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DESPITE CONTINUING trespasses, U.S. Rep. James P. Moran has remained hugely popular. In his 8th Congres sional District--Alexandria, Arlington County, part of Fairfax County--the six-term Democrat upped his winning percentage in each of his first five congressional elections, capturing up to two-thirds of the vote. In 2000, he "slipped" to 63 percent.
Yes, Mr. Moran just keeps on winning. He probably considers election nights vindication for his past shenanigans, as well as approval for more of the same. The 8th District boasts a constituency laden with brain power and ambition, both Democratic and Republican. But Mr. Moran's sheer popularity provides a shell that's tough for a challenger to crack. This fall, however, let's hope the scales fall from some eyes and a worthy opponent sends him job-hunting.
The latest chapter of the Moran saga involves news of a 1998 home-refinancing deal with MBNA Corp. that netted the congressman $447,500--the largest single mortgage loan the company made that year. The deal allowed him and his wife to pay off three MBNA credit cards on which they owed $30,000 and had fallen behind on payments. Days after the loan closed, Mr. Moran became the lead Democratic co-sponsor of major bankruptcy "reform" legislation, which MBNA strongly supports because the legislation would make it much tougher for people to escape their debts, saving the company millions. Mr. Moran later testified before a House panel on the bill's virtues--echoing an MBNA executive who testified that very day.
Mr. Moran calls the loan and his evangelical support of the bankruptcy measure coincidental. He insists he never conferred with MBNA officials about the legislation.
Yet all this stinks like a Memphis alley during a garbage strike. He's a member of the House Appropriations Committee, for Heaven's sake. How could a congressman who divides his time between writing financial laws for the rest of us and struggling to keep himself financially solvent expect anyone to believe he was unaware of MBNA's interest in the legislation? That's like Barry Bonds not knowing that the tall guy with the nasty fastball is named Randy Johnson. Please.
Mr. Moran has a history of financial impropriety that includes accepting a $25,000 loan from a drug-company lobbyist, then co-sponsoring a bill to extend the firm's lucrative patent on a popular drug. More recently, he borrowed $50,000 from a top America Online official, whose company has varied interests in finance-related measures. Mr. Moran played the stock market with the cash, something he does poorly despite being a former stockbroker.
In fairness, some of Mr. Moran's money problems stem from the cost of his young daughter's battle against brain cancer during the 1990s. She was diagnosed in 1994, when she was 2, and today, we're elated to report, she is a 10-year-old survivor. Even under those trying circumstances, however, he failed to consider the appearance of conflict when he sponsored legislation to spend $100 million on pediatric research and incentives for drug companies to test drugs for children's use.
That was forgivable--but it points to a Moran habit of merging the personal with the public, of expecting the U.S. taxpayer or the citizen seeking bankruptcy protection (perhaps because of mountainous medical bills of his own) to take the fall for the congressman's undisciplined lifestyle. The pattern never ends.
District voters could, however, end his pattern of returning to Congress. Until then, Landslide Jim will cover them all with mud.