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Summer of Scandal for Politicians in
U.S.
By AP from the NYTimes on the Web,
August 22, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Ohio Gov. Bob
Taft is hardly the only politician these days to be hit by scandal. He's
just the only one to admit he was wrong.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, is fighting ethics charges.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is too. And two federal lawmakers
are under investigation over financial dealings.
''There does seem to be a spate of scandals these days,'' said Charles Lewis,
founder of the Center for Public Integrity. ''It seems to be heavier than
it's been for a while.''
For DeLay, it is fund-raising practices and lobbyist-financed travel that are
under scrutiny. Schwarzenegger dropped out of a lucrative deal with a
publishing company when he was criticized for possible conflicts of interest.
Both of those powerful Republicans are still standing. And Taft, a fellow
Republican who pleaded no contest Thursday to misdemeanor ethics violations for
failing to report golf outings and other gifts, vows to serve out the remaining
16 months of his term.
Democrats are studying whether to pursue Taft's impeachment, a daunting task to
get through the GOP-run state legislature.
More serious problems face two members of Congress, one from each party.
Federal agents raided the New Orleans and Washington homes of Rep. William
Jefferson, D-La., this month amid questions about his financial dealings with a
high-tech startup company. An executive said he thought Jefferson was
squeezing him for money and called the FBI. Agents reportedly found cash
in a freezer at one of the congressman's homes.
Rep. Randy ''Duke'' Cunningham, R-Calif., is under investigation for financial
dealings with a friend who runs a defense company. The friend bought
Cunningham's house for $1.7 million and somehow took a $700,000 loss when he
resold it in San Diego's sizzling real estate market.
Cunningham had abandoned plans to run for re-election, and the government wants
to seize the new $2.6 million home he bought with proceeds from the first sale.
What's the common thread in this summer of scandal? Money.
''Each of these cases is a bit different, but they all come down to the
intersection of capitalism and democracy and being lavishly wooed and courted by
powerful interests and being susceptible to those interests,'' said Lewis, now
president of the Fund for Independence in Journalism.
What the current spate of scandals lacks -- unlike the spectacular fall of New
Jersey Democratic Gov. Jim McGreevey last summer -- is a sexual component.
McGreevey resigned after admitting he had engaged in a gay, extramarital affair
and had put his lover in a top government job for which he seemed unqualified.
Blaring headlines and sensational stories preceded his departure.
Polls show Congress' approval rating at the lowest level in a decade. An
AP-Ipsos poll taken Aug. 1-3 found just 33 percent of respondents approved of
the job that lawmakers are doing.
But Congress' low ratings don't seem to have much to do with scandal, said
pollster Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. ''The public's
low ratings for the Congress this year has more to do with their arguing with
one another'' over things like changing Senate rules to block filibusters of
judicial nominees, he said.
''These scandals don't have very much impact on public opinion because opinion
couldn't be much worse,'' said Paul Light, a professor of political science at
New York University. ''They just reinforce what the public already
believes.''
Still, there's been a clear uptick in cases of politicians under investigation
by authorities. Now, the question is whether there will be much political
backlash.
In Taft's Ohio, there are warning signs of public unrest over the scandal
involving gifts and another involving the state's questionable investment of
workers' compensation funds in rare coins.
Republicans narrowly held on to a House seat in a heavily GOP district in a
special election this month. Democrats sense the chance to reclaim the
Ohio governorship next year for the first time in four terms.
For Congress, it's not clear how the drip, drip, drip of scandal revelations
will play in midterm elections. With a prominent Democrat -- Louisiana's
Jefferson -- under investigation, it becomes more difficult for his party to use
scandal against Republicans.
Ethics watchdog Lewis sees a worsening problem, one that won't improve until
lawmakers do a better job of policing themselves.
''There is a problem here and it's a substantial problem, and there seems to be
very little will by politicians at most levels to face it head on,'' he said.
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