GOP scandals register with
voters
FortWayne.com/AP Wire
DONNA CASSATA, Associated Press
December 9, 2005
WASHINGTON - When Republicans seized power in Congress a decade ago, they
pledged to sweep out the stench of scandal and restore bonds of trust with the
people. Now, the people may be wondering whether the new bosses are the same as
the old bosses, or possibly more corrupt.
A House Republican leader has been indicted for money laundering. The Senate
GOP leader is under investigation for a financially well-timed stock sale. The
probe of a lobbyist threatens to ensnare more than half a dozen members of
Congress of both parties and the Bush administration.
It wasn't supposed to be this way.
Politicians work under an elaborate set of ethical rules, toughened in
several waves of change. The public was given reason to expect a tempering, at
least, of the abuses of the past - Abscam, Keating Five, Koreagate, high crimes
and misdemeanors.
Instead, the climate for wrongdoing has become, if anything, more
combustible.
Among the reasons are the colossal amounts of lobbying money in play; the
insatiable cash requirement of campaigning; and, as has been seen before
regardless of party, the entrenchment of a congressional majority that comes to
feel it's immune to the rules.
"It's very dangerous to a democratic society to have a system in which money
talks to the extent of American politics," said former Rep. David Bonior,
D-Mich.
The steady drumbeat of scandal has registered with Americans. An Associated
Press-Ipsos poll found that 88 percent of those surveyed said corruption is a
serious problem and 67 percent said a moderate number to a lot of public
officials are involved.
Democrats were considered more ethical by 36 percent, while 33 percent cited
Republicans - a difference within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 3
percentage points.
Some 40 percent of women said Democrats were more ethical than Republicans,
while 32 percent of men offered a similar view.
"Everything seems to be corrupted," said Sylvia Kind, a dietitian from
Akron, Ohio, who participated in the survey.
In 2004, federal lobbyists spent $2.1 billion - the equivalent of the gross
domestic product of the Republic of Congo. The biggest spender was the health
care industry at $325 million; technology and the financial services were not
far behind.
In the same year, candidates pursuing the presidency and seats in Congress
spent more than $3 billion campaigning.
Years ago, Sen. Humbert H. Humphrey, D-Minn., said a senator paid attention
to the government for five years and spent the sixth and last year of his term
campaigning, recalled Senate historian Donald A. Ritchie. Today, lawmakers
begin raising money non-stop from the moment they take the oath of office.
Faced with those steep expectations, abuses are inevitable, but the recent
missteps have been staggering.
"Democrats were in power for 40 years. It's taken the Republicans only 10
years to get as corrupt," said Stanley Brand, a general counsel to the House
under the late Speaker Tip O'Neill, D-Mass. "It tends to coagulate around the
entrenched majority. They get sloppy, arrogant and inured to the risks of not
following the law."
Leaders take the blame for misdeeds that occurred on their watch - and are
assailed if their own hands are dirty. The combination of failing to control
the malfeasance and contributing to it can be politically fatal.
"Any evidence of skullduggery or foul play reflects much more heavily on the
leadership group," said former Rep. Bill Frenzel, R-Minn. "It reflects on the
entire Congress, but the ones to pay the price are the leaders."
Caught in the recent wave of investigations and indictments are former House
Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas; Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.,
and Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Administration Committee. All
have denied any wrongdoing.
Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., resigned after pleading guilty to
taking $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for steering government work to
defense contractors.
Scandals aren't limited to Washington.
In Ohio, Republican Gov. Bob Taft was convicted of four misdemeanor ethics
violations for failing to report gifts and golf outings. In prison is John
Rowland, the former GOP governor of Connecticut, who traded access to his
office for vacations and home renovations. Former Republican Gov. George Ryan
of Illinois is fending off racketeering charges.
Democrats can't claim they're immune as several in their ranks figure
prominently in Justice Department inquiries. The investigation of lobbyist Jack
Abramoff could take down lawmakers from both parties as well as members of the
administration.
The cacophony over scandal is still ringing in the ears of Democrats, who
lost control of Congress in 1994 after a string of ethical misdeeds. Among them
was the House bank scandal in which hundreds of Republicans and Democrats
admitted to writing bad checks at the House bank.
Voters had no problem grasping the offense and the familiar notion of
writing rubber checks when no money was in the account.
When the House Republicans took over, they imposed stricter limits on gifts
to lawmakers and the payment of travel expenses. But the GOP leadership also
told lobbyists: If you want access, hire Republicans.
"To some degree it's reaching a new level," said former Rep. Vic Fazio,
D-Calif. "The degree in which Abramoff is tightly tied to key members for the
Republican Party is something unique. ... This is a guy who took good care of a
lot of people in the Republican Party at the same time he abused his
relationship with them."
The Abramoff web, however, has caught a few Democrats, including Sen. Byron
Dorgan of North Dakota, who also has denied wrongdoing.
"Compared to Abscam, it's nothing," said William Canfield, a lawyer who has
advised Congress on election investigations. "That was systematic of widespread
fraud and corruption in the House and Senate. That set the benchmark and I
don't think anything has come close. You had members meeting with undercover
FBI agents and stuffing cash in their pockets."
One senator and six House members were convicted in Abscam, the FBI
corruption investigation that began in 1978. Agents posed as Arab sheiks or
their representatives and offered bribes to members of Congress.
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