The inevitable cycle of corruption

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that Washington has a corruption scandal.

Corruption is all about using money to influence power, and there is no place on earth where money and power come together as they do in Washington, D.C. That's why there is a new corruption scandal every five or 10 years.

The latest scandal is not fully understood yet in either its scope or its significance, but the plea deal reached by lobbyist Jack Abramoff earlier this month means that federal prosecutors will almost certainly be going after at least some elected officials and their aides in the coming months.

After all, if it was a crime for Abramoff to give the money, it is likely to have also been a crime for those with legislative responsibility to take the money. In any case, the words corruption, scandal, and bribe are likely to be heard for quite some time to come.

That is not good for politicians, especially since this is an election year. Democrats will try to seize on the indictment of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and the Republican connections of Abramoff to regain control of the House, and maybe the Senate, too. Republicans will do everything in their power to convince Americans that a few bad apples do not ruin the barrel, and they will look for a few Democratic poster boys for corruption among the many who took money from either Abramoff or his Indian-tribe clients.

In the meantime, lobbying "reform" will become all the rage on Capitol Hill, and both sides will be scrambling to find just the right Band-Aid to cover their indiscretions. Some proposals on the table include banning gifts to members of Congress even including such incidentals as meals and sports tickets, prohibiting lobbyists from taking trips with members of Congress, forcing lawmakers to reveal their ties to nonprofits, and lengthening to two years the time that ex-lawmakers and their staffs must wait before lobbying.

Many of the proposals seem to have merit. We especially like the idea of forcing lobbyists to post to the Internet a list of all money spent on gifts, favors, etc. for politicians. Spending would probably automatically decrease as a result, and it would mean that public officials would have to be willing to do in daylight that which up until now has been done largely in private.

But the bottom line is that no legislation will do away with the impulse to use money to influence power. Indeed, the very notion of lobbyists shows that wealthy interests have an automatic advantage in our system. Remember, it is largely corporations, trade groups, powerful unions and the like which can pay the outrageous fees of lobbyists in order to ensure a continual presence in the halls of power.

That can't be stopped though. Access to legislators is crucial to our democracy.

But so is eternal vigilance, and voters know that we need to exercise it on our leaders as well as our borders.