Rostenkowski’s $222,500 in Fees Most in Congress

WASHINGTON — Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, disclosed Tuesday that he accepted $222,500 in appearance fees from special-interest groups in 1988, nearly double the total received by any other member of Congress.

Rostenkowski, a veteran lawmaker from Chicago, said that he gave all but $25,885 of his honorariums away to others. House rules allow members to retain fees equal to no more than 30% of their salaries, or $26,850.

But Rostenkowski declined to identify the recipients. In the past, he has given his excess fees mostly to groups in his home district, including a tavern softball team and a little-known Polish museum featuring a carved bust of himself.

When asked why his honorarium total last year was down slightly from the $245,000 he received in 1987, he replied: “I got to make it up next year.”

$14,000 for Speech

Unlike most members of Congress, who demand no more than $2,000 for each speech, Rostenkowski routinely receives $5,000, $7,500 and more for his appearances before special-interest groups. In one case, in fact, he got $14,000 for a single speech last year, although he identified only the agency that arranged the speech and not the group that heard it.

Most of the groups from which Rostenkowski received money are trade associations that have a direct interest in the legislation that comes out of the Ways and Means Committee. Among others, the Public Securities Assn. paid him $15,000 for three speeches, and the American Bankers Assn. paid the same price for two.

Rostenkowski’s honorariums were disclosed on his 1988 personal financial disclosure statement, which was received Tuesday by the House clerk. The reports filed by most other House members were made public Monday.

‘Legalized Corruption’

Fred Wertheimer, president of the citizens’ lobby Common Cause, said that the 1988 House financial disclosure reports have exposed “a system of institutionalized, legalized corruption” that allows special interests to put large amounts of money directly into the pockets of lawmakers.

“The rules themselves allow activities to take place legally that are improper and corrupting,” Wertheimer said. “You really have a story of a member of Congress literally living off of private-interest money. It’s pervasive and it really raises a question in a profound way of who are they representing?”

Common Cause has solicited the signatures of 227 House members favoring a ban on honorariums. The group is pressing for a vote on the proposal this year.

Wertheimer said that the reports filed this year demonstrate why the honorarium system continues, despite growing pressure to abolish it.

90 Prominent Members

He noted that more than half of the special-interest money went to about 90 of the most prominent House members, such as Rostenkowski. Sixty-one other House members kept no honorariums at all, he said, and about 190 of those filing reports received only 14% of the total honorariums that were kept.

“The people with the most power are getting the bulk of the money,” he said, “and the most powerful people in the institution are the ones who are fighting to perpetuate the system.”

A plan to ban honorariums was defeated by Congress earlier this year. The plan had been coupled with a proposed 50% increase in salaries for members of Congress, judges and top executive branch personnel.

Rostenkowski received almost twice as much in honorariums as Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), who was the second-highest with $114,376. Schroeder’s individual appearance fees, on average, were much smaller than Rostenkowski’s.