[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 114 (Friday, July 14, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9986-S9988]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE TENNESSEE DEBACLE
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, let me take a minute to state I am going to
make an announcement here, in the next half hour or so, about what the
Judiciary Committee is going to do about the Tennessee debacle. So I
just want to put people on notice that the Judiciary Committee is going
to act on that debacle. I am very upset about it. I am upset about the
way law enforcement officers have acted. It appears that there may have
been--these are allegations, not necessarily facts--may have been ATF
agents, FBI agents, perhaps even U.S. attorneys and other officials,
there may even have been some Canadian Royal Mounted Police involved in
this racist incident.
So I am going to have a few remarks to make, and I am going to set a
committee agenda on that before we end today. I just want people to be
aware of it because we are not going to sit around and let that type of
stuff happen.
Mr. President, I will announce with more specifics what we are going
to do. But as of today I am sending out a notice that the Judiciary
Committee will hold a hearing next Friday on this matter. We expect top
representatives from Justice, Treasury, FBI, ATF, and others to be in
attendance and to come and tell us what they are going to do to get to
the bottom of this, what kind of action they are going to take, to the
extent they can tell us with the investigation as of that date.
So I will talk about it with more specificity before the day is out,
but I already have a notice going out. I have consulted with Senator
Biden, and I have to say I have consulted with the distinguished
Senator from Tennessee, Senator Thompson, who, representing his State,
said that Tennesseans want to get to the bottom of this, they want to
resolve it, and that he, representing Tennessee, will want to be
involved in it and do everything he can to resolve it as well. He has
shown great interest. I want to pay a special tribute to him for his
work with me on this matter.
Next Friday there will be an intensive hearing on this matter. We are
going to just start to get to the bottom of it, and we are going to
make some demands on the leaders of this country to come up with a
system that will never permit this to happen again anywhere. We are not
going to have law enforcement people, who wear the badge of the public,
acting like racists, or being racist, or participating in racist
activities.
From what I have heard about this, assuming that it is true--and I
have only read newspaper accounts and I have checked with some of these
leaders--what I have heard about this, it is abominable. I have to tell
you, I have chatted with some of the leaders who confirmed that it is
true, that some of our agents have participated in this. Frankly, it is
time to put an end, once and for all, to that type of racist activity,
and we are going to do it.
I want to personally pay tribute to people in Justice and the FBI and
ATF and Treasury who have all indicated to me that they are with me on
this, they want to get to the bottom of it, and they are going to
handle it with great care and with efficiency.
So we will talk more about it a little bit later. Those hearings are
scheduled now for next Friday, and we are going to get to the bottom of
this thing as much as we can as of that date. Then we are going to
follow up.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I am sickened by media reports, if they are
correct, regarding the so-called ``Good O' Boys Roundup'' in Tennessee.
According to these reports hundreds of law enforcement officials are
involved in this whites only event in the spring of each year.
These reports describe events at the gathering, sale of items like T-
shirts with a target superimposed over a picture of Rev. Martin Luther
King, activities and displays so blatantly racist that I would not want
to repeat them on the floor of the Senate. But, I want to make clear
that the behavior of these officers, if the reports are true, is
reprehensible and cannot be tolerated. They must be condemned if
engaged in by anyone. But, if the participants were law enforcement
officers sworn to protect the rights of all Americans, such activities
are all the more reprehensible.
I am pleased to see that Director John Magaw has ordered an
investigation into the involvement of any ATF officers. I would hope
that State and local authorities would follow suit. I trust that the
ATF investigation will be timely, professional, and thorough, and that
a full report will be made to the appropriate committees of Congress,
and that officers found to have participated in racist activities
should be discharged.
Mr. President, this kind of overt racism is unacceptable and has no
place today in American life. It is a sad fact of American history that
it has existed at all. I am confident that the American people
overwhelmingly reject such behavior, particularly by officers of the
law, and will demand that it not be tolerated.
I ask unanimous consent that two articles from the Washington Times
be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the articles were ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Washington Times, July 11, 1995]
Racist Ways Die Hard at Lawmen's Retreat--Annual ``Good O'Boys
Roundup'' Cited as Evidence of ``Klan Attitude'' at ATF
(By Jerry Seper)
Ocoee, Tenn.--They're trying to tone down the racist
trappings of the ``Good O'Boys Roundup'' here in the
Tennessee hills east of Chattanooga, where hundreds of
federal, state and local law enforcement officers gather
every spring to let off steam.
There was a lot to tone down. Gone, for example, are many
of the crude signs that once greeted arriving officers, like
this one: ``Nigger check point.''
The ``Good O'Boys Roundup'' is organized by agents of the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and it was held this
year on May 18-20.
Also gone this year was the traditional Saturday-night skit
highlighting the Good O'Boys steak dinner.'' In one skit, an
officer in fake Ku Klux Klan garb pulled a dildo from his
robe and pretended to sodomize another officer; who was in
blackface.
But according to law enforcement officers who attended this
year's and other events, a whites-only policy remains in
effect.
Still on sale were T-shirts with Martin Luther King's face
behind a target, O.J. Simpson in a hangman's noose and white
D.C. police officers with a black man sprawled across the
hood of their car under the words ``Boyz on the Hood.''
``Nigger hunting licenses'' also were available throughout
the compound, consisting of motor homes, trailers, tents and
pickups gathered around a large beer truck.
At this year's event, some black officers--including ATF
agents--attempted to crash the party and were turned away
after having ``bitter words'' with some of the white officers
in attendance, the sources said.
At attempt by roundup organizers to tone down the event's
racist activities comes at a time when black agents have
charged ATF
with discrimination. In a lawsuit pending in U.S. District
Court in Washington, they claim ATF supervisors have done
little to address complaints of racial slurs, harassment
and other job discrimination.
Brought by 15 plaintiffs, the suit alleges that such
incidents as ``nigger hunting licenses'' seen in ATF offices,
a Ku Klux Klan card posted in ATF's Oklahoma City office and
use of the word ``nigger'' by white ATF officials have gone
unpunished. There are about 200 blacks among the 2,000 agents
within ATF, a law enforcement arm of the Treasury Department.
Representing the black agents is lawyer David J. Shaffer of
Washington. He said that his clients were aware of the Good
O' Boys Roundup and that discovery in the case found that
announcements concerning it had been circulated exclusively
by and to white agents.
``This is what this lawsuit is about: a Ku Klux Klan
attitude among some of the white agents that seriously
affects black agents on a day-to-day basis,'' Mr. Shaffer
said.
Trial in the case has been tentatively set for next year
before U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth.
The roundup, according to invitations sent out last year,
has been coordinated unofficially for the past several years
through the
[[Page S9987]]
ATF office in Greenville, S.C., and is open to ``any good o' boy
invited to attend.'' Non-law-enforcement attendees must be
sponsored and accompanied by law enforcement officers, and
participants wear wristbands to verify that they were
invited.
The event coordinator is Gene Rightmyer, a retired ATF
agent who previously was assigned to field offices in
Tennessee and South Carolina. Mr. Rightmyer did not return
telephone messages left for him with ATF for comment.
Roundup invitations show that participants were asked to
send their registration fees--ranging from $70 to $90--to the
Greenville ATF office, and the office's telephone was listed
as the number for any questions concerning the event.
Todd Lockhart, acting agent in charge of the Greenville
office, declined comment, referring inquiries to the ATF
regional office in Charlotte, NC.
Several ATF agents in Greenville, however, were aware of
the roundup, and during interviews they expressed concern and
dismay over the annual event.
``I have never attended, nor would I,'' said one agent,
adding that he and others knew about the racist activities
and felt the event reflected poorly on the agency.
``I am not surprised about the signs or the other
activities, and
whether the racism is overt or subtle, it is wrong,'' said
another ATF official. ``I cringe on behalf of the
agency.''
None of the several Greenville agents interviewed
volunteered that they had ever attended the event.
Earl Woodham, ATF spokesman in Charlotte, said he was aware
of the annual roundup and had been invited on one occasion to
attend but declined. He noted that the event was not
sanctioned or authorized by ATF.
``The ATF does not and will not tolerate any kind of
discrimination,'' he said. ``But what people do on their own
time is their business; we cannot control internal
morality.''
Mr. Woodham said, however, that Mr. Rightmyer used ``poor
judgment'' in using the ATF address and telephone number in
his invitation. He said if Mr. Rightmyer were still employed
by the agency, he would be subject to ``a full review and
possible sanctions.''
He also suggested that ATF officials who attend the annual
event were ``a lot of the older agents, spinoffs from the
days of the revenuers and moonshine chasers.''
``The younger agents just don't have time for this kind of
activity,'' he said.
ATF spokesman Jack Killorin in Washington did not return
calls for comment.
The roundup was organized in 1980 by ATF agents in
Chattanooga and Knoxville. It began with 58 persons, mostly
ATF agents, from Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and
North Carolina. Roundup attendance jumped to 341 last year.
According to Mr. Rightmyer's invitation, there are few
rules. Among those listed were no fighting, no fireworks and
``what goes on at the roundup stays there.''
Jeff Randall, a former Attalla, Ala., policeman who
attended this year's event, said that while he would not
``condemn'' the entire group, there was ``an obvious racist
overtone'' by many of those in attendance.
``People can gather and have fun, and there was a lot of
good, clean fun available,'' he said. ``But the obviously
racist stuff was just not acceptable.''
Mr. Randall also confirmed seeing black agents at this
year's event being turned away, saying that some of the
program participants were ``real mad'' that they had tried to
get into the compound.
A former Alabama police official who asked not to be
identified said entrance to the roundup has in the past been
tightly controlled along a one-lane dirt road. He said he
personally saw and photographed racially inflammatory signs
along that road.
The former police official, who said he attended three of
the roundups, said the majority of participants identified
themselves as ATF agents. ``The roundup has been a place for
law enforcement personnel to go and let their hair down,'' he
said. ``But some of this overt racism is just inappropriate,
plain and simple.''
J.T. Lemons, owner of Grumpy's Whitewater Rafting here,
whose company sponsored rafting trips at the roundup, said
that organizers have ``done what they can over the past few
years to clean up the racism'' and that some overt signs were
ordered taken down.
Mr. Lemons confirmed, however, that racially sensitive T-
shirts ``and other stuff'' remained on sale.
Other business owners in this Polk County, Tenn.,
community--east of Chattanooga, adjacent to the Cherokee
National Forest--also confirmed they had seen the signs, T-
shirts and other racist trappings but declined to be quoted
on the record.
Meetings ``designed to keep the White House informed'' on
the incident, including a listing of administration officials
involved in giving or receiving information.
Mr. Clinton and agency heads have pledged to cooperate with
the request.
But yesterday, nine days before the hearings are set to
open, the joint panel has received documents on ``roughly
half'' of the issues requested, according to a senior GOP
source close to the negotiations.
``The Department of Defense has been very helpful, [and]
the Treasury Department just sent over 13,000 pages of
documents,'' Mr. Zeliff said. ``Some people are trying to
help us do our job, and some people aren't.''
Justice Department spokesman Carl Stern denied that his
agency was stalling. ``We've given the committee complete
cooperation.''
Mr. Mikva's office and the Defense Department did not
return calls seeking comment. Treasury Department officials
hotly denied they are stalling, saying about 80 percent of
the materials requested have been sent to the committee, and
``almost all'' of the rest will arrive by tomorrow.
Staffers for Mr. Zeliff's subcommittee have requested seven
years' worth of personnel records on every ATF agent charged
with misconduct. A senior source at the Treasury Department,
which oversees ATF, said officials there don't consider
records of agents not disciplined for their involvement in
the Waco siege to be relevant to the investigation.
But the subcommittee is pressing on with its request, in an
effort to ``develop a pattern of overreaching on the part of
BATF agents,'' according to the high-level GOP source on the
joint panel.
Also yesterday, Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican
and presidential candidate, attacked Mr. Rubin for charging
last week that the hearings are politically motivated and
that proponents of hearings are ``opponents of law
enforcement.''
In a response yesterday, Mr. Rubin denied saying that and
suggested Mr. Specter ``misunderstand[s] my views.''
____
Appalled ATF Chief Orders Probe of Agents' Role in Racist ``Roundup''--
Plans Discipline for Those Involved
(By Jerry Seper)
The head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
yesterday ordered an investigation into the involvement of
ATF agents in a whites-only ``Good O' Boys Roundup'' in the
Tennessee hills, saying he has ``zero tolerance'' for racism
in the agency.
Director John W. Magaw, who took over ATF in October 1993
in the wake of the botched Branch Davidian raid, said he was
``appalled'' that agents would take part in an
event marred by obvious displays of racism.
The Washington Times reported yesterday that ATF agents had
organized and helped coordinate the annual roundup since 1980
and that participants, who numbered more than 300 this year,
had displayed crude signs bearing racist remarks and sold T-
shirts with racist and degrading slogans with depictions.
The times also reported that, despite efforts in recent
years to tone down the roundup's racist trappings, a whites-
only policy has remained in effect, and black law enforcement
officers, including an AFT agent, were turned away from this
year's May 18-20 event.
``I am appalled that an event as the one reported in
today's Washington Times would happen in any facet of our
society--particularly involving law enforcement officers,''
Mr. Magaw said in ordering agency officials to find out how
many agents were involved and whether ATF property was used
to organize the event.
``Everyone at ATF knows of my intolerance for
discrimination and harassment,'' he said. ``If an inquiry
finds that anyone is involved in these practices, I will do
everything in my power to mete out the strongest possible
discipline.''
An AFT Officer of Inspection inquiry will look into
accusations that current and former agents
participated, review whether current agents had breached the
agency's code of conduct, and try to determine what role
former agent Gene Rightmyer played in the roundup.
Mr. Rightmyer, who has not returned telephone messages, has
organized the roundup the past several years and, according
to a recent letter of invitation, used the address and
telephone number of the ATF office in Greenville, S.C., where
he was assigned, as the contract point for registration fees
and questions about the event.
Mr. Magaw said a preliminary review of the accusations
began last month after article from the Gadsden Minutemen
Newsletter was posted on the Internet. The Alabama article
said racist activities went on at the roundup and that ATF
agents were involved.
The preliminary inquiry found that as many as 10 agents had
attended and that a black agent who went with two white
agents had left after hearing ``the racial undercurrents of
other participants,'' Mr. Magaw said.
* * * * *
Roundup attendance jumped to 341 last year.
Two former Alabama police officers who attended the event
this year said there were obvious racist overtones and
confirmed seeing black officers being turned away. They said
the majority of the participants they met identified
themselves as ATF agents, an accusation denied by Mr. Magaw.
ATF has come under fire since the Branch Davidian raid in
1992 near Waco, Texas, during which the agency tried to serve
an arrest warrant on sect leader David Koresh, resulting in
the deaths of four agents and six Davidians. The agency's
actions at Waco will be the subject of House hearings
beginning next week.
Black ATF agents have charged in a federal lawsuit that
agency supervisors have done little to address complaints of
racial slurs, harassment and discrimination.
Trial in the case has been tentatively set for next year
before U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth. There are about
200
[[Page S9988]]
blacks among the 2,000 agents in ATF, an arm of the Treasury
Department.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, again I commend Senator Hatch. I know he
will find strong bipartisan support for this initiative he is taking.
There is a bipartisan determination to go root out this kind of racism
in America.
Again, I think he will find very strong support, both in the
administration and in those agencies, to root it out, and, I am sure,
on the part of both sides of the aisle.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, if I could just add one other thing. The
Judiciary Committee is going to resolve that problem. But we are also
working very hard on the Ruby Ridge situation and also the Waco
situation. We are going to resolve those, too. But I want to do it with
a full investigation and not halfcocked. I want to get into it and do
what has to be done.
With regard to Waco, we also know the House is starting their
hearings next week. They have asked us to defer our hearings until
after theirs, in other words until September. We have agreed to do it,
on Waco.
On Ruby Ridge we are looking at it very, very carefully. We intend to
follow through on it. I know the Senators from Idaho have both talked
to me many times about this, and I have assured them this is going to
happen and it is going to be done thoroughly and it is going to be done
well. I just want everybody to understand that aspect as well, but I do
think we do need to do some more investigation.
On the ATF matter, or should I say the Tennessee matter that involves
ATF, FBI and others, naturally we will not, by next Friday, have all of
the investigation done. But next Friday is to make sure we have our top
officials in Government come in and tell us what they are going to do
about these racist activities and to chat with us on the Judiciary
Committee about what we can do to help them.
I have to, preliminarily, tell you, I am very concerned. I think,
currently, our leaders over at the ATF and FBI are as good as we can
have. John Magaw and Louis Freeh, Judge Freeh, are excellent leaders.
They both are jumping right on this. Both of them have done an awful a
lot to try to make sure there is no racism within their agencies, and
Director Freeh in particular has been making sure that equal
opportunity laws are abided by, outreach is being undertaken for
African-Americans and other minorities to come into the FBI. And I
commend him for it.
I commend him for it. He has been a breath of fresh air ever since he
has been there. I feel sorry that he has had to inherit some of these
problems. He has inherited Ruby Ridge, and some of the other problems.
But nevertheless, I have confidence in him in helping to resolve these
problems, and we are going to do everything we can to help him and the
others to do the job, as well as our Secretary of the Treasury, our
Attorney General, and others to resolve some of these serious problems.
____________________