August 1, 1994 - Part 7
August 1, 1994 - Part 7
(20:40:28) Senator MOSELEY-BRAUN. But, Ms. Hanson, and recognizing again, there are procedures for the oversight board to bon em- ployees, there are procedures for the RTC to borrow employees' gut, in the absence of a conversation with Mr. Altman regarding borrowing your services with regard to RTC matters, didn't you ' think it a little unusual that Mr. Roelle would call you about a criminal referral for the RTC? Ms. HANSON. No, I didn't think it was unusual. Mr. Altman had asked him to call me. As I stated, there were a limited number of Treasury people who assisted in this. This was known-many Of the responsibilities I was given were approved, directly or indirectly, by Secretary Bentsen. So no, I didn't. Senator MOSELEY-BRAUN. Are you suggesting that Secretary Bentsen approved your activities with regard to the RTC? Ms. HANSON. In some of them-in terms of some of the policy areas that I was involved in, they were approved, directly or indirectly, by Senator MOSELEY-BRAUN. But with regard to- Ms. HANsON. Secretary Bentsen was aware of what I was doing. Senator MOSELEY-BRAUN. But, with regard to case-specific activities for the RTC, you had the explicit or the assumed approval, first, of Mr. Altman and, then, of the Secretary? I would like your answer to the question, did you, have Ms. HANSON. Let me back up to say I bad very limited involvement in an anything that was case-specific, and I think that is consist in ent with what Mr. Roelle said this morning. Senator MOSELEY-BRAUN. You use the word "parsing." Did it occur to you, in your role as General Counsel for the Treasury, that there might be an ethical problem with the blurring of these lines? Ms. HANSON. No. Senator, it didn't. Senator MOSELEY-BRAuN. Second, with regard to your participation in the meetings, when you attended the meetings, in what capacity did you attend those meetings, in what capacity did you think you were attending those meetings? Ms. HANSON. I attended them in my capacity as General Counsel to the Treasury. Senator MOSELEY-BRAUN. Did you think that it was appropriate to discuss specific case issues before the RTC wearing your General Counsel of the Treasury hat? Ms. HANsON. The only conversations that I had) that were at all case-specific, were-the only conversation was my conversation with Mr. Nussbaum, which was authorized by Mr. Altman and related to press leaks that Mr. Nussbaum was going to have to deal 155 with. It was a legitimate governmental purpose, and the Office of Government Ethics, who has looked at this, has said that it was a legitimate governmental purpose as long as I wasn't trying-as long as I wasn't advancing a private interest, which I wasn't. They found no evidence, nothing to conclude that there was even-there was anything that would advance a private interest. Consequently, there wasn't a problem doing that. Senator MOSELEY-BRAUN. But the information that was discussed at that meeting was nonpublic information. Is that correct? Ms. HANSON. It was nonpublic-to my knowledge, my specific knowledge at that time it was. However, it was-it either had leaked to the press-to & public, or was imminently going to leak. Senator MosELEY-BRAUN. But imminent became a month later, the first reports of this referral didn't come until a month later? Ms. HANSON. As I stated earlier, the chronology that was prepared by the Inspectors General, that just became public yesterday, says their first entry is September 23, 1993, that says that, Mr. Dudine, who is the rector of the Office of Investigation s-and he refers to a reporter who is getting close to something about the criminal referrals, That was a week before my conversation. Senator MOSELEY-BRAUN. Again, to ask the question, did you have any concern at all, or did you discuss with Mr. Nussbaum or with Mr. Altman any concerns, about the propriety of your participating in meetings regarding this nonpublic information given your role as Treasury Counsel? Ms. HANSON. The fact that I was a Treasury Counsel?