Date: 1982-09-23
Speaker: WON PAT (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I have been informally informed that Secretary Watt plans to transfer the Government Comptroller for Guam. the Northern Mariana Islands. and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands haliway around the world to fill the vacant position of Government Comptroller for the Virgin Islanos. I say informally informed because this House has not yet been informed in the manner required by law of the transfer and the reasons for it. When we are. I hope that Secretary Watt will adequately address several serious questions about the transfer. First. will Comptroller Fukutome be allowed to complete his investigation of whether or not temporary employment powers are being abused by the government of Guam? Politically sensitive audits such as this should not be interfered with by political appointees. If they are. it may appear that a politically motivated coverup is taking place. . Unfortunately. a newspaper account says that Assistant Interior Secretary Sanjuan has ordered Comptroller Fukutome off this investigation because he had not approved of it. I cannot believe this report. quoting Mr. SanJuans assistant. is accurate. The law clearly gives the Comptroller the authority and the responsiblity to probe suspected improper spending. Second. is it appropriate to decide on the transfer now? On September 9. this House passed my bill H.R. 5139. Among other things. it would transfer the audit authority and staff of the Comptroller out from under Assistant Secretary Sanjuans direction to that of the Inspector General. This proposal was passed in response to a GAO audit which said that the independence of the Comptroller was being impaired by directives from the Assistant Secretarys office. Since Senate passage of my bill Is likely soon. it would seem to be prudent to delay the assignment transfer decision until authority for the Comptroller is transferred to the Inspector General. Hasty action now suggests some niotivation other than the official explanation. It encourages speculation that the Secretary Is responding to the desperate pleas of Guam politicians who have been embarrassed by the Comptrollers past investigations and are afraid of his future findings. The official explanation itself. as it has been reported to me. is that Comptroller Fukutome is being shipped to the opposite side of the globe simply because there will shortly be a vacancy there. This. of course. is not a plausible reason to order such a transfer. And this relates to my third concern: Would such a transfer be good policy and costeffective? I question whether it is good policy to send the experienced Federal audltor for the Western Pacific to be the Federal auditor for the Caribbean territory involved. Is there not anyone In the Virgin Islands who could do the job so that Guam. the Northern Marianas. and the Micronesian governments do not have to be deprived of Mr. Fukutomes exceptional abilities and unmatchable knowledge? Is there not any Federal auditor in the Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico. or even the 50 States who could be assigned to St. Thomas? I raise the issue of cost because cost of travel was the reason given by Mr. Sanjuan for denying permission for this most senior Federal Comptroller to testify at my subcommittees hearing last month on the sweeping changes the House has now approved in the Comptrollers operations. If it cost too much to have Mr. Fukutome advise the Congress on our major overhaul of all Federal auditing in the insular areas. can we afford to spend perhaps 20 times as much to move him to the Virgin Islands? Further. how could Mr. Sanjuans budget accommodate the cost of bringing Mr. Pukutome to Washington for a meeting on a single audit last weekas it has in the pastif it could not afford the cost of a requested appearance by Mr. Fukutome at a congressional hearing on the future of Mr. Fukutomes entire office? I must also note on this point that the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs has expressly recommended against funding such costly personnel rotations in this time of fiscal austerity. My fourth question is whether Mr. Fukutome is being permitted proper time for this transfer of many thousands of miles and is amenable to it? I do not believe the reports I have heard that the transfer is to take plac& next month. The law requires that the Congress be informed 60 days prior to the transfer and we still have not been informed about the transfer. In addition. the Secretary should indicate to us that Mr. Fukutome agrees with the new assignment. Otherwise. suspicions may arise that he is being forced out of his present position for reasons other than the official explanation. Finally. is the assignment of Mr. Fukutome acceptable to the Virgin Islands? Have the Delegate. Governor. and legislative leadership been consulted about it? I know Ben Fukutome. I do not believe there is anyone familiar with my area that does not know of his professional competence and independence. I am sure that he would perform well in the Virgin Islands. But do the people of that territory find the assignment acceptable? Mr. Speaker. as I indicated at the outset. I hope that these questions are fully answered in Secretary Watt.s explanation to us of this proposed transfer of an important Federal official. Mr. Fukutomes record as an aggressive and impartial watchdog of spending of the peoples money demands that we. as the peoples representatives. get no less.e