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Preface
ongress celebrated its recent bicentennial with
appropriate speeches and ceremonies honoring
the institution and the thousands of men and
women who served there since 1789. Understand-
ably， the speakers glossed over or skipped entirely
the darker side of congressional history--the crimes
and other misdeeds committed by a relative handful
of senators and representatives.
But in its workaday world of lawmaking， Con-
gress cannot look the other way when one of its
members is caught acting illegally or immorally. It
must face up to the fact and punish or clear the
alleged wrongdoer.
Congress carries out this constitutional obliga-
tion with a variety of disciplinary tools， including
one spelled out in the Constitution--expulsion if
two-thirds of the chamber concur that it is
warranted.
In recent years the House and Senate ethics
committees have been busier than ever investigating
complaints against members and recommending
whatever action is necessary. Usually the parent
body goes along with the committee s
recommendation.
The 1980s and early 1990s in particular pro-
duced a bumper crop of ethics cases， including one
that resulted in the first expulsion for corruption
in either house of Congress. The same period has
seen three senators formally disciplined for mis-
conduct involving personal or campaign funds，
and repre~entative~ censured or reprimanded
for sexual or financial offenses. Numerous others
were admonished by the ethics committees， de-
feated for reelection， or escaped punishment by
resigning.
Congress s already low standing in public opin-
ion polls was further degraded by other scandals，
such as surreptitious pay raises and wholesale
check kiting at the House s own bank. Small
wonder that Congress moved in 1989-91 to im-
prove its image by passing tougher ethics codes and
doing away with the acceptance of honoraria--a
popular means for interest groups to circumvent
restrictions on gifts to lawmakers.
How This Book Is Organized
Congressional Ethics covers all aspects of the con-
gressional disciplinary process， from the basic
methods of punishment to the specific cases that
triggered the various investigations and the result-
mg committee or floor action.
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