August 1, 1994 - Part 8
August 1, 1994 - Part 8
(22:05:13) Senator GRAMM. Mr. Chairman, I don't want to be the bad guy, go ahead. Senator BOND. Mr. Chairman, my name has been mentioned in this, and I have yet to have an opportunity to ask this witness a question tonight The CHAiRmAN. You should have that opportunity. Senator Bo". -and I would like to explore several areas. Senator BOXER. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to have 7 minutes, 5 minutes. Senator GRAMM. Mr. Chairman, again, I think everything these hearings are about really boils down to the veracity of, to some extent, this letter on March 2, 1994. There are just so many things that we've got to go back to, and ask questions about, or else it's not fair to everybody whom we're going to talk to tomorrow. The CHAIRMAN. Then, I think my thought on that would be, we're scheduled with the witnesses tomorrow, and we should stay and finish. I guess I would just ask everybody to try to make allowances of the time Senator SARBANES. Do you have any idea of how much timeSenator Bennett said 5 minutes, and Senator Bond? Senator BoND. Twenty minutes, at least. Senator SARBANES. Senator Domenici. Senator DOMENICI. I reserve 5 minutes. Senator D'AMATO. I'm going to need 15 to 20 minutes. Senator GRAMM. It depends on how long the answers are, but I think I can do mine, say, in 20, 25 minutes. The CHAIRMAN. And on this side, Senator Boxer has asked for 7 minutes. Senator MosELEY-BRAuN. Five minutes. The CHAIRMAN. Five minutes for Senator Moseley-Braun. I believe I've asked my questions, and I think we've got a hearing record here Senator SARBANES. I would only have questions if they were prompted by other questions that might be asked. I do think there's a need to try to draw this hearing to a close. This witness has been before us, and I think that some of the questioning has become repetitious, not all of it but some of it. The CHAIRMAN. Not surprisingly, Senators have had to come and go so, we've covered some of these issues 2 or 3 times. I do think it's important that Senator Bond-believe me, you've been mentioned a number of times when you were not here, because we've gone over and over the questions you posed-but I think you certainly need to have an opportunity to ask those questions and get the answers. Senator DAmato, you're controlling the time Senator DAmATo. I'm going to try to move as quickly as I can, in the interest of time, on behalf of the witness. There are no trick 178 questions here. This has all come from statements you've made so, it's basically just going over material. On February 1, 1994, your appointment record shows, and you've testified, at 10 a.m. you had a meeting. Mr. Levy, Mr. Newman, and Mr. Altman were there, maybe some other people, and that was followed up by a meeting with Secretary Bentsen. Could you describe what took place at that first meeting and the second meet- ing? III try to help. You testified that Secretary Alt an stated he the In would recuse himself and then you went into second meeting. Does that help you? Ms. HANSON. Yes, sir. Senator DAMATO. I am trying to be helpful. Ms. HANSON. Thank you. I appreciate that. What I recall of the meeting at 10 a.m., there was a meeting in Mr. Altman's office. Mr. Newman Frank Newman, was there. Mr. Levy-and there was a discussion of recusal. What I recall of the conversation was a discussion of what a CEO, in a private corporation, would do if faced with a similar situation where there was a claim, or a possible claim, against a friend of the CEO and how it would be handled. There was a discussion. Mr. Newman, I recall, said that it would go to a special committee or the board. There was a discussion as to whether it would come back to the CEO, if the CEO had the opportunity to bear about it before Senator DAMATO. Was the subject, that Mr. Altman was going to recuse himself, discussed? Ms. HANSON. I don't recall that statement being made in that meeting or bow the meeting ended. Senator DAMATO. You came to the second meeting, and you were rather specific there, at 12:30 p.m. with the Secretary, and let me read what you said. Do you recall what you said? Ms. HANSON. It was 12:45 p.m., if I recall, and this is a meeting with the Secretary, Mr. Altman, and me? Senator DAmATO. Yes. Ms. HANsON. I believe, in my testimony, I testified that there was a discussion on the statute of limitations issue. Mr. Altman said that he had decided be would recuse himself, that I had recommended be do so, and that be thought there would be a great deal of political clamor and criticism as to whether or not he could be impartial. The Secretary asked who would decide --- who would be the decisionmakers and asked a little bit about Ellen Kulka and Jack Ryan. He told Mr. Altman that it sounded like the right decision.