August 3, 1994 - Part 2
August 3, 1994 - Part 2
(12:00:13) That is in no way meant to indicate that I do not have some serious problems with some of the things, and contacts, and statements that were made. Mr. Secretary, let me ask you this question: The report sent to you from the Office of Government Ethics makes this statement On the basis of our review, we believe that you might-referring to "you" as the Secretary to whom this report is addressed-that you might reasonably conclude that the conduct detailed in the report of officials presently employed by the Department of Treasury did not violate the standards of ethical conduct for employees of the Executive Branch. My question to you, Mr. Secretary, is: Have you yourself reached a conclusion? If so, would you share it with us? Secretary BENTSEN. Oh, yes. I agree with that. I do think that office goes on to state, as I stated in my testimony, that there are some troubling things still there in spite of that, and that they should be addressed. Senator BRYAN. Senator Shelby asked a question about depositions, and I want to get just a little clarification. You indicated as you talked with Mr, Cutler that you wanted to make sure that none of the depositions be released to any of the deponents until after all depositions were taken in conjunction with the Inspector General? I believe that is your testimony, was it not? Secretary BENTSEN. Yes. That is correct. Senator BRYAN. My question to you is, if you know-because Mr. Altman has testified that he had access to his deposition to prepare his own testimony before us-do you know if any of those depositions taken by the Inspector General were released prior to our 40 own Counsel of this Committee taking the depositions of the individuals? Secretary BENTSEN, Oh, to the best of my knowledge, none of them were released until Counsel for this Committee had concluded their depositions. Now I must say to you, as I stated earlier, Senator, this Committee then requested that they be able to hold those and that they not be exchanged among witnesses until they were ready. Now that is an unusual request, I understand, and I was told I had no legal obligation to do that. But as a matter of cooperation with this Committee and trying to help in the oversight that they are doing, I acceded to that and agreed to that. Senator BRYAN. So not only did they not have access to the other depositions before taking their deposition before the IG, they did not have access to those depositions until after our Counsel had concluded taking their depositions for purposes of this Committee? Secretary BENTSEN. That is my understanding. Senator BRYAN. Mr. Chairman, I hope I will not be penalized in the future, but I am going to yield back the balance of my time and hope that our C-SPAN junkies will understand our need to conclude this thing as early as possible. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. The CHAIRMAN. Very good. Senator Roth. OPENING COMMENTS OF SENATOR ROTH Senator ROTH. Mr, Secretary, it is always a pleasure to welcome you. Secretary BENTSEN. Thank you, Senator. Senator ROTH. I have to tell you, I would prefer to be talking about IRA's with you [Laughter.] Senator ROTH [continuing]. Rather than the Secretary BENTSEN. You know, that is funny. I was talking about IRA's yesterday. Senator ROTH. Well, I will be happy to discuss that further with you at your earliest convenience. Let me start out by saying that I do appreciate the sensitivity you have shown in your conduct to avoid conflicts of interest. I only wish that some of your subordinates perhaps had demonstrated the same sensitivity. I was interested in your answer to a question by Senator Sasser a few minutes ago when he asked you about a White House memo limiting contacts with Government agencies. If I understood you properly, I heard you tell Senator Sasser that you had advised Treasury employees not to have contact with White House officials about specific cases. Is that correct? Secretary BENTSEN. About this issue; yes. Senator ROTH. About this particular issue. Secretary BENTSEN. Yes. Senator ROTH. Was that instruction put in writing, or orally? And if so, when? 41 Secretary BENTSEN. Well that was done, as I recall, at approximately the time that I called for the Office of Government Ethic to make their examination, their study. I believe that was done orally. Senator ROTH. It was done when, sir? Secretary BENTSEN. I think it was done approximately the time that I asked for the Office of Government Ethics to make their ex amination. Senator ROTH. And when was that? Secretary BENTSEN. I think that was on March 3rd. Senator ROTH. Has that advice been followed since? Have there been any further contacts on this specific matter with the White House since that time?