corruption in Congress, and what to do about it

Fri, 12 May 2000 16:27:22 -0400

Congressional Reform Briefings			May 12, 2000

Following is an article in the May 8, 2000 edition of Roll Call.
<http://www.rollcall.com/pages/news/00/05/21stcen0508.html>

It's Time to Reform Hill Ethics Process: Committees Have Become Shields
Against Thorough Investigations 

By Gary Ruskin, Director of the Congressional Accountability Project

	The battle against corruption in Congress has collapsed. 

	Not surprisingly, the people who brought this about are Members of
Congress themselves -- Republicans and Democrats alike. You put the kids
in charge of discipline in the school -- with little accountability --
and this is what you get. 

	The signs are everywhere. 

	The recent case of Ann Eppard is a sad example. Eppard is a former
chief of staff to Rep. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), chairman of the
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. She is now perhaps the most
powerful transportation lobbyist in Washington. 

	In 1998, she was indicted for allegedly accepting $230,000 in illegal
gratuities while she was on Shuster's staff. By all accounts,
prosecutors had a strong case, with firm knowledge of the gifts and the
official acts Eppard did for the donors. 

	Nevertheless, Eppard pleaded guilty only to a misdemeanor, and received
a paltry $5,000 fine. That wasn't even a slap on the wrist. But
prosecutors claimed that it was best deal they could get, following the
disastrous Supreme Court decision in the United States v. Sun-Diamond
Growers of California. Under this decision, in illegal gratuities cases,
prosecutors have to show a precise, and nearly unprovable, connection
between a gift and a particular official act. 

	Prosecuting bribery is even harder. For that, prosecutors usually need
evidence of a quid pro quo on audio or videotape. 

	"It's got to be a pretty stupid lobbyist," said Philip Heymann, a
Harvard law professor and former deputy attorney general, "who tries to
make an explicitly criminal deal with a legislator." The upshot is that
our federal bribery and illegal gratuities laws pose little threat to
corrupt Members or their staff. 

	On top of that, the Public Integrity section of the Justice Department
has been especially weak in enforcing the law. Attorney General Janet
Reno suffered repeated public humiliations over Public Integrity's
slipshod investigation into the 1996 campaign finance scandals. 

	Less well-known are the inexplicable denials of routine Internal
Revenue Service requests to empanel a grand jury to investigate whether
then-Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.) and her 1992 campaign manager
Kgosie Matthews converted $281,000 in campaign funds to personal use,
and failed to pay taxes on those funds. 

	Incredibly, Public Integrity fought hard to ensure that then-Rep. Jay
Kim (R-Calif.) pleaded guilty only to a misdemeanor, even though he took
more than $250,000 in illegal foreign and corporate contributions, and
probably stole a Congressional election. That's hardly a deterrent to
election fraud. 

	Although the House and the Senate have a constitutional duty to
discipline their own Members, Democrats and Republicans have joined in a
liberal permissiveness toward influence-peddling, graft and abuse of
power. Together the two parties have transformed the ethics committees
into a political shield -- for all but the most powerless Members --
against investigations of corruption. 

	In a notably arrogant pro-corruption measure, the House actually
revoked the limited right of ordinary citizens to file ethics
complaints. In September 1997, the House required citizens to obtain a
letter of transmittal from a House Member prior to filing a complaint. 

	We called this rule the "Corrupt Politicians' Protection Act." Since
1997, no citizen has yet succeeded in obtaining such a transmittal
letter. The bipartisan good ol' boys network has locked arms against the
public. Democrats won't file against Republicans, and vice versa. The
first rule of Congress is to protect your own. 

	At this moment, the Congressional Accountability Project has evidence
of serious wrongdoing by several House Members. We have prepared
complaints against Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), chairman of the House
Judiciary Committee; Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chairman of the
Government Reform Committee; and Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.). However,
no Member will provide the letter needed to initiate the ethics process. 

	But then, the sloth of the House ethics committee is legendary. In
1996, for example, we filed a complaint against Shuster, regarding his
web of legislative, political, financial and personal ties to Eppard.
Since then, the ethics committee hasn't even issued an interim report on
the matter. 

	That's not so bad for Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), the chairman of the
subcommittee investigating Shuster; he collected a generous airport
provision from -- you guessed it -- Transportation and Infrastructure
Chairman Shuster. 

	At least the Senate Ethics Committee allows citizens to file complaints
about corruption. They just don't investigate them. 

	When we filed a complaint against then-Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.)
regarding his receipt of a $37,125 one-day gain from a corrupt brokerage
house, The New York Observer reported that "according to a well-placed
Democratic source, the committee's then-chairman, Senator Mitch
McConnell [R-Ky.] ... made it clear that there would be no investigation
of Mr. D'Amato. 'There was never really any discussion about it, because
McConnell was adamant.'" 

	The principal bulwark against legislative corruption, the Federal
Election Campaign Act, is in shambles. It's almost "anything goes" in
the campaign finance arena.

	Perhaps worse, corporate and wealthy favor-seekers may now give
unlimited undisclosed contributions to groups associated with Members of
Congress that are authorized under Section 527 of the tax code. It's a
devastating loophole. 

	Public corruption is not a victimless crime. When money buys
Congressional favors, votes and seats, those without money lose - a lot.

	Finally, the Federal Election Commission, which is supposed to police
the federal campaign finance laws, has been hamstrung by Congress in so
many ways that it cannot carry out its mission. 

	But what was wrecked can be rebuilt. Here's how to root out corruption
in Congress: 

* Strengthen the illegal-gratuities statute by reinstating the theory of
"status gratuities." This would prohibit a public official from
receiving a gift from a favor-seeker meant merely to keep the official
"happy" or to "create a better working atmosphere" - without a
connection to a specific official act; 

* Allow citizens to file ethics complaints in the House of
Representatives; 

* Routinely send ethics complaints in the House and the Senate to
outside counsel for investigation; 

* Pass the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform measure to ban soft
money, and require sham "issue ads" that are really campaign ads to be
paid for with federal, hard money; 

* Strengthen the FEC by appointing anti-corruption commissioners,
increasing its investigative budget and authorizing random audits of
campaigns; and 

* Require "527" organizations to disclose their contributors and obey
federal, hard-money contribution limits if contributions are used for
sham "issue ads." 

	Countless Members of Congress boast of being tough on crime. It's time
for them to walk their talk and summon the courage to get tough on
corruption in Congress. 

<--------article ends here---------->

The Congressional Accountability Project opposes corruption in the U.S.
Congress.  For more information, see our website at
<http://www.essential.org/orgs/CAP/CAP.html>.

Congressional Reform Briefings are distributed electronically via the
cong-reform mailing list <cong-reform@lists.essential.org>. To subscribe
to the cong-reform mailing list, go to
<http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/cong-reform> or send the
word "subscribe" to <cap@essential.org>.

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY
-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Ruskin | Congressional Accountability Project
1611 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite #3A | Washington, DC 20009
Phone: (202) 296-2787 | Fax (202) 833-2406
http://www.essential.org/orgs/CAP/CAP.html |
mailto:gary@essential.org |
--------------------------------------------------------------