In a court of law, it is often said that justice delayed is justice denied, but in the United States Senate, there is no similar imperative to move purposefully to judgment.
When politics are involved, justice is almost always delayed, at least until the passage of Election Day.
The Senate Ethics Committee has demonstrated anew the truth of that cynical rationale by putting off until after Nov. 6 its investigation of the senators labeled the “Keating Five” for their association with indicted savings and loan operator Charles Keating.
The committee found itself unable to decide whether to dismiss or advance cases against Republican John McCain of Arizona and Democrats Alan Cranston of California, Dennis DeConcini of Arizona, John Glenn of Ohio and Donald Riegle of Michigan.
So, the panel took the politically expedient way out by scheduling hearings beginning Nov. 15, safely after Election Day. The decision not to decide may temporarily defuse the case as a partisan political issue, but it does a disservice both to the public and to any of the senators who might properly have been cleared of wrongdoing.
The five have been charged with exerting undue influence on federal regulators to go easy on Keating’s Lincoln Savings and Loan based in Irvine, Calif.
The thrift institution was taken over by the government in April 1989 and the potential cost to taxpayers of paying off its insured depositors has been estimated at more than $2 billion.
Keating, recently released on $300,000 bail while awaiting trial on criminal fraud charges in California, was a generous contributor to the campaigns and pet causes of the five senators, who are accused of intervening in varying degrees to shield him from government scrutiny.
Last week, the committee’s special counsel recommended that Glenn and McCain be dropped from the investigation, but gave no details. Both senators remain under a cloud now that the probe has been pushed back to mid-November.
McCain appropriately labeled the committee’s action “an outrage” and “political cowardice.”
The investigation also has been tainted recently by leaks and disclosures indicating some of the five were more deeply involved with Keating than they have admitted.
The Keating Five case is shining a welcome spotlight on several troubling national issues: the savings and loan collapse and its massive financial impact on the treasury, the way in which powerful special interests are able to thwart government regulation, and the corrupting influence of lavish campaign contributions.
Now the spotlight has been unwisely extinguished until after Election Day, leading to suspicions of political manipulation at best and coverup at worst. When the lights go on again at the November hearings, they must keep shining until every facet of this sorry affair has been illuminated.
