THOMPSON
PLAN GIVES ATTORNEY GENERAL AUTHORITY
TO APPOINT SPECIAL COUNSEL WHEN IN PUBLIC INTEREST
WASHINGTON
-- Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred Thompson
(R-TN) today announced he recommends letting the Independent
Counsel Act expire and will propose legislation giving the
Attorney General the discretion to appoint a special counselwhen
it is clear an investigation must be conducted by someone
outside the Administration.
"This
legislation would state unambiguously that the attorney general
has discretion to bring in outside counsel to specifically
investigate and/or prosecute criminal matters," Senator
Thompson said. "We should give the responsibility and
accountability back to the Justice Department and hold them
accountable."
Under
Thompson’s proposal, the special counsel would answer to the
attorney general, who would determine the jurisdiction for the
special counsel’s investigation. A person subject to the
special counsel’s investigation would be unable to challenge
that jurisdiction in court.
Thompson
said the operation of the special counsel, including the
standard for his or her removal, regular reporting requirements
to the attorney general, and other administrative matters, would
be established through regulations that the attorney general
would promulgate within 60 days of the bill’s passage. The
regulations would not take effect unless Congress enacted a law
to approve them within 60 days after submission. If Congress did
not approve them, the attorney general would be required to
submit new ones to the Congress. The regulations adopted could
not be changed without Congress passing a new law confirming
them.
Thompson
said the Independent Counsel statute has sacrificed
accountability, as the attorney general has shown that she can
render it a nullity by simply refusing to enforce it. Because of
the definitions and qualifications of the statute, the attorney
general has been able to direct attention into arcane and
complex issues of statutory interpretation instead of having to
address the simple, straightforward issue of whether public
confidence would be substantially enhanced if an independent
third party examined a particular situation.
"We
had a long tradition of appointing special counsels in cases of
conflict before we ever had an Independent Counsel
statute," said Thompson, noting Teapot Dome, Watergate, and
others. "However, the responsibility for hiring or refusing
to hire special counsels rested clearly with the Justice
Department and therefore, the Executive Branch. And they were
faced with a political price for making the wrong
decision."
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