Waxman: ‘You Must Do The Oversight If We’re Going To Keep People Honest’

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/28/waxman-interview/

Waxman: ‘You Must Do The Oversight If We’re Going To Keep People Honest’

A May 18 report from the Office of Special Counsel found that General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan engaged in a “serious violation” of federal law by holding a meeting of federal employees prior to the 2006 midterms to discuss how they could “help our candidates” win the next election.

On the heels of the OSC’s finding, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman called for Doan to testify again before his committee on June 7. In her first testimony before Waxman, Doan displayed a horrible memory, failing to recall anything of substance about the GSA’s political briefings except that “there were cookies on the table” at one of her meetings.

ThinkProgress recently sat down with Waxman to ask him about the investigation into Doan. Waxman told us:

The investigation is a very important one and what it has shown is so often when you press these issues to people in the administration, you find out what they had said wasn’t true. … I just think it’s worth noting when people say “I can’t remember, I don’t recall,” it usually means they don’t want to say anything because it’s going to conflict with what they had said in the past or they’re going to say something for which they may well be committing perjury.

Waxman cited Doan’s testimony as a classic example. “She said the most incredible thing — ‘Congressman, I’m just so embarrassed. I can’t remember. I suppose I was there, but I can’t remember it.’ … Well, give me a break,” he said. Watch it at link~

Waxman explained that “you must ask the questions” and “you must do the oversight if we’re going to keep people honest, if we’re going to provide the checks and balances that our Constitution envisions.” By pressing forward with the investigation, investigators have revealed a disturbing pattern by Doan to mislead and cover-up her true intent regarding these partisan briefings. Some examples:

– When asked by the OSC investigators about her role in the briefing, she said “she was uninterested in the topic” and “was on her Blackberry…reviewing emails…and only periodically looked up and down.” But a review of her e-mail use during the meeting failed to corroborate that she was checking or sending email via her BlackBerry.

– Doan claimed the GSA employees who spoke out about her were employees who were poor performers. The OSC investigators said that Doan’s claim regarding the witnesses “appears to have been purposefully misleading and false” since none of the seven employees had “between a poor to totally inferior performance.”

– Doan claimed “she does not care about polls or election results.” But innvestigators report that Doan contributed $226,000 to Republican candidates and Republican organizations. Doan responded by testifying that the contributions had been ‘taken out of context.’”

Transcript:

WAXMAN: The investigation is a very important one and what it has shown is so often when you press these issues to people in the administration, you find out what they had said wasn’t true.

Then they change their story. Then they start saying “I don’t remember. I don’t know. I can’t recall.” I just think it’s worth noting when people say “I can’t remember, I don’t recall,” it usually means they don’t want to say anything because it’s going to conflict with what they had said in the past or they’re going to say something for which they may well be committing perjury.

A good example of this was when we had Lurita Doan, the head of the General Services agency. And she had, at GSA headquarters, a teleconference all around the country with GSA employees, a review of the Republican Party’s agenda for the 2008 election

And they talked about what incumbent members of Congress were going to be in trouble, what opportunities for seats they had to pick up. And at the end of all this, she stood up and said, “We’ve got to do our best to help our Republican candidates.”

Well, she came before our committee, under oath. And we asked her about this meeting that took place at the GSA and the comment that she made. Well, she said the most incredible thing — “Congressman, I’m just so embarrassed. I can’t remember. I suppose I was there, but I can’t remember it.”

We asked her, we’ve had six or seven people that we’ve interviewed that indicated you stood and said “let’s help our Republican colleagues.” Do you think they’re lying? She said, “Well, I don’t want to say they’re lying. But I just don’t remember.” Well, give me a break.

So I think that these inquiries are interesting because you must ask the questions. You must do the oversight if we’re going to keep people honest, if we’re going to provide the checks and balances that our Constitution envisions.

for Lurita to spend more time with her family....

or

investigations down. He said they are just politcal show...Hell how come everything any body else does is political show.

But all his posing in front of the troops, dressing up in flight suits, and all the other photo ops he scurries to is not political show.