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“THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL STATUTE” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H831 on March 2, 1999.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL STATUTE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, as Congress this week begins the debate on reinstating the independent counsel law, I think, as a student of history, it is interesting to review what has taken place regarding that law.
Regarding congressional action on that matter certain questions are raised:
Should an administration investigate itself?
Should the alleged wrongdoing of a major administration official be left to the attorney general or to a special counsel or an independent counsel?
Those are the questions that are now being asked as we face the expiration of the current independent counsel law.
Some say the problem is the law, some say the problem is the independent counsel. It is interesting to note, if we review history, what goes around comes around both in law and also in politics. A brief review of the independent counsel law, if folks would just take a moment to do that, reveals that we are about to return to where we started if the independent counsel law is not renewed.
Mr. Speaker, even in 1972, President Nixon suggested the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the Watergate scandal. As we know from history, President Nixon in 1973 also ordered the Attorney General to fire the Watergate special prosecutor. Those actions led Congress and President Carter to enact in 1973 an Ethics in Government Act. All totaled, the special prosecutor law was invoked 11 times from 1978 to 1982 with three appointments of special prosecutors.
In 1983, that law was revised and renewed for another 5 years. In 1987, with the Iran-Contra statute, when it came up for reauthorization, and although it gave great heartburn, President Reagan in December of 1987 signed the reimplementing bill into law. With three investigations during the Bush administration, President Bush let the statute expire in 1992.
With a new administration and new scandals, the Attorney General, Janet Reno, under the general law authority, appointed Robert Fisk as a special counsel, not an independent counsel, but under her general authority to investigate Whitewater, and she initiated that action on June 30, 1994.
Vowing to head up an administration with the highest ethical standards, President Bill Clinton took the step of being the first President since Carter to endorse the institution of an independent counsel law. On July 1, 1994, President Clinton signed the reauthorization bill and commented about the law, and let me quote from the President: ``a foundation stone for trust between the government and our citizens.'' He dismissed charges that it had been, and I quote,
``a tool of partisan attack and a waste of taxpayer funds.'' Instead, he said the statute was, and let me quote, ``has been in the past and is today a force for government integrity and public confidence,'' end quote.
The Attorney General spoke before Congress, the same Attorney General who will be having the Department of Justice advocate the end of the independent counsel law, and stressed the government's and her own support for the bill, and let me quote what she said:
As a vehicle to further the public's perception of fairness and thoroughness, and to avert even the most subtle influence of what may appear in an investigation of highly-placed executive officials.
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How interesting it is how the law comes around and goes around. How interesting it is that today the shoe is on the other foot. The administration is about to advocate the abolition of the Independent Counsel law. I think we just need to take a few minutes and look at history and see how people have taken various stands, depending on whose ox is getting gored.
I like to reflect on history, and I think this is a little lesson in history, particularly as it deals with the appointment of an Independent Counsel.
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