PenceBlog: Monica Goodling testimony - U.S. Congressman Mike Pence : 6th District Of Indiana

Monica Goodling testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Byron York has a great article about it here.

The Family Research Council and CBN’s David Brody have some great commentary here and here on their blogs about a certain line of questioning during the House Judiciary hearing Wednesday.

Transcript of Congressman Pence's questioning below:

Rep. Mike Pence
I'm pleased now to recognize Mike Pence of Indiana.

REP. MIKE PENCE (R-IN): Thank you, Chairman.
And Ms. Goodling, appreciate very much your testimony today. I supported the granting of use immunity in this case, because I'm not afraid of facts. I think Abraham Lincoln said it best when he said, give the people the facts and the republic will be served. And grateful for your candor coming before this committee today, and grateful for your service in that testimony.
I was looking a little bit at your biography. I was piqued by a story on April the 8th in, I think, The Boston Globe that reflected on the harsh spotlight that had been drawn on the administration's tendency -- I'm quoting now -- to hire individuals from, quote, "conservative schools with sometimes marginal reputations," close- quote. You're a graduate, I think, cum laude from -- is it Regent University School of Law and Government, Virginia Beach, Virginia?

MS. GOODLING: I have a master's in public policy and a law degree from Regent, yes.

REP. PENCE: And is it also -- and you don't need to answer this. I think you may know that the attorney general of the state of Virginia is also a graduate of Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

MS. GOODLING: I've heard that.
REP. PENCE: Okay, and I would assume, you're not terribly concerned about the tendency of a conservative president to hire graduates from conservative graduate schools in this country.

MS. GOODLING: Not at all.

REP. PENCE: Nothing that would concern you about that?

MS. GOODLING: No.

REP. PENCE: Thank you. Well, this graduate of a Christian college appreciates your sentiment about that.
And it really leads me to the -- my sense of this, and I want to ask you just a couple of yes/no questions if I can. Candidly, Ms. Goodling, I still haven't heard any facts or seen any facts that show anything illegal about the U.S. attorney firings themselves. And I'm trying to focus, as I did when the attorney general was here, on the issue of wrongdoing and of illegality.
When the attorney general came before this committee, he was very candid about mismanagement and administrative errors that were made. And I understand people's harsh criticism of those things. We expected better; we didn't get better. But that's different -- it seems to me -- from wrongdoing.
And I'm listening very intently. I'm studying this case, and I want to explore this issue of illegal behavior with you. Because it seems to me, so much of this, and even something of what we've heard today in this otherwise cordial hearing, is about the criminalization of politics. In a very real sense, it seems to be about the attempted criminalization of things that are vital to our constitutional system of government, namely the taking into consideration of politics in the appointment of political officials within the government. And I want to speak to you about that.
So let me see if I can -- because you got a lot better grades, it seems to me, in law school than I did, let me see if I can plumb you here. Is there anything illegal about the president being served at his pleasure by the people he believes would be best?

MS. GOODLING: No.

REP. PENCE: Is there anything illegal about the president being able to dismiss any of his political appointees for any reason or for no reason at all?

MS. GOODLING: No.

REP. PENCE: Is there anything illegal under our system about the president taking political consideration into account in determining who his political officials will be?

MS. GOODLING: No.

REP. PENCE: Is there anything illegal about taking those considerations into account, since they're vital to the president being held accountable to the people and especially to the people who elected him?

MS. GOODLING: No.

REP. PENCE: Lastly, is there anything illegal about taking those considerations into account, since they're just as vital to the president's ability to assure that his officials are accountable to him?

MS. GOODLING: No.

REP. PENCE: With that, I appreciate those straightforward answers. I -- again, I just would say to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in this committee I am troubled about the fact that we seem to be moving ever further down the road of the criminalization of politics. And I appreciate the testimony that politics can be practiced in political appointments within an administration. And I yield back the balance of my time.

REP. CONYERS: I thank the gentleman.

posted by Pence Press Office # 8:08 AM