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OAKLAND TRIBUNE 2/17/80 Congressional bribes Both parties | score high in: corruption ©“ By Nicholas Von Hoffman There are only 535 members l of_Congress—senators jand rep: rep- resentatives both. In no other of- ‘ice of the same size does such & size does such a }. high high percentage of the employ- the _employ- “es So regular! isgrace ree Be regularly disgrace thet em selves and dishonor the organiza- on they work for. A_search of the S records going back six years shows in that time responsible allegations of serious ‘rime were made against 51 members of Congress. Thirty-one - 3 Democrats were accused of theft, receipt of illegal campaign contributions from foreign pow- ers, bribery, kickbacks, etc. Twenty Republicans were ac- cused of the same crimes. Since there are about that ratio of . Democrats to Reg blicans in Congress the statesmen of both parties seem to have. the same 3teasy palm index. — In compiling this list, names, like Pennsylvania's former Re- publican Sen. Hugh Scott were left off. Shortly before he re- tired, gravely compromising ac- usations were ‘made concerning ‘ertain moneys he Is alleged to have received. Nor does this congressional crime count include somebody. ike Wayne Hays, the Ohio repre- sentative who resigned after he was accused of putting a blonde on his congressional office’ pay-, roll, or Wilbur Mills, the alcohol- ic Arkansas Democrat, who ran. off after a bubble dancer. Also excluded from the count is J. Herbert Burke, the Florida itepublican who pleaded guilty 'o creating a Scene in a nudie har. Likewise treated as non-se-. ‘ rious, and therefore not counted, is the admission in February, 1976, by 18 members of Con-' Kress, including the chairmen of both the House and the Senate ethics committess, tra-la, that, they had been taking gratuities = ‘rom defense manufacturers in the form of free hunt ee Atsting will only net . the greediest and stupidest officeholders.’ On the basis of a few off the record discussions with honest lobbyists who have to make it their business to understand and outwit the prevailing patterns of dishonesty, it appears that_a . Sting operation such as the one mounted by the FBI will only net ihe_greediest_and_the_ stupidest {fice holders. Thig i ion, which has focused an ‘cusatory spotlight on seven Democratic and one Republican member of Congress, wasn't designed to ‘gaich crooked politicians but like gangsters. The FBI were | fishermen who cast their nets to ‘get.tuna_and inadvertently cap- Aure_porpoises or js it barracu- da? In any event, the wise people in Washington say the big money. drops don’t happen as they did in the sting operation, during which it is being reported that one member of Congress and his as- sociate were videotaped literally _ wrestling over who was going to get to carry the attache cases full of dough. The smoother op- erators don't take it in cash and don’t take it in Washington. The drop is made in another part of the country and not to the con- gressperson nor any member of his staff, but to someone with noy formal connection, perhaps no’ known connection with the elect- ed official. Every time a scandal like this hits, acquaintances of the ac-. cused shake their heads and say, © “don't understand how _so_and . Why take @ chance like that?” Crooked politicians probably aren't taking much of a chance, Of the 24 pols seriously implicat- od in_the Korean bribacy_scan- dal, jal,_only_one_ over went to jail. hi take of pleading. guilty and has publicly kicked ce then, saying if he had fought the charges he'd prob- ably never have had to pull a day of. time. With the help_ of friends in Strategic places. by-de- lay_a and_procrastination, or by making some staff member take the fall _in_ his place, even the durnbest_and_hungriest_can_lum- ber_off with fat_pieces_of meat Araped over their teeth, Noi of ne ¢ dishonesty quotient among cinembers of Congress likely to drop, There is _no_ongo- ing_program policing them. Ex- posure, as in the sting sensation, is invariably accidental. Because of the constitutional separation of powers, it is legally much har- der to whomp on a congressional crook than an ordinary soldier in life's various mafias. Congress is supposed to police itself, but pride for one’s office seldom supersedes the profits of one’s pals. Some day the ethics committee may find itself with a quorum, but don’t count on it. Nicholas Von Hoffman writes for the King Features Syndicate. 4 {