An on-the-record conversation with the NY Post's Deb Orin ended up with my being quoted in Sunday's paper suggesting that Gary Condit should recuse himself from further proceedings of the House Intelligence Committee until this Chandra Levy business is resolved.
I still think this is true.
The official name of the committee is The Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Members are chosen by the leadership of each party. The House rules describe the functions of the committee thus:
The Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence shall review and study on a continuing basis laws, programs, and activities of the intelligence community and shall review and study on an exclusive basis the sources and methods of entities described in clause 11(b)(1)(A). [The Central Intelligence Agency, the Director of Central Intelligence, and the National Foreign Intelligence Program as defined in section 3(6) of the National Security Act of 1947.]
Interestingly, the House web page does not list the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the committee list even though the Joint Economic Committee, The Joint Committee on Taxation, and even the Joint Committee on Printing made the cut.
Members of the House and Senate are not required to undergo a background investigation by the FBI, the CIA, the Defense Department, or even the DC cops, before they are given access to the nation's sensitive - often the nation's MOST sensitive - intelligence data.
They are granted access by virtue of having been elected.
Every Member of the House must, however, if they want access to intelligence information, sign an oath not to divulge what they read, see, or hear. They don't have to sign that oath, but if they choose not to, then they can't have access.
Members who wish to serve on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence must sign the oath. Gary Condit signed it.
A good deal of the Condit-Intelligence Committee chatter here in Your Nation's Capital since this issue came up has been centered on the possibility of Condit's being blackmailed to give up secret information.
One radio talk show host suggested to me a foreign power might put a woman in Condit's path specifically for the purpose of setting up a situation in which he might succumb to blackmail rather than have his affair become public.
First, it doesn't appear that women had to be put in Condit's path. If he saw a woman he would, apparently, pull off the road, go down the exit ramp, drive across a desert, and dive into a snake infested river to get to her. The phrase "reluctant suitor" is not one which would be used in the same sentence as the words "Gary Condit."
Second, blackmail only works if the thing one is being blackmailed about is a secret. There is precious little of Condit's activities which remain secret -in type if not in specifics.
Gary Condit should recuse himself from Intelligence Committee activities because he doesn't deserve the honor of remaining on it. He has lost the privilege.
Let's review his activities since the beginnings of this mess:
- Misled the police by denying his relationship with Levy;
- Forced his staff to lie on his behalf;
- Attempted to have a flight attendant sign a false statement
about her relationship;
- Tried to foist a bogus lie detector test on the public; and,
most recently,
- Was seen disposing of potential evidence by driving to
Virginia to drop a watch box into a trash bin.
These are not the actions of a man who deserves to be entrusted with our nations secrets. These are not the actions of a man who would be permitted to continue as an officer in his local Rotary Club.
There are some who are calling upon Speaker Dennis Hastert, who has the power, to remove Condit from the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. This is wrong. It lets off the hook the man who put Condit on the committee: Dick Gephardt.
Gephardt should take Condit aside and tell him that, notwithstanding his being Member of Congress who has not been found guilty of any wrong doing, his actions require he be suspended from that special - Select - Committee.
Don't wait up nights waiting for Gephardt to do the right thing. He has already demonstrated his only interest in the entire matter is in clinging to a Democratic seat.
The phrase "do the right thing" is not one which would be used in the same sentence as the words "Dick Gephardt."
Self Aggrandizement Alert: Here is the Mullings speaking schedule for the rest of the week:
- Wednesday 7/25 - McClendon Group - 7:30 pm - National Press Club
- Thursday 7/26 - Fox & Friends - 8:10 AM EDT - Fox News Channel
- Guest Host Frank Donatelli Radio Program - Radio America Network
- Friday 7/27 - Midwest GOP Leadership Conference - Minneapolis, MN
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