GLASS HOUSES: Congressional Ethics and the Politics of Venom.

• Author: Confessore, Nicholas
• Position: Review

GLASS HOUSES: Congressional Ethics and the Politics of Venom by Martin Tolchin and Susan Tolchin Free Press, $25.00

IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE NOW, but there was a time in the mid-1960s when the creation of permanent, bipartisan ethics committees in the House and Senate seemed like a positive step toward open and accountable politics. The Clinton years, however, were not kind to such hopes. Over the past decade, an overly collegial congressional ethics process has given way to the interminable, vicious witch hunts that characterized the Republican Congress. So perhaps the time is ripe for a lucid examination of the Congressional ethics process, a book that cuts through the thicket of hypocrisy and pseudo-scandal to offer thoughtful analysis and intelligent solutions.

Glass Houses: Congressional Ethics and the Politics of Venom is not that book. Which is too bad, because the book's authors--Martin Tolchin, editor of The Hill, and Susan Tolchin, a professor of public policy at George Mason University, would seem well-suited to the task. The Tolchins are clearly well-acquainted with their subject. They've interviewed dozens of key members of Congress and compiled a range of tidbits and anecdotes. (Bribing your congressman was outlawed in 1853. Who knew?)

In a series of brisk chapters, the authors explain how most of today's tangle of Congressional rules and regulations arose more or less ad hoc, usually in the wake of some particularly spectacular outrage. Whey trace the slow, convoluted evolution of modern Congressional ethics scandals, from Joe McCarthy to Abscam and the Keating Five, to the various sex scandals of the last decade, to a 1995 case in which aides to Rep. David Macintosh forged budget documents in an attempt to discredit the liberal group, Alliance for Justice.

This history is revealing: rather than rely on any cogent, rational process, successful prosecution and punishment has more often hinged on the intensity of public pressure, the popularity and power of the offender, or the willingness of reformers to upset the status quo. Party leaders practically have to bribe their members to serve on ethics committees; those who do serve find themselves torn between loyalty and principle, and investigations often end in partisan stalemate. Not surprisingly, politics frequently trumps fairness. John McCain only became part of the Keating Five when angry Democrats insisted on including a Republican in the hearings, even though McCain's...