congressional scandals

As collective bodies, the Senate and House of Representatives have had their share of heroes and scoundrels. Honorable men and women, concerned about the national issues of their day, have occupied the chambers alongside colleagues more interested in personal gain. With critical issues and multimillion-dollar appropriations at stake, lobbyists have at times resorted to unscrupulous methods, including bribery and other special favors, in return for members' votes. Media exposure of these scandals and outraged public opinion have spurred Congress to revise some of its rules and ethical standards to prevent further abuses of power and position.

Railroad scandals

Beginning in the 1850s, Congress voted large grants of land and money to stimulate railroad construction. Competing railroad entrepreneurs offered shares of stock to key members of Congress to win support for their projects. In 1857 a freshman representative revealed that he had been offered $1,500 to vote to aid a Minnesota railroad. The House committee investigating these charges recommended that four members be expelled, but they resigned from office. In 1873 Congress was shaken by a larger railroad scandal known as Credit Mobilier (the name of a construction company involved in building the first transcontinental railroad). Representative Oakes Ames (Republican–Massachusetts) acted as a lobbyist for Credit Mobilier and distributed stock to powerful senators and representatives “where it will do the most good for us.” The New York Sun broke the story with the headline “How the Credit Mobilier Bought Its Way through Congress.” Senate and House investigations led to the censure of two representatives and the tarnishing of the reputation of many others.

“The Treason of the Senate”

During the Progressive Era at the start of the 20th century, muckraking magazine writers attacked the Senate as a “millionaires' club” composed of wealthy men or those indebted to wealthy business interests. In 1906 David Graham Phillips published a series of nine articles in Cosmopolitan magazine entitled “The Treason of the Senate.” By “treason,” Phillips meant that some senators were working for big business rather than for the public interest. The “Treason of the Senate” and other muckraking articles led to the defeat or retirement of several powerful senators and gave a boost to the progressive goal of direct election of senators, which the 17th Amendment achieved in 1913.

Campaign financing scandals

As the cost of campaigning for Congress escalated, members running for reelection sought campaign funds from a variety of sources, some of which raised questions about conflict of interest. In 1963 when the Senate investigated the business activities of the secretary to the Senate Democratic majority, Bobby Baker, he told of arranging unreported gifts and contributions from business interests to senators. The Senate responded by requiring senators to file more complete statements about their campaign financing and fund-raising. In the 1970s the House investigated a Korean-American businessman, Tongsun Park, accused of making illegal gifts to members of the House. The press labeled this incident “Koreagate,” after the recent Watergate scandal. Even more shocking was the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Abscam (short for “Arab scam”) operation, in which an FBI agent masqueraded as an Arab sheikh and offered money to various members of Congress in return for favorable legislation. As a result of Abscam, the House expelled one member, two other representatives and a senator resigned, and several others were defeated for reelection.

In 1991 the Senate Ethics Committee investigated the Keating Five—five senators who had intervened with federal bank regulators on behalf of savings and loan banker Charles Keating. Since Keating had made large campaign contributions to these senators, the question arose about whether they had exceeded the efforts they would normally have made for a constituent. The committee criticized their judgment, and the Senate reprimanded one senator for his involvement. The Keating scandal renewed calls for campaign financing reform. (1872–73); Ethics; Expulsion from Congress; House bank scandal (1992); Salaries

See also Campaign financing, congressional; Censure; Credit Mobilier scandal

Sources

• Bobby Baker, Wheeling and Dealing: Confessions of a Capitol Hill Operator (New York: Norton, 1978).
• George E. Mowry and Judson Grenier, eds., The Treason of the Senate (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964).
• W. Allan Wilbur, “The Credit Mobilier Scandal”,” in Congress Investigates: A Documented History, 1792–1974, edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Roger Bruns (New York: Bowker, 1975)