Nation: Among the Accused

Of the eight legislators implicated by the Abscam investigation, several have had noteworthy careers:

Richard Kelly, a third-term G.O.P. Congressman from Florida, was once a state circuit judge who was impeached by the state's house for harassing lawyers and fellow judges (the senate subsequently dismissed the charges). Later ordered by the Florida judicial qualifications commission to undergo psychiatric examination, Kelly visited a hospital on his own and earned a clean bill of health. That enabled him, on entering the House in 1975, to claim: "I'm the only member certified to be sane."

In Congress, he has forcefully attacked labor unions and bureaucrats while...