c. 1997 Religion News Service

(Charles W. Colson, former special counsel to Richard Nixon, served a prison term for his role in the Watergate scandal. He now heads Prison Fellowship International, an evangelical Christian ministry to the imprisoned and their families. Contact Colson via e-mail at 71421.1551(at)compuserve.com.)

UNDATED _ Tapes. Leaks. Felonies. History. Where have I heard this before?

More importantly, what does the latest major upheaval in the ethics drama of House Speaker Newt Gingrich tell us about the health of our democracy and culture? A great deal, I would submit, and none of it encouraging.

Just days before the House ethics committee voted 7-1 on Friday (Jan. 17) to punish Gingrich with a $300,000 fine and a reprimand, it was disclosed that a Gingrich telephone conversation was intercepted, taped, given to a Democrat on the ethics committee and then leaked to the media.

As a member of the Nixon administration, my experience with a taping scandal is generally acknowledged, though such scandals are hardly restricted to any one time or any one office. Cases in recent years in Texas and Virginia created political and legal problems for those involved.

The Gingrich episode, however, is especially illuminating and two conclusions are unavoidable.

First, the desire to convert oneself into a historic footnote, with whatever degree of celebrity that may result, continues to drive presumably sane people to bizarre acts.

And, two, our political leaders have concluded, perhaps with justification, that the public doesn’t really care about official corruption. But without public restraint on official behavior, limited government is not sustainable.

First, the footnote fetish.

I have a personal story about the strange lengths to which some people will go to achieve the smallest measure of fame. It happened several years ago at a hotel in San Francisco. I had just boarded an elevator and turned around to face the door when I saw a man running toward me. Then everything went black.”Mr. Colson’s been hit!”a woman in the elevator announced with disturbing urgency. I assumed that I’d been shot, but quickly discovered to my amazement _ and relief _ that my assailant had merely hit me in the face with a large chocolate pie.

I declined to press charges, and it was only later I learned the motive behind the incident:”I wanted to be able to tell my grandchildren I had hit a Watergate figure with a pie,”the now-famous _ for that news cycle _ individual told the news conference that he had convened to ensure his immortality.

This same desire to”make history”apparently played a part in the Gingrich taping episode. A Florida couple not only admitted to making the illegal tape _ a federal crime _ but told reporters to whom they had given the tape. Forwarding illicitly taped conversations is also a Federal crime.

Let’s be clear what has transpired. The tapers were not only willing to commit apparent felonies, but then insisted on going on television to crow about their illegal deeds, all for the purpose of being part of history, as they put it. Having received that greatest of contemporary blessings _ coverage on national television _ these eavesdroppers will no doubt face the legal consequences with the equanimity common to the highest caliber of martyrs.

The political aspect of this scandal is much more troubling. Both parties have performed miserably, though understandably.

Republicans reacted as one might expect. This tape and the controversy it created are manna from political heaven, and banquet-sized pieces at that. The GOP can now argue with even more passion that Gingrich’s admitted ethical lapses _ which I believe disqualify him for his position as Speaker _ are trifling when compared to Democratic sins.

On the great bell curve by which morality is now graded, perhaps they have a point. But once again we are reminded that ethical government is not Washington’s top priority. The Republicans may well have won the battle of the skunks, which is hardly something to be celebrated.

As for the Democrats, they behaved like well-trained kamikazes. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., who allegedly forwarded the tape to The New York Times, gladly took the second seat in this plunging plane, though his reward will probably be a prolonged investigation and a possible felony conviction.

The politicians are behaving this way, however, because they have obviously concluded that they can get away with it. Sadly, there is every reason for believing as much. The American people have clearly lost their sense of outrage over political wrong-doing.

That’s a green light for corruption, and we should not be surprised that we are now getting it by the truckload. Until we change our tune, they won’t change theirs.

MJP END COLSON