Congress: Scandal in The Mailroom

Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night, it seems, will keep the House of Representatives away from scandal. Only last October came embarrassing revelations that some lawmakers had written rubber checks totaling more than $100,000 at the House bank and had tallied $300,000 in free meals at House restaurants. Last month the House named a six-member bipartisan task force to look into a new imbroglio at the House post office.

The facility has more than 100 employees, hired and supervised by the lawmakers. As of mid-February, four employees had been charged in U.S. District Court with selling cocaine, kiting checks and embezzling more than $35,000 from the Federal Government. Postmaster Robert Rota is under pressure to resign.

Some Congressmen say the time has come for the House to scrap the patronage system and hire a professional administrator to oversee its operations. Says Kansas Democrat Dan Glickman: “The House has grown . . . into a 13,000- employee, $875 billion-a-year operation, but it’s managed the same way it was 100 years ago.”