August 3, 1994 - Part 4
August 3, 1994 - Part 4
(15:10:17) Let me pick up on Senator Bond's point. I think we may agree here. I don't think it's a question, frankly, of Government. I think it's also true of the private sector and nonprofits. Very few people around this place make any decisions any longer without calling the ethics office; and my fear is what we're doing, the notion of personal responsibility in both public and private life is being relegated to the decisionmaking of somebody else, and if somebody else says it's OK, whether or not we think it is, it becomes permissible, and that becomes the standard by which we conduct our affairs. I think that's permeating our society, and I think it's dangerous, So I think that's the point Senator Bond was making, at least in the sense of governmental affairs, but I think it's also true in other aspects of life as well. 74 Second, I want to underscore the point Senator Sarbanes was making about these recusal decisions. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell made the point earlier today in discussion with Secretary Bentsen that nobody wants to be responsible for anything and any way we can get out of making decisions, we do it. So 1 understand what your thinking was here, but we've got to put the brakes on this a bit or, you know, we're not going to have any decisions made. So I just want to underscore that point. I appreciate the fact you have, but as I look at this and look at your testimony today, I don't see any reason why you should have. But you've done it in my view, and I suspect it's done as the old CYA, and I won't explain what CYA is because we're on public airways and I think most of us know what we're talking about here. We just take ourselves out of the picture entirely and I worry about that. Third, I have no difficulty-it sounds to me that the contact with the President that-I just want you to reemphasize this point. It's your understanding, Mr. Ludwig, that the President of the United States asked you if it was proper for you to give him advice, not for the advice, Would you state again for us, because it's a very important point. It's been raised before. I think it needs to be emphasized. Are you clear about that? Mr. LUDWIG. Yes, sir, absolutely clear. The President asked me whether I could advise him, that is to say whether it would be permissible for me to advise him. My recollection is clear on this, and I don't think there's anything inappropriate in that. Senator DODD. I appreciate that. Now, with regard to these FOIA inquiries, you may have responded to this-but I thought I heard you say there was nothing to respond to in these inquiries. There was no information you had at the FDIC that would excuse me, that required response to The Baltimore Sun or The Washington Post. Mr. LUDWIG. I would guess, but I don't know, that the FDIC has responded to those inquiries. I've had nothing to do with them. Other than the fact that they were sent to me unsolicited, the only information or the only piece of paper I ever sent off was the inquiries themselves, not any documents, not any response to inquiries, just the public documents, the inquiries, which were, as I say, sent to me unsolicited. Whether the FDIC has responded to those inquiries or not, I don't rightly know. I think there's been some note in the paper that they have. Senator DODD. These were addressed to the FDIC, both of them were addressed to the FDIC? Mr. LUDWIG. Yes. They were both addressed to the FDIC. Senator DODD. There was no request in here that you pass these on to the White House. You made that decision on your own. Mr. LUDWIG. I made that decision on my own. Senator DODD. I'm sure you endeared yourself to the White House in retrospect by sending these along. Would you admit, and I say this with respect, this was a pretty dumb idea to send these to the White House? It's not a hard question. it Mr. LUDWIG. As I say, they were public documents that I didn't have anything to do with Senator BOXER. Would the Senator yield to me for a second? 75 Senator DODD. Yes. senator BOXER. It is my understanding that if an individual is the subject of a FOIA request, that that individual can find that out. So if an ordinary citizen can find out this information, does the President gives up the right to be an American citizen? Senator DODD. These weren't directed to the President. They were directed to the FDIC. Senator BOYER, The agency that gets the FOIA request can inform an American citizen if there has been such a request.