The Ronorable James A. Leach We recognize, as did your December 17 letter, that there are issues regarding whether the freedom of Information Act exemptions apply to your request. In order to reduce the number of documents over which we may disagree and in order to make any redactions as expeditiously as possible, I suggest our staffs discuss the general categories of documents in OTS' possession. be mutually beneficial to determine which, if any, documents ve If possible, it might hold that are not germane to your inquiry. out of the documents in a manner that beat addresses your We may then organise priorities. RTC RESOLUTION TRUST CORPORATION Resolving The Crisis December 22, 1993 The Honorable James A. Leach Ranking Minority Member Committee on Banking, Finance & Urban Affairs U. S. House of Representatives Dear Jim: I am writing in response in your letter dated December 9, 1993, requesting that the Resolution Trust Corporation provide certain documents and records for the House Banking Committee Minority investigation of the failure of Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association located in M'Crory, Arkansas. Madison Guaranty is an institution in receivership with the RTC. Let me reassure you that the RTC will thoroughly cooperate in this investigation. Ideally we would forward all of these materials to you today, and I expect to supply most of them in short order. I am advised by the RTC General Counsel, however, that there may be limits on our ability to provide certain of them. These limits involve the Privacy Act and legal privilege or other restrictions on the ability of the RTC to release them. This will have to be coordinated with the Justice Department. I have instructed the RTC staff to work with your staff on appropriate procedures for handling these issues. 801 17th Street, NW Washington, DC 20434 Sincerely, Roger C. Altman am in receipt of your February 1, 1994 response to the letter In its investigation of Madison, the Minority has uncovered links If the White House chooses to use the Justice Department to shield I have high regard for your personal integrity, but as you know, Mr. Roger C. Altman February 3, 1994 not strike the Minority as overly unreasonable for a month or two given the fact that no RTC head had been selected. However, it has been over a year since the Administration has been in office and it can only be described as structurally unseemly for Executive branch department to make a political appointee of an what are in effect, law enforcement decisions for an independent federal agency as they may touch upon the President. law Accordingly, I would urge that you request from the Department of Treasury's General Counsel and Ethics office advice as to whether you, as interim CEO of the RTC, are obligated to recuse yourself from any decisions concerning the resolution of Madison Guaranty. Just as the special counsel was designed to relieve the Attorney General from an ethical dilemma of being both chief law enforcement officer for the nation and chief legal advisor to the President in circumstances when the President or a high level Administration officer is the subject of investigation, so it would a political appointee of the appear ethically questionable for Department of Treasury to make decisions for an independent federal agency when the President may be implicated in enforcement and civil actions. In this regard, it should be clear that the issue is not whether a presidentially appointed official can oversee an investigation Rather the issue is that officials with involving the President. this responsibility should be confirmed for the job with that particular accountability. As you will recall it was a political appointee confirmed by the Senate that issued a cease and desist order for engaging in conflicts of interest against the son of a former President. As you know, despite your strong letter to the Chairman of the House Banking Committee recommending against extension, Congress Last year extended the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits As you pointed out in your most brought against S&L wrongdoers. recent letter, this extension "has afforded the RTC an opportunity :0 investigate further any civil claims which may be asserted against individuals or entities associated with Madison Guaranty for fraud, intentional misconduct resulting in unjust enrichment, or intentional misconduct resulting in substantial loss to the institution." Given, however, the impending running of the statute of limitations for certain kinds of actions, time is clearly of the essence for the RTC to make judgments about civil accountability ir the failure of Madison: Finally, I would like to reiterate my request, pursuant tr 111 documents related . and XI of the House Rules for Guaranty Savings and Loan, Litla Rock, Arkansas. As you Mr. Roger C. Altman February 3, 1994 on December 9, 1993, I wrote the RTC requesting access to all documents related to Madison Guaranty and its subsidiaries. House and Committee Rules, House practices, and judicial precedent support the proposition that the Ranking Minority Member is the functional counterpart to the Chairman for Committee action. This being the case, a request for documents made by the Ranking Minority Member has parallel standing with a request made by the Chairman of the Committee. The Ranking Minority Member clearly has a voice in the process and is entitled to information that will enable the Ranking Minority Member t.o carry out his constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities. Therefore, the courtesy of a definitive reply to this document request is requested by 12 noon, Monday, February 7, 1994. On this matter, it is urged that you also consult with the Ethics office as to the relevance of the previously discussed recusal issue. Again, let me stress that to the degree a conflict situation may exist in this matter in no way reflects on your personal integrity. It is simply an awkward circumstance in contrast to a personal embarrassment. JAL:OP Enclosure Sincerely, JAMES A. LEACH 2105 |