Posted October 19, 2007 by David Vance

Kangaroo Court Won't Fix the Problem

Orchestrating a carefully scripted show trial for disgraced Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) will not restore the damaged credibility of the ethics enforcement process in Congress.  It will not prove to anyone that the process in both the Senate and the House is not completely and hopelessly dysfunctional.  It will only show once again that the likelihood of an ethics investigation increases when sex is reported to be involved, particularly between members of the same sex.  Paying for a “massage” from someone of the opposite sex who happens to work for an infamous madam facing felony indictments, no longer inspires sufficient outrage to budge the ethics committee.

Sex aside, there are far more serious accusations against sitting Members in both Houses of Congress.  Whatever Larry Craig is accused of contemplating in an airport bathroom is far less damaging to the country and to Congress as an institution than the laundry list of sordid tales that include accusations of bribes involving marked bills hidden in freezers, free home renovations, exotic travel, and sweetheart land deals provided by those seeking favors from Members.  

A crude recreation of a Soviet-era show trial to humiliate Larry Craig may make some Members feel better about themselves, but it will do nothing to restore the negligible credibility of an ethics enforcement process tarnished by years of neglect and scandal.  

At the opening of the 110^th Congress, Senators and their staffers were still dismissing ethics violations as “a House problem.”  If nothing else, recent events and revelations have made it a bit harder for the Senate to live in denial of any ethical problems on its side of the Capitol.  But then again, once Larry Craig has been thrown under the bus there will no doubt be press conferences announcing the ethics problem solved.