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 | HALEY'S COMMENTS
July 24, 1997Transcript |
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HALEY BARBOUR, Former RNC Chairman: Thank you all, including the minority, for allowing me the opportunity to tell you and the voters the facts about the Republican National Committee and the National Policy Forum, to dispel, to refute the inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, misinterpreted, and outright false claims about these two outstanding organizations, and frankly, to put the lie to some infuriatingly phony charges, which are aimed at me personally. To be candid, and since I'm under oath, to tell the you the truth, I have to tell you I don't appreciate the way some people have decided their interest is served by attempting to run down the Republicans and trying to smear me. I understand politics a little bit, and I recognize that everybody does a defense when I see it. What I don't understand is some people's willingness to attack others even if they have to ignore, or embellish the facts to do it. And I resent that. KWAME HOLMAN: According to press reports and the testimony of recent committee witnesses, Barbour helped secure a $2 million loan guarantee from a foreign businessman, money that Democrats charge ended up helping finance Republican candidates in 1994. The loan was guaranteed by Hong Kong businessman Ambrose Young through his Young Brothers Development Company and a U.S. subsidiary. Young provided the collateral for a $2.1 million loan to the National Policy Forum, a now-defunct conservative issues group founded by Haley Barbour. The NPF used $1.6 million of that money to pay off a debt to the Republican National Committee, then chaired by Haley Barbour. The RNC, reportedly, distributed that money to states where Republican congressional candidates were in striking distance of Democratic incumbents. But during his opening statement Barbour said the RNC didn't even need any extra money during the 1994 campaign. HALEY BARBOUR: The RNC had the funds available to pay for all that was done in the 1994 campaigns, with 3 million dollars or more to spare, even if it had not gotten back any of the money it loaned the National Policy Forum. KWAME HOLMAN: And while Barbour, himself, wasn't defensive, he did defend the work of the National Policy Forum as a legitimate, non-political conservative think tank, separate from the Republican National Committee. HALEY BARBOUR: The National Policy Council is and was and is a separate organization from any other organization. Like the Democrat Leadership Council, which Sen. Lieberman chairs and Democratic National Committee Chairman Romer serves as vice chairman, NPF is a non-profit corporation. Like the DLC, it's not covered by the Federal Election Campaign Act. The National Policy Forum did not advocate the election defeat of any candidate for any office, federal or otherwise. It did not make contributions to any political party, campaign, or pact. The National Policy Forum didn't have or support a PAC. It did not run any political advertising. It did not make any independent expenditures on behalf of any candidate, campaign, or party. It did not run any issue advocacy advertising. It did not conduct or support any voter registration or get out the vote activities. KWAME HOLMAN: Barbour maintained he didn't learn until this year that the money for the $2 million loan guarantee originated in Hong Kong. HALEY BARBOUR: Although the source of funds makes no difference to the legality of these transactions, to the best of my recollection, I only found out this year that YBD USA had used funds borrowed from Hong Kong to collateralize the Signet bank loan. KWAME HOLMAN: Democratic Counsel Alan Baron tried to show the evidence proved otherwise. ALAN BARON, Minority Counsel: Do you recall Mr. Young discussing the fact at the dinner in August of '94, prior to the loan being made, that he could not make any commitment; he would have to go back to the board of YBD Hong Kong? HALEY BARBOUR: I'll confess it could just as easily have been my accent as his, but he, himself, says that--and all I can tell you is if he ever mentioned anything about a Hong Kong board or about Hong Kong authorities, either I didn't understand what he was talking about, or I just didn't hear him. ALAN BARON: Okay. Mr. Young has also testified that in the summer of 1995, when you visited him on the company yacht in Hong Kong--and I'm going to direct you now to page 57--the question there is: "What was your response"--that is, Mr. Ambrose Young's response--"to Mr. Barbour's proposition that the loan be forgiven, as we have discussed?" His answer: "I said, 'No,' in the manner of an apology. I explained to him that we have difficulties to do that because the YBD USA money, which was guaranteed under the form of certificate, deposit certificate for the Forum loan, was a loan from YBD Hong Kong. And YBD Hong Kong, we are facing government audit every year. Without justification, the directors of the board, who approve such loans, face government punishment, so, therefore, I explained, this cannot be done." HALEY BARBOUR: That's the conversation, Mr. Baron, in which Mr. Young told you that he knew in that conversation that I was misunderstanding what he said. And if he said what you just read, I misunderstood him. He was--Mr. Young was right about that. KWAME HOLMAN: But whether the loan guarantee was legal or not, it still troubled Committee Chairman Fred Thompson. SEN. FRED THOMPSON, Chairman, Governmental Affairs Committee: It would seem to me that you would think, in retrospect anyway, that all of this, plus the fact that you were heading both organizations, plus the fact that it was in your platform, and the fact that you provided the seed money, would make any appearances of any foreign involvement that much more radioactive, even though it is legal, even though it takes a bank shot to get to it. But stepping back from it, I mean, haven't we learned one thing from this, even though there might be a legal transaction involved, with all of these other kind of interrelationships, and you don't make any bones about it. I mean, the articles of incorporation for the National Policy Forum says to develop a Republican policy agenda. And, as you say, it's kind of like the DNC, but with all of that, I mean, doesn't it make it that much more important, as we go on in the future, if we don't scrap this whole thing, which is what I think we ought to do, to make sure that we don't get into that--people don't get into that kind of a situation again? HALEY BARBOUR: I thought we were having a guarantor that was an entity that could contribute and was contributing. And I want to be fair to 'em. I think the Young Brothers people thought they could legally contribute too. I think they honestly thought that. SEN. FRED THOMPSON: But when you're sitting on a boat in the Hong Kong harbor, talking to a gentleman, who's a citizen of Taiwan, I mean, that does raise certain other potential implications in terms of appearances, but it's an appearance business that we're both in, isn't it? HALEY BARBOUR: Well, appearances, what--the old saying in politics is that perception is reality. KWAME HOLMAN: Thompson said he also was troubled that the National Policy Forum eventually defaulted on its loan, even though Haley Barbour indicated to Mr. Young the RNC would prevent that from happening. SEN. FRED THOMPSON: It looks to me like they were counting on the RNC to do that; that they believed in what we were doing; that they stepped up to the plate big time; and you or I, neither one, how have anything directly to do with it, but I don't think that sends a very good signal in terms of personal responsibility or anything else. I think if--I think if we knew that they were expecting us to weigh in on that thing, that they thought that you had the clout to get the job done, that you would try your best to get the job done, and if you did that, then that absolved your responsibility, I'd say personally, but as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't absolve the RNC responsibility. That's my opinion. KWAME HOLMAN: The hearings continue tomorrow. |
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