[House Hearing, 108 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
RESOLUTION DISMISSING THE ELECTION CONTEST RELATING TO THE SECOND
CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT, STATE OF HAWAII
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MEETING
before the
COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, JULY 9, 2003
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on House Administration
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COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION
BOB NEY, Chairman
VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan JOHN B. LARSON, Connecticut,
JOHN L. MICA, Florida Ranking Minority Member
JOHN LINDER, Georgia JUANITA MILLENDER-McDONALD,
JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, California California
THOMAS M. REYNOLDS, New York ROBERT A. BRADY, Pennsylvania
Professional Staff
Paul Vinovich, Staff Director
George Shevin, Minority Staff Director
RESOLUTION DISMISSING ELECTION CONTEST RELATING TO SECOND CONGRESSIONAL
DISTRICT, STATE OF HAWAII
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2003
House of Representatives,
Committee on House Administration,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to call, at 2:30 p.m., in Room
1310, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Robert W. Ney
(chairman of the committee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Ney, Ehlers, Mica, Linder,
Doolittle, Larson, and Brady.
Staff Present: Paul Vinovich, Staff Director; Jeff Janas,
Clerk; Jennifer Hing, Assistant Clerk; Fred Hay, Counsel;
George Shevlin, Minority Staff Director; Charles Howell,
Minority Chief Counsel; Matt Pinkus, Minority Professional
Staff; and Catherine Tran, Minority Staff Assistant.
The Chairman. The committee will come to order. There is a
single item before the committee which we will address before
we commence into our hearing, a resolution dismissing an
election contest arising from the Second Congressional District
of Hawaii.
The clerk will read the motion.
The Clerk. Resolved that the election contest relating to
the office of the Representative from the Second Congressional
District of Hawaii is dismissed.
The Chairman. I would like to recognize the gentleman from
Connecticut, our ranking member, Mr. Larson.
Mr. Larson. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, the committee has determined on a bipartisan
basis that this election contest is without merit. Therefore, I
move that the committee report the resolution dismissing this
contest favorably to the House.
The Chairman. The question is on the motion. Those in favor
of the motion will say aye.
Those opposed will say no.
The motion is agreed to. A motion dismissing the election
contest will be reported favorably to the House.
The gentleman from Michigan.
Mr. Ehlers. Mr. Chairman, may I have a point of personal
privilege for a few moments?
The Chairman. Without objection.
Mr. Ehlers. Thank you. Before we get into this very
important hearing, I first have to apologize. I have to speak
on the bill that is on the floor right now, so I will be
leaving shortly; I will attempt to get back later.
I just wanted to raise an issue of concern to me that is
under the jurisdiction of this committee, and that is the tours
of the Capitol. I believe that the tour service is not working
as well as it should. I realize we are waiting for the new
Visitors Center, but what we have done in the meantime is,
Members have filled the gap by providing the staff-led tours.
That is simply getting out of hand. This morning as I walked
through the hallway, there were over 200 people lined up just
to get their little sticker to take a staff-led tour.
Plus I listened to some staff members talking to each
other. One said he was doing one or more tours a day for people
from his district. The intent of the tour service, which
incidentally does a very good job, I suspect a better job than
most members of the staff because they know the history of the
building, they should be giving these tours. We should be
making provision for that and meeting the needs of our
constituents in that way instead of using our staff time to do
it.
I just wanted to get that statement on the record. I hope
that you and other members of this committee can addressthat
with the appropriate individuals involved and expand the Capitol tour
service. Thank you.
The Chairman. I thank the gentleman for his comments. Just
for those who aren't familiar, we have a give-and-take on this
issue. There is a board; it has certain votes. This committee
has oversight.
We try to work together. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we
don't. If we don't agree, we can have an oversight hearing.
We have had a fairly harmonious give-and-take on this
issue. I have been insistent, I know, and I will let our
ranking member speak for himself, but we have had
conversations, and he has been insistent on keeping this
Capitol open. The Speaker of the House, Speaker Hastert, has
said many, many times that we are going to enhance the
security, but keep the People's House open. We are going to be
calm but cautious. That is the approach we have tried to take.
I have struggled actually to get it to the 15-per-staff-
member tour. There was a move to take it to eight. I think it
ought to be expanded.
I think we have stabilized a lot of security issues. We
have always got to watch; nothing is ever perfect. But I take
your comments to heart. We will proceed to have another give-
and-take on doing it.
I am happy to say, we have kept the building open. Only
when we went to war with Iraq for a momentary, small period of
time did we stop the public tours so the Capitol Hill police,
because we were short, could focus more on the police beat
issues, on the street and more visibility.
Having said that, we still kept the tours open by the staff
because at no point in time did we say, we're going to just
shut this down. I am proud of the fact we have been able to do
that, but I think there is room to grow on keeping more entry
and ability for people to enjoy the building. Thank you.
Mr. Ehlers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Larson. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to associate
myself with the remarks from the gentleman from Michigan and
concur with the concerns that he has raised. We have heard from
several Members who have the very same concerns that you do,
while at the same time acknowledging the very delicate balance
that we share here, providing both security and access at the
same time.
Obviously, with the great hope of the Visitors Center that
will be in place in 2005, we will alleviate a lot of the
concerns that we have. But I concur with the chairman, I think
there is room to grow. It certainly is worthy of further
contemplation and work on our part to enhance the ability to
get people through here in a timely, orderly, and in your words
and in the Speaker's words, calm and cautious manner.
The Chairman. I thank both the gentlemen.
Concluding--back to the regular order, concluding some
unfinished business, I ask unanimous consent that members have
7 legislative days for statements and materials to be added
into the appropriate place in the record. Without objection,
the material will be so entered.
I also ask unanimous consent that staff be authorized to
make technical and conforming changes on all matters considered
by the committee at this meeting. Without objection, so
ordered.
Having completed this item of business, the committee will
momentarily recess as we prepare to begin our hearing. Thank
you.
[Whereupon, at 2:35 p.m., the committee meeting was
adjourned.]