Memos Might Reveal Profit Motive in Senate

0 Comments | Insight on the News, March 15, 2004

Byline: Paul M. Weyrich, SPECIAL TO INSIGHT

A hot topic of recent political news is the so-called "Memogate." If you have followed such things then you know that some memos from the files of Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee made their way into the hands of the media. Thereafter, committee chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) expressed outrage that such a thing would happen on his watch. And somewhat later, Manny Miranda, who worked for Hatch and more recently has handled judicial nominations for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), resigned. But not before he wrote a tough letter to the Senate Ethics Committee suggesting that the memos which have not yet been seen indicate possibly unlawful activities on the part of senators.

A number of conservative groups also have asked that the Justice Department investigate the matter. And Miranda, in an interview with CNS News, has charged that the "profit motive" is driving the Senate Judiciary Committee battles where key Bush administration appointments have been filibustered by liberal Democrats.

"What would be truly shocking to the American people is the profit motive that is involved," Miranda said. "It isn't just about abortion 'rights,' the battle is about abortion profits. The axis of profits that undergirds the fight in the Judiciary Committee is the axis between trial lawyers who want particular types of judges who rule in particular ways on their cases and not the abortion-rights lobby but the abortion-clinics lobby. The abortion-rights lobby is just a front for something worse, which is the abortion-clinics lobby, represented by the National Abortion Federation."

Miranda told CNS News that on average abortion clinics make $1,000 for every abortion they perform. "That's where the money is. That's what is really happening here," Miranda said. He went on to say that "the abortion-clinics lobby is an industry as large as any industry that lobbies in Washington and, when combined with the single-mindedness of trial lawyers in trying to obtain a particular kind of judge, the enormity of the money that is behind the Democratic push is astounding and shocking. When you combine it then with the interests of the labor movement, then you start seeing that the effort to control the judiciary is really an enormous and well-orchestrated profit-making business."

Okay. Miranda also has said that among the memos not yet made public is an indication of potential criminal activity.

I have resisted getting into the question of whether Miranda has been guilty of unethical or, according to the Democrats, even possibly criminal activity. I am not in command of the facts, although Miranda always has been honorable in his dealings with my organization and me.

Whether he should have continued to work in the U.S. Senate is really up to him and Sen. Frist. I would not want Frist to tell me whom I should have working at the Free Congress Foundation, and I do not want to tell him whom he should have in his office.

But the charges Miranda makes are serious. Why aren't the Republicans making a first-class issue out of this? It makes no sense! Indeed, in a meeting with representatives of a number of different outside groups, members of the Senate leadership and at least one other member of the Senate Judiciary Committee told them they should back off. One of them is quoted as saying, "We don't want our memos read. We need to respect the privacy of the Democrats."

Now I am a strong advocate of privacy. But I have never advocated privacy to cover up criminal activity. The Senate obviously won't investigate itself. But the Justice Department must look into these charges of possible criminal activity.

What exactly is Miranda saying when he charges that the profit motive is involved in the Senate Judiciary Committee battles? Are Senators on the take here? And if they are, what is it that Republicans have in their memos that they don't want seen? Senate Sergeant at Arms Bill Pickle has seen all the memos. What does he know? Why should he not have to produce for the Justice Department any memos he suspects are indicative of criminal activity?

Whether Miranda did anything wrong, he is one very able lawyer. If he says there is potential criminal activity in the unseen Democratic memos, then that is good enough for me. Card-carrying members of the conservative movement need to demand an investigation. Even if it offends our Senate Republican allies this must go forward. I don't want to believe that any Republican is affected by the profit motive in Senate business, but if some are, they are. Let's find out what is in those memos and let the chips fall where they may.

Paul M. Weyrich is the chairman and chief executive officer of the Free Congress Foundation. Contact Weyrich at jfarrell @freecongress.org.