NO FUEL I.IKI AN (M.I) FOSSIL I I I I 



siM 



When the 94th Congress adopted its rules in January 1975, for 

 the first time they included this clear stipulation: 



The chairman oi each standing subcommittee of a standing committee of the 

 House is authorized to appoint one staff member who shall serve at the pleasure of 

 the subcommittee chairman. 



SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIRMAN'S APPOINTEES 



Now started a great battle of wits which resembled a chess game 

 as Hechler, Brown, McCormack and other subcommittee chairmen 

 attempted to implement the rule which seemed to be very clear and 

 unequivocal. Teague and Swigert firmly believed that the only way 

 to maintain a coordinated committee policy was to make sure that the 

 staff had a loyalty to the committee and its chairman, rather than to 

 any individuals thereon. Therefore, two different letters of appoint- 

 ment were devised for most committee employees hired as a result of 

 recommendation of a subcommittee chairman or the minoritv, and staff 

 members otherwise hired. The latter were greeted with a warm and 

 more personal letter, while the former were appointed with a rather 

 stiff letter stipulating: 



In anticipation of your possible employment by this committee, there are certain 

 procedural matters which should be brought to your attention: 



(a) Although you are an appointee of an individual subcommittee chairman, 

 when employed you will be subject to the Committee Rules Governing Procedure 

 as well as staff assignments and direction from the Executive Staff Director or 

 his designee. 



(b) Your place of work will be in the offices assigned to the Committee for 

 staff personnel in an area to be determined by the staff director. 



Two additional controls were employed: the chairman could set 

 the salary for staff appointees, and an elaborate set of qualifications 

 standards could rule out individuals. 



After protracted negotiations which lasted until April 1, 1975, 

 Hechler was finally allowed to designate a staff appointee, David B. 

 Finnegan, who had been Assistant General Counsel of the Department 

 of the Interior and Counsel to the Subcommittee on Environment, 

 Energy and Natural Resources of the House Government Operations 

 Committee. Finnegan's energy and expertise in legislative draftsman- 

 ship, public policy and substantive knowledge of the fossil fuels area 

 proved to be extremely effective. What made Finnegan symbolically 

 dangerous to Swigert and some other staff members was that he owed 

 his job to Hechler, and Swigert's suspicion that Hechler was getting 

 from Finnegan some of his ideas which challenged the committee 

 majority. This raised the philosophical and practical question: Is a 

 committee member whose views differ from the committee chairman 



