Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota took $79,300, the righteous Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa scooped up $45,750, and Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan got only petty cash ($6,250). Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada ($68,941), the role model for Senate Democrats, and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington ($41,000), unlike most of their colleagues, aren't even going to give the tainted money back, either to Mr. Abramoff himself or to one of the Indian tribes through whom the contributions were conveniently laundered.
They're entitled to keep the cash because, not being Republicans, they think they haven't done anything wrong. Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island ($42,000) will keep it, too, not wanting to make Indian givers of Jack and his tribal friends. Besides, when you're a Kennedy, isn't that proof enough that you're a saint?
These Democrats take their inspiration from the governor that Huey P. Long left in charge of Louisiana when he came to Washington to take his seat in the Senate. "I seen my opportunities," the convict governor said as he departed for his fitting by the prison tailor, "and I took 'em."
Like panicked Republicans, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, among other Democrats, hurried out to find an orphanage, a home for unwed mothers, anything respectable to take the hot money off their hands. Nevertheless, this is first and last a Republican scandal, not least because Jack Abramoff and associates (who include several well-known Washington lobbyist names) lavished cash and junkets on congressmen who count, and since 1994, when they took back the Congress, that meant Republicans. Even more to the point, the 1994 tsunami was about repealing the widely and correctly held perception that "Congress" was a synonym for "corruption." The Republicans told us they came to town via the high road and weren't like Democrats. A new day was dawning over the Potomac. No more Mr. Bad Guy. |
