AVIARY TRANSCRIPTION

Iowa State Library event, welcome from Congressman John Conyers

https://iastate.aviaryplatform.com/r/tq5r787h24
Media File: MS0274_Conyers
Transcription File: MS0274_Conyers.vtt
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Plain Text Exported From Aviary: 2024-09-03T16:59:04


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Greetings from Washington, D.C. I'm Congressman

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John Conyers, and I thank you all for the

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invitation to offer my reflections for this

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retrospective on the Watergate scandal. As

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Congressman Ed Mierzwinski papers, a dear friend

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of mine when he was on Judiciary Committee are

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donated to Iowa State University. I had the

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pleasure of serving on the House Judiciary

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Committee with my former colleague, Mr. Mezvinsky,

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in the 1970s. And I can think of no more no place

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more deserving than Iowa State to receive his

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congressional papers on this, the fortieth

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anniversary of Watergate. Now, since I first

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arrived in Congress, I have seen nine presidents

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occupy the White House. But it's important to

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distinguish between political disagreements, of

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which there are many and true abuses of power.

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That line was clearly crossed in the consideration

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of the impeachment of former President Richard

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Nixon. The allegations against President Nixon's

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were numerous and serious from the outset, the

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House Judiciary Committee conducted its

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investigation of these claims. I must say, in a

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meticulous and bipartisan fashion, we hired

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experts, conducted months of research, held more

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than 57 public hearings on the topic. And piece by

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piece and working with our Senate colleagues, we

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built a pretty substantial case. The committee did

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not act on impeachment until we were certain that

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we had the evidence to substantiate the

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allegations that would have to be brought.

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That painstaking approach paid dividends. The

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committee worked diligently to uncover the facts

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of the Watergate break in and other abuses. Our

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emphasis on the facts earned credibility with the

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public, the media and even some of the Republicans

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in the House. In the end, it was the Republican

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leadership itself that in 1974 went to President

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Nixon and convinced him to resign. We worked hard

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to build consensus around the need to rein in the

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executive branch.

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In the years following President Nixon's

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resignation, Congress began to rehabilitate the

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federal government and restore the public's trust

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in our elected officials and some of our key

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reforms, including included the creation of the

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Office of Independent Special Counsel for Future

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Investigative Work, reform of campaign finance

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laws to limit the corrosive influence of money in

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politics, of which there's still far too much. By

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amending the federal Election Campaign Act to

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offer public financing for presidential elections

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and to create for the first time the Federal

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Election Commission to oversee and increase

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transparency in elections,

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convening the commission led by Senator Church

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Frank Church of Idaho, which uncovered

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longstanding wiretap abuses and led to new laws to

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protect the privacy of American citizens,

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including the creation of the Foreign Intelligence

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Surveillance Court. In both the halls of Congress

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and the press rooms in the Beltway and beyond,

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accountability and oversight became the hallmarks

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of the post Watergate era. Yet I fear that the

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lessons we learned in the aftermath of Watergate

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are still being. Slowly forgotten, and the reforms

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that we enacted are somehow quietly eroded,

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eroding. Campaign finance laws are in tatters

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following a series of disastrous court decisions,

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most recently with the Supreme Court in Citizens

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United. Holding that the First Amendment prohibits

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the government from restricting political and

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expenditures by corporations and following this

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decision, an activist Supreme Court decided in

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Shelby County vs. Holder to turn the clock back on

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civil rights by invalidating the heart of the

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Voting Rights Act.

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The law allowing for independent special counsel

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has lapsed and has yet not been renewed, and over

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time, the National Security Agency has continued

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to expand its authority without proper

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congressional oversight. As public revelations

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have recently brought to light about the National

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Security Agency's bulk collection of every phone

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number and call made by everyone in the United

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States. We became comfortable in the decades

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following Watergate, but we can still act on the

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lessons learned from that tumultuous time with a

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renewed sense of purpose. I believe Congress can

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again work to shore up the shortcomings in our

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democracy. We would be wise to remember that our

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democracy is stronger for having confronted true

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abuses of power when we found them, and we must

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continue to be reminded of the important lessons

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learned from the Watergate era.

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