Salt Lake Tribune · Oct 24, 2018
Karen Tumulty: Beware overzealous oversight, Democrats
in 2007, then- Rep. Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., scratches his brow during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in Washington. Bloomberg photo by Andrew CouncillWhen it comes to wielding Congress's formidable investigatory power, it is hard to think of anyone in modern history who has done it as effectively as former representative Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
In the mid-1990s, he took on Big Tobacco with high-profile hearings, remembered for the moment when industry executives swore under oath that their product was not addictive. His exposure of that blatant lie helped pave the way for a landmark $246 billion legal settlement.