Read Online Heart: An American Medical Odyssey by Dick Cheney, Jonathan Reiner - Free Book Online
Authors: Dick Cheney, Jonathan Reiner
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I gave my first speech on the floor of the House as a member of the committee. Congressman Charles Diggs of Michigan had been convicted of accepting kickbacks from members of his congressional staff; however, after his conviction, the voters of the Thirteenth District had reelected him. The case forced the Ethics Committee to make a decision about Article I of the Constitution. Article I grants the House the power to expel a member for misconduct if approved by two-thirds of his colleagues. It also specifies that members will be elected by popular vote. Which was to take precedence: the power of Congress to expel a member for misconduct or the right of the voters to pick their representative?
I agreed with the committee that we had to accept the judgment of the voters of the Thirteenth District and supported the committee’s recommendation for censure. A number of members disagreed, however, and argued for expulsion. The motion to censure nevertheless prevailed, and we accepted the voters” decision about whom they wanted to represent them. The following year when Diggs’s conviction was upheld on appeal, he resigned.
The biggest scandal the committee had to handle while I was a member was ABSCAM. A number of House members, as well as one senator, were caught up in an FBI sting operation. Undercover agents posing as representatives of a wealthy Middle Eastern sheikh offered cash payments to members as bribes. All of the transactions were captured on videotape, so there wasn’t a shred of doubt about the guilt of those who had been caught. All of them were either defeated or resigned except Congressman Ozzie Myers of Philadelphia, who refused to resign and was not subject to an intervening election. Myers insisted on taking the matter to a vote of the whole House and became the first congressman since the Civil War to be expelled.
At the end of my first term in December 1980, I was elected by my colleagues to be chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, the fourth-ranking leadership post. It was unusual for someone to be elected to the leadership after only one term in office, and it was only thesecond time that Wyoming’s congressman was part of the elected leadership. The first time had been from 1919 to 1923, when Congressman Frank Mondell had served as the majority leader. My selection as part of the House Republican leadership had an enormous impact on my career. By 1988 I rose to the number two position as the House Republican whip and was in line to become the GOP leader when Bob Michel retired or Speaker of the House if we won the majority.
As policy chairman, I was a regular participant in meetings to determine our legislative strategy and our positions on key issues that came before the House. During the Reagan years, we met regularly with the president. Being policy chairman led to my appointment as a member of the Intelligence Committee and as the ranking Republican member on the committee to investigate the Iran-contra affair. Working with my Senate colleague, Al Simpson, part of the Republican leadership in the other body, we were often able to push policies important to the people of Wyoming. In later years when I became secretary of defense, the relationships that I developed during my years as part of the House leadership were instrumental in my work on Capitol Hill.
I maintained a significant international travel schedule during the early 1980s as well. A partial list of delegations in which I participated includes visits to the Soviet Union, Egypt, Grenada, Singapore, Japan, England, El Salvador, Israel, and France.
I never felt during these years that my health interfered with my ability to do my job, but I did experience a number of false alarms, instances when I felt something wasn’t quite right, when I thought I might be having a heart attack but it turned out I wasn’t.
One of the most important lessons I had taken from that first heart attack was “When in doubt, check it
I agreed with the committee that we had to accept the judgment of the voters of the Thirteenth District and supported the committee’s recommendation for censure. A number of members disagreed, however, and argued for expulsion. The motion to censure nevertheless prevailed, and we accepted the voters” decision about whom they wanted to represent them. The following year when Diggs’s conviction was upheld on appeal, he resigned.
The biggest scandal the committee had to handle while I was a member was ABSCAM. A number of House members, as well as one senator, were caught up in an FBI sting operation. Undercover agents posing as representatives of a wealthy Middle Eastern sheikh offered cash payments to members as bribes. All of the transactions were captured on videotape, so there wasn’t a shred of doubt about the guilt of those who had been caught. All of them were either defeated or resigned except Congressman Ozzie Myers of Philadelphia, who refused to resign and was not subject to an intervening election. Myers insisted on taking the matter to a vote of the whole House and became the first congressman since the Civil War to be expelled.
At the end of my first term in December 1980, I was elected by my colleagues to be chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, the fourth-ranking leadership post. It was unusual for someone to be elected to the leadership after only one term in office, and it was only thesecond time that Wyoming’s congressman was part of the elected leadership. The first time had been from 1919 to 1923, when Congressman Frank Mondell had served as the majority leader. My selection as part of the House Republican leadership had an enormous impact on my career. By 1988 I rose to the number two position as the House Republican whip and was in line to become the GOP leader when Bob Michel retired or Speaker of the House if we won the majority.
As policy chairman, I was a regular participant in meetings to determine our legislative strategy and our positions on key issues that came before the House. During the Reagan years, we met regularly with the president. Being policy chairman led to my appointment as a member of the Intelligence Committee and as the ranking Republican member on the committee to investigate the Iran-contra affair. Working with my Senate colleague, Al Simpson, part of the Republican leadership in the other body, we were often able to push policies important to the people of Wyoming. In later years when I became secretary of defense, the relationships that I developed during my years as part of the House leadership were instrumental in my work on Capitol Hill.
I maintained a significant international travel schedule during the early 1980s as well. A partial list of delegations in which I participated includes visits to the Soviet Union, Egypt, Grenada, Singapore, Japan, England, El Salvador, Israel, and France.
I never felt during these years that my health interfered with my ability to do my job, but I did experience a number of false alarms, instances when I felt something wasn’t quite right, when I thought I might be having a heart attack but it turned out I wasn’t.
One of the most important lessons I had taken from that first heart attack was “When in doubt, check it
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