Making Political Hay in a Bank : Some campaigns find endless fodder in scandal

Everyone banks, almost. And everyone, almost, has been in some kind of banking trouble. Financial institutions may no longer be housed in marble temples worthy of Zeus, but let the mere mortal err and the thunderer may strike. Zeus himself errs, of course, but Mt. Olympus is slow to admit it. If an ATM “eats” your paycheck (this can happen), at least one highly advertised local bank will not confirm the mistake and credit your account for 10 days. If you are overdrawn during that period. . . .

But then you’re not a member of Congress, are you?

That’s what grates about the honorable ladies and gentlemen of Congress whose bank was oh-so-much-more accommodating with them than yours is with you. Thursday the long-delayed, but still not quite complete, accounting was released. We know which current and former representatives wrote overdrafts and how many they wrote. We don’t know for how much or for how long given accounts were in arrears.

It matters, of course, that taxpayer money was not involved in this disgraceful parody of banking. It matters as well that though no interest was paid on the de facto loans, none was paid on the accounts themselves either. But it matters much more that the self-indulgence of so many in Congress has worsened public confidence in the institution at a time when that confidence so desperately needs a boost.

But if there is a species of misbehavior in office that rankles worse than this one, it is the lamentable attempt on the part of some in Congress--including some who have themselves been guilty of check-kiting--to whip up the mood of public disgust for partisan gain. President Bush, rather than run against his presumptive Democratic opponent, has been trying to run against Congress, though members of his Cabinet, in their congressional years, kited checks. Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), although himself a check-kiter, has led the attack, apparently convinced that nothing so bad for so many Democrats could fail to be good for him.

Gingrich was wrong. An attack commercial in his home state now compares him, unfavorably, to a toddler just learning to count. And President Bush has lately had to contend with the fact that the White House credit union has one of the worst rates of delinquency in the nation. The President deserves no more blame for delinquencies at the credit union than many congressional members who never used or thought about the House bank deserve for their colleagues’ check-kitings.

Unfortunately, when government-bashing has become the favored path to a job in government, the basic distinctions are willfully blurred. Scandals are scandals, but enough is also enough.