“THIS REPUBLICAN Congress is the most corrupt in history.” That, at any rate, is the verdict of Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats’ leader in the House of Representatives. With allegations that 12 politicians are implicated in the scandal involving Jack Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist, it is easy to see why Ms Pelosi should be so excited.

Corruption on Capitol Hill is a phrase that has long tripped off tongues. Yet, until the 1970s only ten congressmen had been convicted of accepting bribes. Since then, standards have slipped. Or detection has improved.

“Does it show?” was the question posed by Richard Kelly, a Republican congressman from Florida in 1980, after he had thrust into his suit pockets $25,000 in banknotes offered to him by what he took to be an Arab businessman. The strain placed upon his tailoring was indeed visible — on the videotape with which FBI agents were secretly filming the exchange of pleasantries.

Kelly had been caught out by the “Abscam” affair, an FBI probe into the honesty of 31 politicians that led to the conviction of one senator and, besides Kelly, five other members of the House of Representatives — all of them Democrats.

Abscam took its name from the bogus company that the FBI set up as a cover. Employees of “Abdul Enterprises, Ltd” (a name that, for some reason, the congressmen did not think smacked of the panto season) pretended to act on behalf of a fake Arab sheikh. The “sheikh” sought to buy asylum in the US and wanted the congressmen to promote his investment schemes as well as seeking their help in transferring money out of the country.

Kelly, a former circuit judge, defended the bulge in his pocket by maintaining it was a necessary part of his own investigation into the “suspicious characters” dogging his office. The jury found Kelly guilty, only to have their verdict thrown out by a district judge more concerned by the FBI’s entrapment techniques — a judgment overturned on appeal. The other congressmen caught in the sting also faced jail sentences.

Particularly compromised was Michael “Ozzie” Myers, who was caught on video demanding: “I got my $35,000 — give me 30 in addition to work on people.” He became the first expelled House representative in a hundred years.

“Abscam” exposed the naked greed of those it targeted. But 12 years later, petty impropriety on Capitol Hill was revealed on a far larger scale. In 1992, 269 members were found to have bounced cheques on the House bank. One congressman had run up 127 overdrafts.

Democrats were the main offenders and their party’s long tenure in control of Congress ended shortly thereafter. Ms Pelosi should play safe with her historical analysis. This Republican Congress may prove only to be the most corrupt since the last Democrat Congress.

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