That High Court decision is now a year and a half old, and this 66 year-old embattled veteran Congressman still awaits action by his old colleagues to clear the record and provide him urgent and provide him urgent and reasonable compensation for this great injustice. Hansen Was Right All Along!

Former Representative George Hansen always said he was wrongly prosecuted for lying on his financial disclosure forms. Twelve long years later, he turns out to have been right. Congressman George Hansen was a seven term Congressman from Idaho at the time of his prosecution. Ex-Representative Richard Stallings, the Democrat who defeated Hansen in 1984, said the conviction was the key. "George could have had the 2nd district as long as he wanted. If he hadn't gotten in trouble, he'd probably be the Chairman of the Banking Committee."

Hansen would be in his 14th term now. "If you want to play 'What if' games, there would have been a lot of things... chairmanships, leaderships..." Hansen said, "But I just don't look back." Hansen's 1984 conviction cost him his bid for an eighth term in 1984--- by a mere 170 votes. It also brought incarceration in a federal prison and a $40,000 fine. In December of 1995, the conviction was vacated by the trial judge in Washington D.C., because the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled the law, under which Hansen was convicted, applied only to the executive branch. Hansen got back his $40,000, but wants a lot more. He's asking the House to withdraw its reprimand and pay him for legal fees and lost wages.

"I feel like the guy on Boot Hill with the tombstone that says, Hanged by Mistake,” Hansen said. Congressman Hansen was one of the first members of Congress to point a finger at the IRS. In the late 70's he wrote a book called To Harass Our People. He was the first to get a full scale investigation into the crimes of the IRS against the American people. His outrage over what he discovered, caused him to write and help pass the "Taxpayers Bill of Rights."

Without George Hansen, the IRS would be the American equal to the Gestapo by now. George Hansen was also the first member of Congress to introduce the idea of the flat tax. Hansen clearly saw the unfairness of the current laws and as trying to correct them for the good of all Americans, not just the rich elite. When he went to prison, his love of his fellow man and his reputation for trying to help Americans allowed him to live among the prison population with no fear of the prisoners.

The harassment and torture that befell Congressman Hansen came from prison officials, in the form of neglect for serious medical problems and health hazards in the prison work place. The torture also came from the Federal Marshals who cruelly transported him from one prison to another.

Political prisoners and those who are considered trouble makers are given what prisoners call "diesel therapy". "Diesel therapy" consists of being put on diesel busses or airplanes and being tranported from prison to prison for weeks and months at a time. On the surface it sounds benign. What could be the problem with making a prisoner ride in a bus for hours at a time?

Before the prisoner is put on the bus, he is put in handcuffs and shackles. The handcuffs are tightened by a black box that stiffens the chains and puts the wrists in a 90 degree bind that painfully cuts circulation and damages the nerves. It takes several weeks for the circulation and nerves to return to normal. The handcuffs are connected with chains to a waist chain, which is in turn connected by another chain to the shackles which go around the ankles. The prisoner can barely move once the shackling process is complete.

He is then placed in a small seat on a bus or airplane. Because of the shackles, the prisoner is forced to sit in one position for up to 20 hours at a time. And the guards will rarely go to the trouble of unshackling a prisoner. Prisoners who nderstand "diesel therapy" know that "fasting" is the only way to handle the ordeal without messing or wetting yourself. But even those who are smart enough to to abstain from food and drink, still have to suffer the stench of urine and feces which soon fills the bus or plane.

One other painful aspect of diesel therapy is the shoes that prisoners are forced to wear. They become too small. The cramped position and tight shackles cause the feet and ankles to swell. The shackles cut into the legs and cut off circulation. The blood pools in the feet and causes the feet to swell. The toes are forced up against the tops of the too-small shoes, and unbelievable pressure is put on the toenails. The toenails soon become deformed, infected and painful.

Each day the metal shackles are put back onto raw and infected legs before the prisoner boards the bus. After weeks and months of diesel therapy, the ankles and shins have raw, infected and open wounds that will not heal. Hour after our, the prisoner sits, in a cramped painful position, with shackles cutting into already infected, raw flesh. Arthritis and bursitis compound the misery of the prisoners, The ingrown, infected toenails, which are jammed inside of purposely small shoes, cripple the prisoner to the point that he can barely walk or move when he is finally released from the shackles.

During the weeks and months of diesel therapy, the prisoner is out of contact with the rest of the world. In the case of Congressman Hansen, his wife did not know if he was dead or alive. His lawyer could not find him and therefore could not file court papers on time. Even the members of Congress who were still trying to help him, could not locate him. During his "diesel therapy" he disappeared into the black hole of the United States Marshals.

After "diesel therapy", Hansen was forced to operate on his feet himself. His toenails were so deformed that they pointed straight up. He could not wear shoes without excruciating pain. The only remedy that was open to him, was to pull the oenails out by the roots. Our prisoners of war in SE Asia had their fingernails and toenails pulled out by their torturers. Congressman Hansen had to become his own torturer in an effort to stop the pain.

Several weeks ago, Congressman Hansen was testifying before his former colleagues in the House of Representatives. He told the story of his trip into Iran during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979. He was the only United States official o get into Iran to try to negotiate an end to the crisis. While he was there, he was shown the horrible human suffering that was inflicted upon the Iranian people by the Shah of Iran and his secret police. He told his former colleagues about the horrors of the Shah's torture chambers. Ankles that had been smashed by heavy clubs. Legs that had been smashed and permanently scarred. Hands and feet that had no nails because they were repeatedly pulled out.

Then he stood up and walked around in front of his table. Leaning slightly on the table, he pulled up his pant leg and showed his former colleagues the raw, red scars on his own legs ... scars that stretched many inches, from his ankles up is shin bones. He told his former colleagues about his toenails, which have never grown back properly. He ended his "show and tell" session by informing the House that they did not have to travel to foreign countries to witness torture. All they had to do is visit any American prison and they would quickly find the effects of purposeful abuse and neglect on certain prisoners.

If his former colleagues have any sense, they will quickly reform the prison system, before any more of them end up there.

The scars on his legs and the lack of toenails were minor problems for Hansen. The major pain came from his teeth and deteriorating bones. These problems came from hazardous chemicals he was forced to work around during his work assignment in the prison power plant. The chemicals caused his bones to weaken and his teeth to become infected and turn to mush. The pain of abscessed teeth was unbearable. To be able to function each day, without even an aspirin to dull the pain, he picked up a plastic cap used to splice electric wires. He placed the cap in the infected area and bit down on it all day and night. During his four years in prison, he lost most of his teeth through willful neglect on the part of the prison officials.

Hansen was forced to sell his homes in Virginia and Idaho. Everything that he and his wife had accumulated went to lawyers or to pay the fine. Even though his retirement was not supposed to be touched, through some nefarious deal, it was tapped to pay fines, thereby denying his wife the means to live. She was approaching sixty, had a heart condition and diabetes, but she was put out of her home and didn't even have the money to afford to rent an apartment. With the help of their children and a job, she just barely made ends meet until Hansen was released.

They are now in their 60's, and they are starting over with nothing. He still has health problems associated with prison fife, and still needs further dental work. He drives a leased Honda and lives with his wife in a rented apartment in Pocatello, Idaho. His federal pension has been restored.

"They almost made us homeless, but when this is all over, it will all be erased." Hansen is a optimist who is now awaiting the action by his old colleagues which will clear the record and provide him urgent and reasonable compensation for this great injustice.

On June 27, 1996, Representative Charles B. Rangel, D NY, wrote a letter on Hansen's behalf to the ommittee on Standards of Official Conduct... the same Committee that just passed judgement on Newt Gingrich:

"I am writing on behalf of our former colleague George Hansen in the hope that your Committee will take appropriate action to allow the full House of Representatives to consider and vote on the question of vacating the July 31, 1984 reprimand of then- Representative Hansen.

"This is the only case in which a Member of Congress was prosecuted under 18 U.S.C. 1001 for the content of filings under the Ethics in Government Act, convicted, served the time and paid the fine, only to have the conviction vacated ten years later.

"The courts have recognized that the conviction was improper, with retroactive effect. The House of Representatives should also consider the matter in the light of conditions existing at that time.

“Clearly, Mr. Hansen has suffered enough, and it is time that his name be cleared in this body which he served for seven terms with dedication and distinction. Therefore, I am appealing to the Committee to reconsider its earlier ecision and take action to vacate the reprimand."

Hansen is still awaiting the decision of the committee.

While continuing to recuperate, former Congressman Hansen is busy trying to awaken his former colleagues to the corruption which is now rampant in our government. RMNews reprints this confidential letter without revealing to whom it was written and faxed on January 7, 1997.

“...I have discussed the matter of providing you with the basic information on the genesis of the Ron Brown (Department of Commerce) corruption process (worldwide), beginning with Viet Nam, spreading like cancer to other nations wholesale, and exploding with the Lippo Bank (Taiwan, etc.). You indicated this could be most helpful, so I talked to the former high political official mentioned, and he is most willing to help give you a confidential start — this could involve more than one knowledgeable individual.

“... with regards to our discussion on the delicate but provable fact that the CIA is keeping two sets of books to deceive Congress and maintain a very dangerous and dirty operation, I am prepared to back up this charge with reliable evidence and experts from the DEA, DIA, CIA, and Department of Justice-- and also establish the surprising extent to which the CIA (and affiliates) is saturating the street corners and school yards of America. Its dangerous to challenge these people (provable) and a reluctance exists on the part of legislative committees because of many "staff technicians" maintaining allegiance and rapport with the agencies from which they were recruited. This seems to be a matter for the independent consideration of your committee which enjoys no conflict of interest, and the courage of a fearless Chairman. Certain other Members of Congress are in position to be helpful in this (both parties). Hopefully, this can be discussed meaningfully soon (while the best proof remains current and available)."

From the January 27 issue of The Washington Times:

"Now that James Cole, special counsel the House ethics committee has recommended that the House assess Speaker Newt Gingrich $300,000 for cost associated with this investigation, perhaps the U.S. government will now assess Mr. Cole for cost associated with his prosecution of former Representative George V. Hansen, R. Idaho.

"Mr. Hansen was convicted of violating Title 18 Section 1001, relating to false statements he allegedly made on his financial disclosure form. But on May 16, 1995, the Supreme Court ruled that federal prosecutors --- including Iran-Contra ndependent counsel Lawrence Walsh --- were wrong in charging officials with unsworn lies to Congress. The imprisoned Mr. Hansen, one of three defendants cited in the justices' opinion, was set free.

“One wonders how much taxpayer's money was used by Mr. Cole to prosecute that case, for the government then to argue it all the way to the Supreme court and lose!" notes Mark R. Levin, a former high-ranking official in the Reagan ustice Department."

From Roll Call 1-20-97 The Newspaper of Capitol Hill :

"Perhaps Speaker Newt Gingrich could have avoided some of his troubles if he had just heeded the advice of one of his former colleagues. The unlikely adviser, ex-Rep. George Hansen (R-Idaho), who told Roll Call in an interview Friday that he tried last year to get word to the Speaker that ethics committee outside counsel James Cole is a partisan "pit bull" who would "come down pretty hard" on him.

Hansen is in a position to know. Back in 1984, Cole, then a lawyer working for the Justice Department's public integrity section, successfully prosecuted Hansen for having failed to list a series of loans on his House financial disclosure forms. Later, the House ethics committee reprimanded Hansen for the same charges as the criminal convictions. Hansen lost a tight race that fell to Democrat Richard Stallings.

When he saw newspaper accounts last year citing his case as one of the highlights of Cole's career, Hansen said in a telephone interview from Tampa, FL, that he got angry. His conviction was overturned after the Supreme Court ruled in 1995 that Section 1001 of the U.S. Code which governs false statements to the government did not apply to Congress.

On a visit to the offices of the House ethics committee in the spring of 1996--where he was making inquiries about getting his own House reprimand overturned- Hansen said he asked staffers whether they were aware that this conviction had been thrown out. "No one knew about it.” Hansen said.

That led him to the conclusion that the ethics panel had been misled when it agreed to hire Cole. "He was flying under false colors to get the appointment," charged Hansen. "The committee was misinformed."

While "casually walking around Capitol Hill" that day, Hansen said he talked to several Republican Members, including Reps. Mike Crapo (Idaho) and Phil Crane (IL). and asked them to warn Gingrich about Cole. "Tell Gingrich he has a problem.... If you feel that Mr. Cole got that position under false colors, Gingrich ought to know that and act accordingly." Hansen said. "All I was trying to tell Gingrich is: You better be careful, and be prepared because he's going to come down pretty hard on you." For subjects of Cole's wrath, Hansen said, "It's like putting a pit bull on them. If there wasn't a target on them, he'll paint one..."

RMNews has been warning the Speaker and informing our readers of these coming problems since August of 96. Newt Gingrich must pay attention or he too will know Gulag AmeriKa!
 

First published in January 1997 by Rumor Mill News