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Mr. Hays. Mrs. Swann, you are listed on the payroll as a receptionist, Subcommittee No. 7. Mr. Powell was chairman of the ad hoc subcommittee, that committee, or do you know?

The WITNESS. I am not positive whether I know he was chairman of the ad hoc subcommittee. I am trying to visualize the form in the office.

Mr. Hays. I am not trying to make anything out of this. The point I am going to make actually is that if he were chairman of it and you were receptionist, he might have run it out of his office instead of the committee. Is that possible?

The WITNESS. I did not understand that.

Mr. Hays. You are listed as receptionist to Subcommittee No. 7 and it is my understanding that Mr. Powell acted as chairman of that as well as chairman of the full committee; is that correct, do you know?

The WITNESS. I know Mr. Powell was chairman of one of the committees and I am trying to remember their letterhead. It could be the ad hoc subcommittee.

Mr. Hays. So if you acted as receptionist for that committee and he ran the committee out of his office, that is perfectly possible; is it not?

The WITNESS. They ran the committee out of his office?

Mr. Hays. If he were chairman of the subcommittee, he would not necessarily have that subcommittee physically located somewhere else, he might run it out of his office. I am chairman of a Foreign Affairs Subcommittee and I normally run it out of my office except when I come down here for hearings.

The WITNESS. You mean the people on the committee?

Mr. Hays. No, I mean the business; letters might come to his office, people might come there to see him on committee business. Is that possible?

The WITNESS. Yes; people come into the office on business. I cannot differentiate what business they were on. I received all the people that came in.

Mr. DICKINSON. I have forgotten what your answer was, on three different occasions as a present or a gift, Mr. Powell gave you a ticket to go to Miami for a holiday. Is this in substance what happened?

The WITNESS. Yes; I was given the ticket to go to Miami.

Mr. DICKINSON. Was this something unusual or was this more or less standard office procedure in the office, that various ones in the office could on occasion be given a trip?

The WITNESS. I know of no one in the office.
Mr. DICKINSON. No one other than you?
The WITNESS. I do not know of anyone in the office.
Mr. DICKINSON. There had to be some reason that you

understood or that was ascribed to this gift of a ticket to go to Miami for a holiday. What was the reason for this? I wouldn't just walk up and give one of my employees a ticket and not say anything.

The WITNESS. He gave me the ticket to go to Miami with the time off included and that is all.

Mr. DICKINSON. There was no purpose to it?
The WITNESS. No purpose.
Mr. DICKINSON. All right; thank you.

By Mr. O'CONNOR: Would he just say, "Here is a ticket to Miami, go take 5 days down there"?

A. Well, I don't recall what his words were when he handed it to me, but I do know this, that the ticket was given to me, there was no "You have any duties” or anything. I guess as you say, a gift.

Q. You are married, Mrs. Swann?
A. Yes.
Q. Did your husband go down on these trips with you?
A. My husband has been down with me, yes.
Q. On these three trips?
A. Not on all three, no.
Q. Not on any of them?
A. Well, my husband has been down there with me.
Q. Did Mr. Powell give you a ticket for your husband, also?
A. No.
Mr. Hays. Your husband paid his own way?
The WITNESS. Yes. I see what you mean.
Mr. Hays. What business is your husband in?
The WITNESS. My husband has cabs.

Mr. Hays. And he went to Miami and Mr. Powell gave you a
ticket to go with him. Would you say that is the way it happened?
Did he give you a ticket and your husband went along?
The WITNESS. My husband was there.

By Mr. O'CONNOR: Q. He went by some other transportation? A. No, he flew down. Q. With you? A. He did not come down—as I remember, he came down a day after I did.

Q. He did not go on the same plane with you to Miami?

A. No; he was not on. Now, he has been to Miami with me. You are talking about this. On one occasion he went with me, but he paid his own way.

Q. Do you know of any other employees in the congressional office
or on the committee staff who received similar gifts of air travel to
Miami, such as you received from Mr. Powell?

A. I could not answer that.
Q. You do not have any information?

A. No; I know of no one. I have no knowledge of whether they did or they did not.

Q. Have you ever heard any of the girls say they received gifts of airline tickets from Mr. Powell? A. I never.

By Mr. O'CONNOR: Q. Could you, with the assistance of your attorney, fix through some means or other the dates that you were in Miami on these three occasions and furnish the committee those dates so that we could identify the specific dates you were there? Do you have some record, maybe canceled checks of money spent down there, that you drew from the bank, that you could actually fix those dates so that we would know which of these numerous trips that are charged to you, you actually took? Mr. NEDZI. Her husband might remember.

By Mr. O'CONNOR: Q. Through your husband or some way. In other words, we would like to isolate those trips so we know which belong to you and which somebody else took.

Mr. Hays. Which somebody else took and used your name without your knowing it.

Mr. Ellis. We will do everything we can to supply this to the committee, if it is available.

Mr. TAYLER. Do you have records in the office when you or other girls go on leave such as you did on those three occasions?

The WITNESS. There is no leave record kept, to my knowledge, as to who is present and who is absent. To my knowledge I know of no such book in the office.

Mr. DEVINE. Do you keep a diary yourself?
The WITNESS. No; I do not.

Mr. O'CONNOR. It would help us in our inquiry to fix those dates to determine the other travel and by whom.

Mr. Ellis. I think she has almost positively identified the one, the New Year's Day trip. There are two others in 1965, I think she said.

Mr. O'CONNOR. One she believes is on July 30. She is not certain. Mr. Ellis. That is right.

Mr. Hays. Mrs. Swann, this might help you. Did you stay in a motel or stay with friends?

The WITNESS. I never stayed with friends. I stayed in publicMr. Hays. Maybe if you remember the motel you could write a letter. One previous witness, it appeared that he was not in Los Angeles when he drew, per diem because of a mixup in airline tickets, but he wrote to the motel and they sent a letter which said that he was in fact there on these dates. Maybe you can write the motel and ask them to look at the records and find out exactly what dates you were in Miami and that would pinpoint these two and help us

and you.

The WITNESS. I will try to get that information.

Mr. Hays. Thank you very much, Mrs. Swann. You are discharged.

Mr. Ellis. I thank the committee for permitting me to appear, gentlemen.

Mr. Hays. The committee will stand in recess until 10 o'clock tomorrow.

(Whereupon, at 5:05 p.m., the committee was recessed to reconvene at 10 a.m., Wednesday, December 21, 1966.)



Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., in room 2255, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Wayne L. Hays (chairman) presiding.

Present: Messrs. Hays, Waggonner, Jones, Nedzi, Dickinson, Devine, and Lipscomb.

Also present: Daniel L. O'Connor, associate counsel; C. William Tayler, associate counsel; and Julian Langston, chief clerk.

Mr. TAYLER. Call Mr. Megill.

H. NEWLIN MEGILL, having been duly sworn, was examined and testified as follows:

Q. Will you state your full name for the record, please?
A. My name is H. Newlin Megill.
Q. Are you a staff member of the House of Representatives?
A. I am, sir.
Q. What position and what office?

A. I am the Chief of the Office of Finance of the House of Representatives.

Q. In your capacity as the Chief of the Office of Finance, do you have charge of the maintenance of the payroll records for congressional employees of the House of Representatives?

A. I presently have complete control in that regard; yes, sir.

Q. Now, sir, I am going to hand you two exhibits which will be marked "Megill 1-A and 1-B," being the individual pay card of Y. Marjorie Flores, the first for 1965, the second for the year 1966.

(The above-referred-to documents were marked “Megill exhibits 1-A and 1-B” and received in evidence.)


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