Representative #1 Steps Aside

HE IS, IN THE guarded language of criminal indictments, "Representative #1." His former chief of staff has pleaded guilty to conspiring to corrupt the congressman's official actions, accepting gifts and trips to sway the lawmaker while still a Hill staffer and then, as a lobbyist, plying the congressman with more such goodies in exchange for his help. So, naturally, when Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) announced yesterday that he would not -- contrary to earlier vows -- seek reelection, he cited his family. "I must think of them first, and I can no longer put them through this ordeal," Mr. Ney said in a statement.

Mr. Ney might have thought of his family earlier -- before, say, he hopped aboard lobbyist Jack Abramoff's chartered jet for an all-expenses-paid golf trip to Scotland. Or before he accepted, according to the guilty plea of his former chief of staff, Neil G. Volz, "regular food and drink at Abramoff's restaurants; numerous tickets to sporting events and concerts in luxury suites at the MCI Center, Camden Yards Stadium, and FedEx Field; and use of those suites during sporting events and concerts for campaign fundraisers."

Or before Mr. Ney, "in exchange for this stream of things of value," according to court documents, tried to insert a provision for one of Mr. Abramoff's tribal clients into a voting reform measure; secured a cellular telephone contract with the House of Representatives for another Abramoff client; helped the relative of a Russian client of the lobbyist obtain a visa; and met with the housing secretary to boost another Abramoff client.

Lawyers for the six-term House member termed his decision "a political and practical one and not a legal one," and indeed, in political and practical terms, the move may be a boon to the GOP: In a state plagued by corruption charges, Mr. Ney was facing a serious challenge from Dover city attorney Zack Space, a Democrat. Republican state Sen. Joy Padgett, who's been asked to run by Mr. Ney and House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), may have a better chance at helping the party keep the traditionally Republican district. And it may diminish the salience of the corruption issue in Ohio, where the governorship and a U.S. Senate seat are also being contested in November.

But it won't change the squalid system that facilitated Mr. Ney's gross behavior. Congress left town for its long August break having done nothing to tighten rules on privately funded travel or other lobbyist-supplied benefits. The lobbying reform legislation produced by the House is a fig leaf for business as usual -- and, in any event, is mired in a yet-to-occur conference with the Senate. If those who control Congress really want to dispense with the corruption issue, they need to do more than dispense with one inconvenient race.