An Eroded Faith

Pollster Lou Harris remarked recently that Americans have more confidence in their garbage collectors than they have in their incumbent President. Senators, Congressmen, Governors and mayors. Another pollster, Pat Caddell. finds 68% of Americans believe their leaders have consistently lied to them during the past decade.

That sour disillusionment, bred by Watergate, Viet Nam, the CIA-FBI revelations and other shocks to the civic faith, affects attitudes toward every level of American government. Sometimes in cases of outright corruption and flagrant mismanagement the mistrust is richly justified. But sometimes the post-Watergate malaise has encouraged a certain vindictive zealotry in prosecutors and reporters who have scented blood in the air. Politicians can be pursued today for sins that before Watergate would have been regarded as standard political practice. At any rate, the nation is papered with scores of investigations, indictments and political exposes.

> In Florida, two members of the state supreme court resigned this year rather than face impeachment. A state legislative committee is also investigating a possible cover-up by Florida state officials of a land fraud that may have cheated investors out of more than $1 billion.

> In Louisiana, Governor Edwin W. Edwards has been under investigation by both state and federal grand juries on charges that he traded state appointments for campaign contributions. Louisiana's voters apparently accept his denial; last month they sent Edwards back to the Governor's mansion with 62% of the vote.

> In West Virginia, Governor Arch Moore has vigorously protested his innocence during a federal grand jury investigation into charges that he accepted $45,000 in illegal campaign contributions.

> In Pennsylvania, federal, state and local prosecutors are conducting 21 separate investigations into the administration of Governor Milton Shapp. The Governor says he is not a target of the investigations. His 1970 campaign manager, Frank Hilton, has been convicted by two federal juries of taking more than $100,000 in kickbacks on insurance policies he placed for the state.

> Former Missouri Governor Warren E. Hearnes and his administration have gone through more than three years of investigations into charges including income tax evasion. Hearnes denies them, but the investigations continue.

Last week, in one of the biggest cases of all, Maryland's Governor Marvin Mandel fell victim to the same series of federal investigations into the state's political corruption that led to Spiro Agnew's downfall. Mandel and five associates were indicted by a federal grand jury on 24 counts of mail fraud and "a pattern of racketeering activity." The central charge was that Mandel used his influence as governor to enrich friends who had a part interest in the scruffy Marlboro racetrack on the Patuxent River.

If Mandel did indeed participate in an illegal scheme, it was a fairly subtle one. The indictment notes Mandel had vetoed a bill that would have doubled the permissible racing season at the Marlboro track. Then, the Government charges, Mandel's friends acquired secret interests in the track. Subsequently, Mandel reportedly offered no opposition as his friends worked successfully to override the veto. In return, adds the indictment, these friends gave Mandel a 15% interest in an Eastern Shore land venture and a 4% interest in an office park, compensation allegedly worth up to $100,000.

The case against Mandel is almost entirely circumstantial; his denial is fervent. Unlike the Agnew case, no income tax violation could be found; virtually all the participants in the alleged scheme paid taxes on their gains, though perhaps under false or misleading entries. Even a lawyer in the Justice Department's criminal division admits, "It's going to be a tough one to prove."

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