Tainted funds from Pakistan In July 2011, Burton was revealed by an
FBI investigation to have received tainted election funds ultimately traced to the
military intelligence services of
Pakistan, apparently as a
quid pro quo for "supporting to Pakistan's position on Kashmir". These funds were routed via the so-called Kashmiri American Council, run by
Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, later revealed to be a front for the
Pakistani Military. Subsequently, Burton's office donated the funds to charity.
Vince Foster murder claims Burton led the House inquiry into the 1993 death of
Vince Foster, the deputy White House counsel to President
Bill Clinton who
committed suicide, but who Burton believed was murdered. He urged extensive investigation into the possible involvement of the Clintons and gained attention for re-enacting the alleged crime in his backyard with his own pistol and a cantaloupe standing in for Foster's head. In 1998, Burton said of Clinton, "If I could prove 10 percent of what I believe happened [regarding the death of Foster], he'd be gone. This guy's a scumbag. That's why I'm after him." Burton's information during the
Whitewater controversy was based on research conducted by
Floyd Brown, who founded
Citizens United in 1988. Due to problems with the quality of Brown's research and testimony, the investigation was closed.
Golfing In 1990,
The New York Times reported that in 1989, Burton had been a "celebrity player" at the Bob Hope Classic in Palm Springs, California, the Kemper Open in Potomac, Maryland, the Larry Bird Golf Classic in Indianapolis, the Danny Thompson Memorial Tournament in Sun Valley, Idaho, the Sugarloaf Invitational tournament in Maine and the Arte Johnson Tournament in Chicago. Such players received free airline flights, free meals, and free lodging from tournament sponsors and, often, free merchandise. In November 1995, the House voted to prohibit members and their staffs from receiving gifts, including free meals and free travel to charity sports events. Burton, who led the effort to exempt charity trips, said that he played in two golf tournaments each year, and, "We get more of these lobbyists in our office than we do on the golf course." In January 1997, Burton played in the
AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, at the invitation of
AT&T Corporation, the tournament sponsor. The day before the tournament, he played a practice round with
Robert E. Allen, AT&T's chairman and chief executive, at a nearby country club. AT&T also hosted a campaign fund-raising dinner for Burton at a local restaurant. Three weeks earlier, Burton had become the chairman of the
House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, which had jurisdiction over the legislative agency scheduled to soon award at least $5 billion in long-distance and local telephone and telecommunications contracts with the federal government. Burton defended his participation in the tournament, saying it would not affect his objectivity when dealing with telecommunications issues. He said that he had partially paid for the trip, with his re-election campaign funds paying as well because he attended three fund-raising events while in California. In December 2004, Burton and two aides flew to the island of
Guam. The trip was paid for by the Guam government and tourism industry. In addition to some official events, including touring a military facility, Burton played in a charity golf tournament. After he returned, he tried to help Guam's tourism industry get a sought-after change in visa rules. In January 2007, the House passed a measure by a vote 430–1 that banned members from accepting gifts and free trips from lobbyists and discounted trips on private planes. Burton cast the sole nay vote. In February 2007, a review by
The Indianapolis Star of votes in the House of Representatives for the past decade showed that Burton had missed all votes during the
Bob Hope Chrysler Classic golf tournament for five years between 2001 and 2007. The tournament, the third event each season on the
PGA Tour, pairs celebrities with golf professionals for four of the five days of play. Since 2004, Burton has played in a guest spot of the Eisenhower Medical Center, the primary charitable beneficiary of the event. The slot carries with it a commitment to donate $10,000 to the event; Burton has made arrangements with the hospital to do this over a period of time. Burton's campaign committee reported donating $1,500 to the medical center in December 2004 and $6,353 in January 2006.
"... off the coast of Bolivia" On March 29, 1995, during congressional hearings on the US
war on drugs, Burton proclaimed that the US military "should place an
aircraft carrier off the coast of
Bolivia and
crop dust the
coca fields." It was later pointed out to him that (a) Bolivia is
landlocked and has no coast (Burton was chairman of the
Western Hemisphere Subcommittee); (b) the Bolivian coca fields (in the
yungas and
Amazon lowlands) are beyond the reach of any carrier-borne crop-duster, being separated from the nearest coastline (the Pacific coast of
Peru and Chile) by the 20,000+ feet high peaks of the
Andes; and (c)
F-18s cannot crop-dust. While criticism of this misstatement was muted in Washington, it sparked a major anti-American backlash in Bolivia, derailing the same war on drugs that Burton purported to be speaking for.
Investigation of Democratic Party fund-raising In 1997, Burton headed an investigation into possible Democratic Party campaign finance abuse, focusing on the 1996 presidential election. The committee investigation ran for several years and issued over 1,000
subpoenas of Clinton administration officials and cost over $7 million. The committee, and Burton's leadership, were labeled a "farce", a "travesty", a "parody", In March 1997, as the investigation began, Burton was accused of demanding a $5,000 contribution from a Pakistani
lobbyist. The lobbyist said that when he was unable to raise the funds, Burton complained to the Pakistani ambassador and threatened to make sure "none of his friends or colleagues" would meet with the lobbyist or his associates. In May 1998, Burton apologized for releasing edited transcripts of prison audiotapes of
Webster Hubbell, a former associate of President
Bill Clinton. The edited transcripts omitted substantial information and differed significantly from the original recordings. Burton was harshly criticized by members of his own party, including
Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who called the investigation a "circus" and chided Burton for initially refusing to admit any error.
David Bossie, the staff member who arranged the editing and release of the tapes, resigned on Burton's request. Noting that Burton had personally released the tapes and had supported Bossie's plans over the objections of other committee staffers and attorneys, Democrats urged Burton to step down as well. Minority Leader
Dick Gephardt said, "A committee staff member should not be made the scapegoat for Chairman Burton's mistakes, missteps, and misdeeds." Burton was instrumental in pressuring the
National Institutes of Health to launch a five-year, $30 million study of
chelation therapy for cardiovascular disease. In an October 25, 2000, letter to the
Department of Health and Human Services, acting in his role as chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, Burton asked the agency's director to get the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to recall all vaccines containing the preservative
Thimerosal. "We all know and accept that
mercury is a
neurotoxin, and yet the FDA has failed to recall the 50 vaccines that contain Thimerosal", Burton wrote, adding "Every day that mercury-containing vaccines remain on the market is another day HHS is putting 8,000 children at risk." The U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not agree that vaccines containing mercury caused autism, and the US FDA refused to ban the vaccines. Most manufacturers removed the preservatives from their vaccines anyway, with no resulting decrease in autism rates. Burton maintained a page on his Congressional website called House.gov "Autism" which includes his speeches, transcripts from hearings, and newspaper articles on the relationship of autism and vaccines. In a June 2017 episode of
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver a C-SPAN 2 clip from 2002 of Dan Burton was used to highlight Burton's position on vaccines in relation to autism. In the clip Burton says, "I have yet to find any scientist who will say that there is no doubt, no doubt, that the mercury in vaccines does not contribute to autism. Now they'll say there's no scientific evidence, there's no studies or anything that proves that yet. But turn that around. There are no studies that disprove it either." John Oliver correctly highlights this as Burton's demand for "proving a negative" which he calls "an impossible standard".
Constituent mailings An Arizona newspaper study ranked Burton as the fifth-biggest user of free congressional mail, sending constituents more than $190,000 worth of mail in 2007.
Daughter In June 2007,
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reported that during the 2001–2006 period, Burton's campaign fund had paid $143,900 to his daughter Danielle Sarkine, who manages his campaign office. It is not illegal for federal candidates to pay family members for political work, as long as they are paid fair market value, the
Federal Election Commission has ruled.
Sibel Edmonds testimony On January 6, 2008,
FBI whistleblower
Sibel Edmonds included Dan Burton's photograph among others featured in the "
State Secrets Privilege Gallery" posted on her website, composing images of figures considered to be relevant to her case. Later, on August 8, 2009, she gave sworn testimony about Burton and others during a witness deposition before the Ohio Elections Commission in the
Schmidt v. Krikorian case, in which she stated that he had engaged in "[E]xtremely illegal activities against the United States citizens ... and against the United States' interests" that involved covert operations by foreign governments and entities, but did not further elaborate on these activities, ostensibly due to the limitations applied by the State Secrets Privilege.
ADA In 1989, Burton argued against the protection of
HIV/AIDS sufferers under the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). He stated "The ADA is a last ditch attempt of the remorseless
sodomy lobby to achieve
its national agenda before the impending decimation of AIDS destroys its political clout. Their Bill simply must be stopped. There will be no second chance for normal America if the ADA is passed." ==Personal life==