Takes one to know one?

Three of the campaigns whose fund-raising the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee must investigate are those of outspoken Republicans on the committee: Don Nickles (Oklahoma), Fred Thompson (Tennessee, committee chair) and Kansas' own Sam Brownback.

Ellen Miller, Public Campaign: "It's the classic conflict-of-interest situation. The ultimate question is, how can they sit in judgment? To have any credibility they have to rise above their instinctual partisanship and do a mea culpa."

Nickles not only is linked to the kind of foreign contributions ($2.2 million loan guarantee from Hong Kong) that the committee is so excited about prosecuting when Democrats are the recipients. He's also tangled up with Triad Management Services, the same group being investigated for their dealings with Sam.

Brownback acknowledges the awkwardness of his sitting on this committee: "You don't want to create an appearance that someone is trying to protect himself."

"You" ... "someone" ... Who is himself talking about?

Source: the Kansas City Star, "Campaign finance investigations touch investigators / Senate committee subpoenas organizations that have ties to three GOP committee members," James Kuhnhenn, 05/25/97
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