Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-08-05
Victory Without Honor in MARYLAND

There seem to be two main reasons why the
subcommittee investigating his election cam
palgn did no. recommend expulsion from the
Senate of John Marshall Butler of Maryland.
One is that while there was violation of
the Federal Corrupt Practices Act and the Mary
land statutes in financing the campaign, the
evidence is lacking that Senator Butler made
use Of excessive expenditures of money to cor
rupt large segments of the electorate"- this
being the offenSe which in the past has justified
the Senate in passing upon the qualifications
Of its members.
The other reason is that while the Butler
campaign violated the rules of ordinary decency
with Senator Buffers acknowledgement with no
disclaimer of responsibility from hin1-standards
of decency in political campaigns are not defined
in Senate rules Therefore, to make such rules
and attempt to convict Senator Butler for their
violation now would contradict the spirit if not
the letter of the Constitution relating to ex post
facto laws.
Senator Butler may be able to derive some
comfort from the committees unanimous de-
cision not to recommend his expulsion from the
Senate. But that is all the comfort he can
derive. The report from the investigating sub
committee is blistering indictment of dirty,
shabby political campaign, marked by violation
of law, cynical disregard for the truth, pure
confuse the voters. 1t was engineered by Sena
tor Mccarthy and members of his staff, by the
deposed publisher of the Washington Times
Herald and few assistants, one of whom has
been rewarded by $4,000 job on the public
payroll as Senator Buffers administrative assist
ant; and by campaign manager imported from
Illinois to direct part of the dirty work and who
since, has been indicted and sentenced on his
plea of guilty in violating Maryland election laws
There are other apparent violations of law
including perjury charged to other Butler
workers. These have been turned over, appro-
priately, to the Department of Justice. The
Department of Justice should lose no time in
taking the appropriate next step
The unanimous report of the Subcommittee
on Privileges and Elections is good one, and
for several reasons. 1t is fortnight in its con-
domination of "despicable" campaign. 1t is
logical and fair in its explanation of why the
subcommittee could not go further. 1t contains
q solemn warning full of truth, that "Such cam
paign methods and tactics are destroying our
system of free elections and undermine the very
foundations of our Government" And it recon-
mends that the Senate should direct its attention
to strengthening and clarifying it's own rules by
attacking the basic issue in this case: What
constitutes improper conduct on the part of the
candidate or his official agents in campaign
for election to the United States Senate and
to what degree such improper conduct trans
crosses the legal and moral responsibilities OF
q candidate or his agents in order to justify
declaring seat vacant"
The Constitution makes each house of Con-
gresS the Judge of the elections, returns and
qualifications of it's own members Congress
has been properly fearful of interfering with
the rights of the electorate in each State to
to
choosing. That right must be jealousy guarded.
But if this Maryland campaign is not the dirtiest
campaign in history, it ought to be made one of
the last such campaigns. The Senate should
tighten it's rules, lest the cynical theory that
anything goes in politics become fixed con-
vction that contains the seeds of our own
destruction.