Pierce Aide Skips Hearing; Chairman to Seek Subpoena
A one-time top aide to former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Samuel R. Pierce failed to appear today before a congressional panel investigating abuses in housing programs, and the chairman said he will seek to subpoena the witness.
Lance Wilson, former executive assistant to Pierce, did not appear before the House Government Operations subcommittee on employment and housing.
Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo), chairman of the subcommittee, had turned down a request by Wilson for a postponement. Wilson, a first vice president at Paine Webber brokerage in New York, said his attorney is in the hospital. It was the third time Wilson had asked for an extension, Lantos said.
“With 186 attorneys listed on the law firm’s letterhead, could another attorney not be able to advise Mr. Wilson, who is himself an attorney, as to his constitutional rights?” Lantos asked.
Lantos said the subcommittee will vote Wednesday on issuing a subpoena for Wilson.
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
