Glass Houses Congressional Ethics And The Politics Of Venom [Paperback]

While members of the House and Senate confront the public's changing attitudes toward money, sex, and power, they are also forced to raise ever-escalating sums to finance their campaigns. Practices tolerated a decade ago now may cost lawmakers their seats or land them in jail. Lawmakers often don't know if they live in Salem or Gomorrah. Using new information culled from dozens of Capitol Hill interviews, Susan and Martin Tolchin show how ethics in Washington have changed over two centuries while offering new interpretations of past ethics cases. The first book to analyze the politicization of the ethics process, Glass Houses reveals in wicked and telling detail the forces that drive the modern lawmaker into a maelstrom of fierce corruption battles.Preface and Acknowledgments -- The Ethics Wars -- The Apple and Other Temptations -- Joe McCarthy and the Ethics Process -- Abscam and the Keating Five -- The New Rules of the Ethics Wars -- Sex -- Torricelli, the CIA, and the Intelligence Committee -- Forgery -- The Noble Lie -- The Politics of Venom -- Expulsion, Censure, Reprimand, and Ethics Proceedings in the Senate 17972001 -- Summary of Expulsion, Censure, Reprimand, and Ethics Procedures in the House of Representatives, 17972001