Senate Investigation of Illegal Acts - Page A1
March 7, 1997 Senate Committee To Investigate
by Howard Hobbs, JD, PhD Economics & Legal Editor
Illegal Activity in White HouseWASHINGTON DESK - The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee will focus on illegal activities leading up to the November 4, 1996 presidential elections.
Majority leader Trent Lott(R) said the $4.5 million investigation calls for completion by December 31st. The funding is far short of the, $6.5 million investigation originally requested by Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred D. Thompson(R).
The question of what is illegal activity presents an issue that those who are under investigation will challenge. In the end, it is an issue that will be left for the Governmental Affairs Committee to resolve. I
Black's Law Dictionary, West Pub. Company, defines the term, illegal as: '...that which lacks the authority of or support of law ... the law implied in illegal is not necessarily an express statute... that which is contrary to the principles of law.' This traditional definition suggests that there is a reasonable basis for the Committee investigating the on White House aides and officials conduct arising under fund-raising conduct which has come to light in the past week.
Senator Daschle(D) and other Democrats took to their partisan rhetoric this week in opposing the investigation of illegal activity in fund-raising leading up to the November4, 1996 presidential election.
At yesterday's Rules Committee hearing, Thompson supported the language of the Resolution. Noting he came from stock-car country, Thompson said that in trying to hold out for the broadest possible inquiry, "I've been driving that old car about as close to the wall as I can without crashing it." Now, he added, he had to decide whether to "risk crashing it or finish the race."
In addition to limiting Thompson's budget and agenda, the plan, drafted by Lott and Sen. John W. Warner(R), chairman of the Rules Committee, would end the investigation by Dec. 31, with a report to follow within a month. This met Democratic demands for a shutdown by the end of the year. Thompson had opposed setting any target date for completion.
Earlier in the day, the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed action for a week on a resolution asking Attorney General Janet Reno to seek an independent counsel to investigate the 1996 presidential campaign.