CAPITOL HILL
bers accept $2,000 per speaking
engagement, with senators allowed
to rake in 40 percent of their salary annually and representatives
allowed 30 percent per year.
Common Cause, a watchdog
group led by Fred Wertheimer,
revealed in 1986 that members
had lined their pockets with more
than $7 million worth of honoraria in 1985, up from $5.5 million
the previous year.
In December 1988, however,
Congress prepared to vote themselves a 50 percent pay raise—a
proposal that touched off a populist backlash.
“It’s the tea bag revolution ....
an updated version of the Boston
Tea Party,” Detroit radio announcer Roy Fox told The Washington
Post at the time. “The idea came
from a listener of mine on Dec. 16,
the anniversary of the Boston Tea
Party. It was too good to pass up.”
David Keating, then vice president of a conservative group
called the National Taxpayer’s
Union, which advocates for smaller government and lower taxes,
slammed Congress on more than
30 radio shows in fewer than 30
days. He encouraged listeners to
send tea bags to Congress with
little notes that said “Read my tea
HUFFINGTON
08.05.12
bag. No 50% Raise.”
A poll at the time revealed that
82 percent of Americans opposed
the pay increase, and members received scores of tea bags through
the mail, according to news reports. The teabagging worked: In
February 1989, Congress voted
down its own raise.
“People are thrilled,” Public
Citizen spokesman Bob Dreyfuss
told The Post at the time. “It’s
almost the only example in recent
memory where people actually
defeated something by sheer voice
of popular opinion.”
Congress won in the end, however. After the outrage faded, lawmakers gave themselves raises a
few months later. The deal reined
in the honoraria system, restricting gifts and sharply reducing
what lawmakers could earn on the
side. But it also made annual pay
increases automatic from then on,
so members could spare themselves the embarrassment of voting to boost their own pay.
Since then, Congress has passed
a number of additional ethics reforms, strengthening lobbying disclosure requirements, restricting
“soft money” in campaigns and
further restricting gifts to members.
Despite these reforms, Congress