The '82 Model

Joseph Califano and Rudy Giuliani led the Justice Department's investigation of the Congressional page scandal (sex and drugs) in 1982-83. Califano registers his opinion in the Post that it was better in the old days, when Congress policed itself instead of having the dirty work done by the Justice Department. He argues that this yielded satisfactory results:

We had received a host of allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use and sale by other pages and House members...

We found no evidence of widespread sexual misconduct. We did find that Rep. Daniel Crane (R-Ill.) had had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female page and that Rep. Gerry Studds (D-Mass.) had sexual relations with a 17-year-old male page and had made advances to other teenage male pages.

When I reported our findings to [Speaker Tip] O'Neill and [Minority Leader Robert] Michel, the dishonor that these members had brought on the House infuriated the two leaders. "Get it out," they said, "and let the committee recommend disciplinary action," which its four Democratic and four Republican members did, unanimously, in July 1983. Crane and Studds were censured by the House. Crane resigned his seat. Studds chose to stay on and was retained in office by his constituents for 13 more years.

So back in the old days, when Congressmen were Congressmen and pages were nervous, they punished felonious pedophiles with the unbearable castigation of... censure?

Califano includes at least one factual error: all other sources agree that he did not resign, but ran and lost in 1984. For his part, Studds not only refused to apologize, he apparently convinced his Cape Cod constituents that taking a minor on a sex trip to Morocco is no biggie.

So without any policing whatsoever, we've already surpassed the punishments meted out in 1983. I think that puts to rest Califano's "back when I was your age" arguments, though it by no means exhonerates Foley or anyone who knew what he was doing.

Califano argues that the House leadership was less partisan and more interested in the dignity of the institutions back then. Perhaps so. In other words, instead of each party protecting itself, both parties worked together to protect the entire House. The results? Two pedophiles remained in their midst after being outed by a big investigation. Partisanship is a great thing, then, if it leads each party to be watchdog of the other, and forces the House to submit to outside investigation of a scandal. If Democrats had known what the Republican leadership apparently knew, do you think they'd be in a huff about it now? Long live political competition!