Rep. Alan B. Mollohan Holds a Hearing On the Justice Department

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Rep. Alan B. Mollohan Holds a Hearing On the Justice Department

(CORRECTED COPY)

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES HOLDS A HEARING ON THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

APRIL 23, 2009

SPEAKERS: REP. ALAN B. MOLLOHAN, D-W.VA. CHAIRMAN REP. PATRICK J. KENNEDY, D-R.I. REP. CHAKA FATTAH, D-PA. REP. ADAM B. SCHIFF, D-CALIF. REP. MICHAEL M. HONDA, D-CALIF. REP. C.A. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER, D-MD. REP. PETER J. VISCLOSKY, D-IND. REP. JOSE E. SERRANO, D-N.Y. REP. DAVID R. OBEY, D-WIS. EX OFFICIO

REP. FRANK R. WOLF, R-VA. RANKING MEMBER REP. JOHN CULBERSON, R-TEXAS REP. ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, R-ALA. REP. JO BONNER, R-ALA. REP. JERRY LEWIS, R-CALIF. EX OFFICIO

WITNESSES: ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL

[*] (JOINED IN PROGRESS)

(TODAY'S HEARING IS JOINED IN PROGRESS DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE CHAIRMAN DID NOT TURN ON THE MICROPHONE. EVERY EFFORT IS BEING MADE TO OBTAIN THE AUDIO FROM ALTERNATE SOURCES. A CORRECTED COPY WILL BE SENT IF AND WHEN A BACKUP SOURCE IS AVAILABLE)

OBEY: ... come to order. This afternoon we will hear from the attorney general testifying on behalf of his budget for the coming year. Before we begin, let me simply say that, as always, the committee welcomes everyone in attendance at this hearing. We expect only one thing. And that's that people respect the prerogatives and needs of this committee.

And so, people are obviously in a free country. They are perfectly within their rights to make their views known. But they're not within their rights to disrupt any hearing of this committee. And so, we will conduct this hearing accordingly.

Mr. Secretary, we welcome you to the committee. I, frankly, don't know where to begin. I don't know what people -- I don't know which Cabinet offices people regard as being the premier Cabinet offices in the country. I know that there are some who feel that secretary of State is the top dog, so to speak. And others may feel secretary of Defense or some other.

To me the most important job in the Cabinet is that of the attorney general because he is the number one person in the Department of Justice for the United States of America. The Defense Department defends the country. The Education Department helps to educate our children. And that's all important.

But the most important thing that any government official can do is to defend the Constitution and to defend the liberty of each and every citizen and to do their damnedest to deliver justice to every citizen. I know that today members will focus largely on the news reports about the interrogation reports that were released recently. But I hope you'll forgive me if I, in my introductory remarks, tell you what I am focused on today. It's not that I don't think those other issues are important. I think they're excruciatingly important.

But I just want to tell you a little story about something that happened in my state so that you understand what my focus is. There is a woman in the state of Wisconsin by the name of Georgia Thompson who was a low-level, non-political civil servant at the Wisconsin Department of Administration who had never met our governor in her life. She was hired by the state civil service during a prior Republican administration.

She was one of those whose job it was to determine who had the state contract for state employee travel. And as I understand events, that body wound up accepting the bid of the party that turned out to be the low bidder.

But somehow the allegations began to arise that she had done something improper in allocating or in deciding who was going to get that contract. The state Republican party put out press releases demanding that the U.S. attorney investigate the situation. The U.S. attorney had a public press conference announcing that he was going to undertake an investigation of that item.

My understanding is that that was counter to Justice Department policy, to have a press conference on something like that. And to make a long story short, she was called before the grand jury. And eventually, despite the fact that she testified that she had no political dealings whatsoever with Wisconsin's governor, she was convicted and sent to prison.

The case was then appealed. And when it went to the three-judge court of appeals, something extraordinary happened. Before the court was even finished with the hearing, they decided that the case was so flimsy that they threw it out, and they ordered her released immediately from prison. And from the bench one of the judges told the prosecutor that his case was worse than flimsy and questioned why on Earth they would even bring that case.

She spent over $300,000 defending herself. She lost...

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