‘Policing politics’ a necessary evil

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are proving, as if we needed this lesson again, that they are entirely unable or unwilling to govern. Whichever side of the aisle you happen to occupy, and no matter how ugly you are willing to get to see your point of view in lights, no one wants the mechanism to shut down.

Often, during times of chaos and weirdness in the House, we turn for reassurance to their senior body, the U.S. Senate. But this time, we might want to give that thought a miss. This time, the wretched malignancy of the House is actually outstripped by the embarrassing state of affairs in the Senate.

While the mortification of members about those who either cannot function (Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-CA) or we wish would not function so publicly (Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-KY) is fine and sharp, nothing quite dosed the top of the sordid cake like Sen. Menendez’s alleged crass and cavalier criminality. The suit stuffed with dollars; the gold bullion loosely stacked up, and the lying hypocrisy all ‘round is more than anyone needed dumped on the table last week.

There was a sprightly little article in the Washington Post the other day about retiring from the Senate entitled “There is life after the Senate. And it’s good.” Pat Leahy, Jon Kyl, Barbara Boxer, and Olympia Snowe, among others, were interviewed and there was a real sense of liberation among them. Tom Harkin has apparently been sailing around Norway and Newfoundland – about as far from both DC, and Iowa, as he could be. Given the current state of affairs in the chamber, I’m sure they are relieved to be well out of it.

Somewhere in there, the retirement bug never seemed to hit Senator Menendez. He’s on his second indictment for bribery and may not yet have got the word.

I’m reminded of another Democrat in the House a few years back. U.S. Representative James Traficant of Youngstown, Ohio. Traficant got his start running drug recovery programs back home, then took over as Sheriff. He got caught red-handed taking bribes and was prosecuted under the RICO statutes – and won. His argument was that he had been conducting research into corruption and had to take bribes as part of that research. Traficant went on to dislodge an incumbent Republican for Ohio’s 17^th Congressional seat – a seat where he served 16 straight crazy years, weaving to the floor, ranting about the IRS and shaking loose what had to be the ugliest topee in history. Traficant finally met his end in 1983, when he was convicted on ten felony counts, including tax evasion, bribery, and racketeering. The House threw him out, with the only vote in his favor coming from Gary Condit, who had troubles of his own.

But no one ever put Traficant in charge of foreign relations or allowed him to crawl to the top of the seniority list. His own party took his seniority and unceremoniously cut him off all committee assignments before he was busted for being on the take. They spotted a loser and dealt with the situation accordingly. Menendez, however, never seems to have suffered for one moment.

And perhaps that’s the real point. It’s not that there are bad apples – both parties have them - but after the second indictment, you have to think that someone in the Democratic party might have been aware that something was not quite right with ole Bob.

Could a folded envelope of hundreds have fallen out in the hall of the Hart building? Maybe it takes three indictments to set off a flare. Did it take an internal investigation to figure out just how bent he was?

Policing politics begins at home, folks. It’s bad enough to deal with the lunatics outside the tent, without falling prey to the crazies lurking within.

Bruce Anderson is the Dr. Sarah D. and L. Kirk McKay Jr. Endowed Chair in American History, Government, and Civics and Miller Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Florida Southern College.  He is also a columnist for The Ledger.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: ‘Policing politics’ a necessary evil