Inside Congress

From Library Journal Reader Barrett Whitener sounds like a low-key radio reporter himself in reading this government expose by multiple prize-winning journalist and bestselling author Kessler (The FBI, Audio Reviews, LJ 9/1/96). He details an institution out of control, which exempted itself from the laws under which we live and spent rampantly on behalf of those special interests that funded the members' elections. The personal ethics of the members?well, Kessler looked hard, interviewed more than 350 persons, and hardly found any. They eat like kings, travel as celebrities, use the Capitol police like a valet service, and surround themselves with luxury, mostly at taxpayer expense. However, Kessler grudgingly acknowledges the reforms of the first 100 days under the "Contract with America" in 1994?the listener quickly realizes that most of the goings-on Kessler describes predated the Contract. Kessler's view is that public financing of elections would remove much of the tendency toward Congressional corruption, and in this he makes some cogent arguments. That is where the value of this book lies, rather than in its salacious detail.?Don Wismer, Cary Memorial Lib., Wayne, MACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.