August 2, 1994 - Part 4
August 2, 1994 - Part 4
(11:20:43) Mr. STEINER. Let me, if I might, Senator, give you the context of the circumstances surrounding this issue, which were as follows: I'm not an expert on this, but under the terms of the Vacancy Act, Mr. Altman's term as CEO was due to expire at the end of March. Unless the Administration had formally nominated a successor, Mr. Altman's tenure would expire. The question at hand was whether Mr. Altman should announce at the February 24 hearing that be planned definitely to step down at the end of his term or whether he should leave open the question in the event that the Administration had to formally nominate a successor. Senator SHELBY. Let me ask you this: Could those words you use there in your diary, could they have been-could it be interpreted, fairly that the White House people you were talking to there, or who knew that you were talking to him, did not want Altman to retain-to resign his job because they wanted him to retain it In 387 order to exert political control over an independent agency? That could be a fair reading of that, couldn't it, because his resignation, or his recusal, when they told him was unacceptable to him. Mr. STEINER. Senator , I want to be very clear on this. If my words are interpreted that way, that's my fault because that certainly was not my intention. My intention was on the sole subject of him stepping down as interim CEO of the RTC. Senator SHELBY. Now, one of the leading papers in the country, The Washington Post's writer, Howard Schneider, said today, I guess it was today, talking about your position, "now Steiner's lawyer is positioning him for a major league correction."' You're not going through a major league correction on your diaries today or you're not trying to do that? I know you're trying to explain some of it away but you're not trying to do an about face before this Committee on those diaries? Mr. STEINER. Senator, I'm trying to testify as accurately and completely as I possibly can, as I have done in four other instances of sworn testimony. Senator SHELBY. But you basically stand by your diaries? Mr. STEINER. Senator, I wrote them. I take Senator SHELBY. You didn't write them and put misleading information, or stories, or lies in them, did you? Mr. STEINER. It would have been easier for me, I suspect better for this Committee had I Senator SHELBY. Did you Mr. STEINER. Might I finish? Senator SHELBY. Go ahead. Mr. STEINER. It would have been easier for me and I suspect better for this Committee had I chosen my words more precisely or more accurately but that was not my intention or my intention was not to use the diary in this kind of format. That was not the purpose for keeping it. Senator SHELBY. We know it would be better for you, today, if we didn't have the diaries, But it's better for us and the American people that we have them because they gave us an inside contemporaneous view of what was going on over there, at least from your perspective and what you saw, what you observed, and what you were involved with. Thank you. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Shelby. I've asked Senator DAmato if he would yield just briefly to me because I want to pursue one point that Senator Shelby made. I would appreciate it if you would turn to the first page of your diary entry, go about two- thirds of the way down, that second large paragraph, the sentence starts, "once again, they were very concerned." I'm going to ask you to read that sentence. Do you find that? Mr. STEINER. Yes, I have. The CHAIRMAN. OK Now, I want you to look at it for a minute, and then I'd like you to read that sentence verbatim. Mr. STEINER. "Once again, they were very concerned about him turning the RTC people they didn't know so RA did not formally commit himself to stepping -down [he could stay on if we had formally nominated a successor]." 388 The CHAIRMAN. Now, is that sentence-is that the way you put it in there? Mr. STEINER. Senator, I tried to transcribe this as exactly as I could. It would appear to me that a word is missing or at least, perhaps several words are missing. I suspect when I wrote it out by hand-I write this diary quickly and don't pay particular attention to my exact syntax and I don't go back to correct it. The CHAIRMAN. Do you have the notes from which you typed it? Mr. STEINER. I did not bring them with me, Senator. The CHAIRMAN. But do you have them? Mr. STEINER. My attorney does, yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. If you think that sentence is incorrectly transcribed, then I think we would need to see your notes on that sen. tence because I think what Senator Shelby has just pointed out is very important. Mr. STEINER. Senator, I will happily provide that to the Committee. I tried to be as careful as I possibly could in transcribing it and as I said, it was possible in the original text which was hand written, I left out words. Senator SHELBY. Mr. Chairman I wonder if he could go ahead and talk to his lawyer and get those notes this afternoon. They probably might be here in the room.