PRINTER'S NO. 893
No. 58 Session of 1999
INTRODUCED BY GREENLEAF, BOSCOLA, CONTI, MUSTO AND SCHWARTZ,
APRIL 14, 1999
REFERRED TO INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, APRIL 14, 1999
A RESOLUTION
1 Memorializing Congress to allow the Independent Counsel Act to
2 sunset.
3 WHEREAS, In the 21 years since the Congress of the United
4 States originally passed the Independent Counsel Act there have
5 been approximately 20 independent counsels; and
6 WHEREAS, As of late 1998 at least six independent counsels
7 existed; and
8 WHEREAS, The direct cost of the investigations of these 20
9 independent counsels has exceeded $136 million; and
10 WHEREAS, In addition to these costs there are substantial
11 associated costs, such as the $4.6 million the FBI was forced to
12 incur in carrying out its duties during the Iran-Contra
13 investigation; and
14 WHEREAS, Donald Smaltz's investigation of Michael Espy,
15 former Secretary of Agriculture, lasted over four years, cost in
16 excess of $17 million and ultimately ended in acquittal; and
17 WHEREAS, Lawrence Walsh's Iran-Contra probe lasted
1 approximately seven years, overlapped two Presidential
2 administrations and cost over $48 million; and
3 WHEREAS, Kenneth Starr's investigation lasted five years and
4 exceeded $40 million; and
5 WHEREAS, In contrast, the Public Integrity Section of the
6 Department of Justice, which oversees the administration of
7 justice of elected and appointed officials, has approximately 43
8 employees and operates with a budget of only $5.4 million a
9 year; and
10 WHEREAS, The Department of Justice is capable of
11 investigating and prosecuting government officials absent an
12 independent counsel mechanism, as evidenced by the fact that
13 over the last two decades the Department of Justice has obtained
14 the convictions of 13,345 public officials and employees from
15 both parties, including Vice President Spiro Agnew; and
16 WHEREAS, The attorney general has the ability to appoint a
17 special prosecutor absent an independent counsel mechanism, as
18 Attorney General Reno did in 1993 during a lapse in the law; and
19 WHEREAS, The American Bar Association, which originally
20 helped craft the law, has now voted overwhelmingly to withdraw
21 its support for the Independent Counsel Act; and
22 WHEREAS, Attorney General Janet Reno, who supported
23 reauthorization in 1994, now believes that the statute is
24 fundamentally flawed, unworkable and cannot be corrected within
25 our constitutional framework; and
26 WHEREAS, Some former attorneys general, including Griffin
27 Bell, and some former independent counsels also believe the
28 system is unworkable; and
29 WHEREAS, The independent counsel is not subject to the same
30 kinds of resource and time constraints that other prosecutors
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1 are subject to, and there is real pressure not to end an
2 investigation without an indictment; and
3 WHEREAS, Experience has shown that the independent counsel
4 statute often traps targets and independent counsels alike into
5 long, drawn-out probes of matters that professional prosecutors
6 would not likely pursue; therefore be it
7 RESOLVED, That the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
8 memorialize the Congress of the United States to not reauthorize
9 the Independent Counsel Act and to allow the law to sunset; and
10 be it further
11 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
12 the President of the United States, to the presiding officers of
13 each house of Congress and to each member of Congress from
14 Pennsylvania.
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