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While tattletales are no more appealing on Capitol Hill than in grammar school and scattered enforcement always seems unfair, it would be a mistake to conclude that Wright and Coelho are victims of a deranged political environment dominated by vengeful Republicans and gooey do-gooders. Although Coelho characterized himself as a martyr, resigning to save his family and Congress, he was actually getting out to save his neck. The $100,000 deal involving one of Michael Milken's junk bonds promised to be every bit as serious as Wright's transgressions. And the investigations have the same salutary effect as the state trooper's pulling over a speeder: everyone slows down for a while.
If anything, these few morality trials do not go nearly far enough. The real scandal in Congress is not what's illegal; it is what's legal: the blatant, shameless greasing of congressional palms that violates good sense, good taste and good government. Capitol Hill is polluted by money -- campaign money, speech-giving money, outside money from investments, and money substitutes like all-expenses-paid vacations and gifts. Fred Wertheimer, president of the public-interest lobby Common Cause, is looked upon these days as an ethics ayatullah, but he is not overstating by much when he says, "Our nation faces a crisis in the way we govern ourselves. Our nation's capital is addicted to special-interest influence money. Members of Congress are living professionally and personally off these funds."
Much of what Congress does legally would put Executive Branch members behind bars. If White House chief of staff John Sununu, for example, were to take himself and his eight children to Disneyland at the expense of the coal industry so it could talk to him about the disadvantages of clean-air legislation, he would probably be accused of accepting a bribe. Yet industry- sponsored trips are a major form of recreation for some members of Congress and their staffs.
In January, 27 members of Congress, some with wives and children, left the cold of Washington for the sun of the California desert courtesy of the tobacco industry. Off they flew, at about $1,000 per round-trip ticket, and stayed at the luxurious Hyatt Grand Champions Resort, where suites go for $300 a night, the greens fees are prepaid, and meals are included. In addition to expenses, most legislators got spending money -- $1,000 to $2,000 -- for participating in one of three 90-minute panel discussions that ended at 11:30 a.m. each day so members could tee off at noon.
The delegation at the Hyatt was hardly unique. Just across the way, House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dan Rostenkowski was playing in a Bob Hope celebrity golf tournament and managing to squeeze in speeches to five special- interest groups. And just after New Year's Day, 18 Senators and their wives were flown to Scottsdale, Ariz., to play in a charity tennis tournament with executives of Dow Chemical, Citibank, Morgan Stanley and Motorola. The next weekend another group of Senators was schussing down the slopes in Park City, Utah, courtesy of American Express, Delta Airlines and U S West.