Mr. DICKINSON. You said you stayed in the dwelling there. What is the physical setup there? Are there several bedrooms? The WITNESS. There were two bedrooms and there is a living room that has a daybed also. Mr. DICKINSON. That is all I have. Mr. HAYS. Miss Givens, when you worked in the committee, what did you do? Did you type reports? The WITNESS. I did very little typing, but I answered the phone and I worked with the files. Mr. HAYS. When you were terminated, did they give you any reason? The WITNESS. No, sir; they did not. Mr. HAYS. Just called you in and said, "You are through?" The WITNESS. That is correct. Mr. HAYS. How much pay did you get? You have one full month and then did you get part of a second month? The WITNESS. I got one full month and then I got $56 and some odd cents for the second month. Mr. HAYS. When you were down at Bimini, either before you went, or while you were there, or afterward, did Mr. Powell give you any money in addition to your salary? The WITNESS. Yes, sir; I was given $100 to buy uniforms for the domestic work I was to do. Mr. HAYS. Did you use all that for uniforms? The WITNESS. No, sir; I did not. Mr. HAYS. Did he say anything about the balance, or just tell you to keep it, or The WITNESS. He said that we would discuss the balance when we came back to the District of Columbia. Mr. HAYS. But he never did discuss it? The WITNESS. No, sir; we did not. By Mr. O'CONNOR: Q. I would like to show the witness two checks drawn on the Treasury of the United States, one dated August 31, 1965, and one dated September 30, 1965-this is 1966, not 1965; September 30, 1966. One in the amount of $280.95 and the other in the amount of $56.95, and ask you if you would examine these photostats and examine the endorsement on them and see if those are the checks that you have referred to? A. Yes, sir; they are mine. Mr. O'CONNOR. I would like to have them admitted as Givens exhibit 1. Mr. HAYS. Without objection. (The above-referred to document was marked "Givens Exhibit i" and received in evidence.) By Mr. O'CONNOR: Q. I also have here three American Airline ticket stubs showing transportation for S. Givens on August 7, 1966, Miami to New York, New York to Miami, Miami to New York. I ask the witness whether or not she purchased those tickets or if those were the tickets that were given to her by someone in the Congressman's office? A. Yes, sir; they are. Mr. O'CONNOR. I would like for those tickets to be admitted in the record as Givens exhibit 2. (The above-referred to document was marked "Givens Exhibit 2" and received in evidence.) Mr. O'CONNOR. I have no further questions of this witness. Mr. HAYS. Are there any further questions? Mr. O'CONNOR. Miss Givens, are you presently employed? The WITNESS. Yes, sir; I work for the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. Mr. O'CONNOR. Here in Washington, D.C.? The WITNESS. Yes, sir. Mr. HAYS. One other question. You did have a job before you took this job with Mr. Powell's committee? The WITNESS. Yes, sir; I did. Mr. HAYS. Would you mind telling us what that was? The WITNESS. I was a cashier for A. & P. food stores. Mr. HAYS. You quit that job to take this one? The WITNESS. Yes, sir; I did. Mr. HAYS. Then you were terminated? The WITNESS. Yes, sir. Mr. HAYS. Were you out of work a while before you found another job? The WITNESS. I was out of work until September 26, when I went to work for the telephone company. Mr. HAYS. That is all. Mr. DICKINSON. May I clear up one point? You have said that you did nothing of a clerical nature and everything you did was of a domestic type; cleaning house, keeping house, and cooking. You have also testified that you saw nothing that you would consider committee business. Now, this applies to Miss Corrine Huff too, does it not? Mr. DICKINSON. Did you see her do anything official or anything connected with committee work as far as you could tell? The WITNESS. Well, no; not really. I think it was U.S. Newsweek magazine came in and it had the Congressman's speech in it and they were making plans to have the speech taken out of that magazine and put into folders and sent around to the different committees here, but other than that, I don't really think I saw any business transacted there. Mr. DICKINSON. Thank you. Mr. HAYS. That is all, Miss Givens. (Witness excused.) Mr. O'CONNOR. The next witness will be Mr. Robert Gray. Mr. Gray is the one who conducted the audit on behalf of the subcommittee. He is here to testify concerning the audit, the findings which were made, and also to explain to you the exhibits which will be available for each individual's use during the interrogation of subsequent witnesses. ROBERT D. GRAY, having been duly sworn, was examined and testified as follows: By Mr. O'CONNOR: Q. Will you state your name, please? 72-404 0-67—2 Q. How long have you been employed at the General Accounting Office? A. About 20 years. Q. What is your position with General Accounting Office? A. Supervisory accountant. Q. What is your present position? A. I am on loan to this Committee on House Administration from the General Accounting Office. Q. How long have you been on loan to this committee? A. Since October 3, 1966. Q. Under whose direction have you been working on this detail? Q. Will you explain to the committee the scope of your assignment? A. When I reported to the committee it was explained to me that an audit was desired of certain expenditures of the Committee on Education and Labor and of certain possible payroll irregularities. Q. Did you undertake such an audit? A. Yes, sir. Q. Will you explain to the committee the scope of your audit? A. We examined into about four categories of expenditure. Those were salaries, travel, communications and miscellaneous--office expenses, and so forth. The preliminary review of these expenditures indicated substantial irregularities warranting a detailed review of the travel expenditures and, accordingly, our primary concentration was in the area of travel expenses of the Education and Labor Committee. Q. What period of time did your audit cover? A. January 3, 1965, through September 30, 1966. Q. Will you explain to the committee briefly the principal significant findings? A. There were 149 employees on the staff of the Education and Labor Committee during the period. Travel expenses of about $73,000 were incurred. The $73,000 in travel expenses appeared significant to us when compared with the average of less than $15,000 in travel expenses incurred by other committees of the House. About 560 tickets were purchased with various credit cards issued through the Eastern Airlines credit card system consisting of one-way, round-trip, and multiple-itinerary tickets. Included in these ticket purchases were about 190 trips between Washington and New York City; 80 trips, Washington and Miami; 15 trips between New York City and Miami; 12 trips from New York City to Miami to the District of Columbia, and 15 trips between the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Included also were numerous trips between other cities in the United States, including Hawaii. We accumulated data on the full committee and all of the subcommittees. Most of our detailed analysis to date involves the full committee and Subcommittee No. 7. That is the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Poverty. |