The Sting That Toppled a Representative
When Washington state lawmaker John L. Metcalfe accepted a bribe to expose corruption, the legislature responded by trying to expel him instead of the briber.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
In Olympia, the special committee investigating bribery charges made by Representative John L. Metcalfe on the floor of the House submitted a unanimous report. The committee found that Harry A. Clarke, while previously of good reputation, had offered and given Metcalfe $500 to influence his vote for W. H. Calkins for United States Senator. The report exonerated Calkins, finding he had no knowledge of the bribe. Most strikingly, the committee turned its ire on the whistleblower, concluding that Metcalfe 'solicited and accepted said sum' under the 'delusion' that it would expose corruption. Consequently, they recommended Metcalfe face the 'severest censure.' Following the report, Representative McClure moved that Metcalfe be expelled from the House and his seat declared vacant. Metcalfe defended his actions, stating he only accepted the money to confirm that bribery was indeed being practiced. The House adjourned in a state of high tension as the legal power of the committee to even conduct such an investigation was called into question by Colonel Owings.
“I told Houghton, 'There is nothing in politics except what there is in it.' I did that to find out whether he was trying to bribe me. I found out he was.”
This 1891 scandal echoes the persistent tension between money in politics and the messy ethics of exposure. Just as Metcalfe learned, being the person who drags corruption into the light often results in facing more intense scrutiny than the corrupt actors themselves.
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