Washington, D.C. -- Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) participated in the first of a series of hearings before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee to investigate allegations of illegal or improper campaign fundraising during the 1996 elections. Cochran is a member of the Committee.

Following is Senator Cochran's opening statement from the hearing:

"Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the tone you have set for us in your opening statement. It was a commitment to fairness, thoroughness, common courtesy and respect for others. I hope we will all respond in a positive way to this challenge you have given our committee. We do have to acknowledge first that this investigation is a work in progress. Our efforts to learn the truth are ongoing. There are still documents to be reviewed, witnesses to be interviewed, and depositions to be taken. So, what the public will see and hear at this beginning point of the hearings is just a sampling of what we have learned so far.

We also should acknowledge that we have had some disappointments. Some witnesses have disappeared. Some documents have probably disappeared. Some witnesses have indicated that they will take the fifth amendment. President Clinton has not called on his White House staff or the Democratic National Committee to cooperate in the search for the facts. This is also disappointing. It may contribute to an atmosphere that suggests that it is okay to avoid discussing what really happened.

One thing that we know happened in advance of the campaign last year was the development of a unique relationship between the White House and the Democratic National Committee. Senior Administration figures, such as Harold Ickes, and others at the White House, including the President himself, became actively and closely involved in making decisions with the Democratic National Committee about budgets, fundraising targets, personnel and methods to achieve political and campaign goals by using federal government resources. The line that usually is drawn between governing and party building was not only blurred by this Administration, it was erased.

Another finding that I believe these hearings will disclose is that there developed at the Clinton White House an aggressive plan to use the office of the President to raise unprecedented amounts of money, rewarding large donors with travel aboard Air Force One, overnight stays at the White House, and special briefings on Administration policy plans. Some have suggested that these activities were not illegal. One of the purposes of these hearings is to help the Senate decide if the laws should be changed to make it crystal clear to all what is legal and what is not. There also will be evidence produced at these hearings of a deliberate pattern of fundraising by a Vice Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, John Huang, that involves contributions from persons and corporations that are prohibited by current law from making such contributions.

Our first witness will be Richard Sullivan, who was the Finance Director at the Democratic National Committee. I expect he will help us understand how the fundraising operation was organized and how White House officials were involved in these activities. He will be able to confirm, for example, that Harold Ickes presided over the so-called weekly money meetings. Most of which were held at the White House. He will also help us understand how John Huang came to be Vice Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. After all the evidence is in, I hope the final result will be more sensitivity to and respect for the laws we have that govern our elections and a clearer understanding by the Senate of the need to improve and strengthen these laws to protect the electoral process from abuse in the future."