public light of inquiry into the darker corners of election funding, and for that he deserves all the kudos he can be given. But the fact remains that a special prosecutor is needed.
Senator Thompson's hearings should serve as the springboard from which a special prosecutor's investigation is launched. He has called attention to the problem, he has let our colleagues from both sides of the aisle have a chance to look into the abuses of fund-raising and soft money, and he has helped greatly to awaken the American people to the travesties done in an attempt to win their votes. Now, from this solid base, a solid legal case can be built against those who have abused our--admittedly--easily abusable system.
A special prosecutor investigation has more mobility, more leeway and more time than a Senate committee. It also is not troubled with partisan bickering and posturing. I know that Senator Thompson has done his best to curtail any partisanship, and he has done an excellent job, but the special prosecutor was created for just this reason--to avoid the clash between parties in a wide ranging investigation.
Honestly, how can there be any doubt that we need a special prosecutor in this case?
Not only the chairman, but also the ranking member of the committee looking into campaign finance abuses, Senator Glenn, admits that the evidence before the committee supports the conclusion that attempts were made by foreign powers to buy our elections.
There are those who say that the Justice Department could handle any illegalities associated with campaign abuse, if indeed any are found. Well, the Justice Department faces a conflict of interest trying to investigate up its chain of command. Anyone who thinks differently is kidding themselves. The Justice Department lawyers looking into this are careerist, and they report to political appointees.
For instance--the FBI claims they have not been able to find Charlie Trie, but Tom Brokaw was not only able to find him, he was able to interview him. I know that the American media are good, but better than the combined powers of our Federal police forces? More likely, there is a restraining force on the Justice Department. They are not to blame. Nobody should have to investigate their boss, and nobody should have to investigate the people who find them.
A special prosecutor has not been appointed because the Attorney General says that there is not enough proof to warrant one. I am not sure, exactly, where to begin to refute that idea. The abuses we have been made aware of are so glaring and so blatant and so widespread that I am almost thinking that the Attorney General is kidding. She herself, according to the press, has created a tax force inside the Justice Department and convened a grand jury to look into allegations.
Now, the special prosecutor's system has taken some hits lately. But we can insure that any prosecutor appointed is given a clear, specialized and fixed mandate to investigate the election funding issue. We can set guidelines that do not curb the power of the prosecutor, but insure a very narrow and specific investigation.
I urge the appointment of a special prosecutor. I urge the investigation of the election fundraising abuses. I urge a fair and just conclusion to this stain on our democratic election system.
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