Neither Moral Nor Financial Balance : Rep. Hunter’s excuse in the ‘Rubbergate’ case bounces way out of bounds

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Coronado) won’t be alone in trying to control the political fallout of his profligate check-cashing habits. When the list of 355 current and former representatives who wrote bad checks on the now defunct House of Representativesbank over a 39-month period is released--as it should be--lots of his colleagues will be reaching for creative explanations.

But it may not be easy to beat Hunter’s rationalization for his abuse of the bank’s free overdraft protection.

Hunter says he compensated for this and other congressional privileges by contributing $12,000 to a scholarship fund in his district. He says this “brings (him) into moral balance” for being overdrawn at least 160 times.

That accounting method will no doubt be in constituents’ minds all the way to the voting booth. Voters are taking this relatively minor “Rubbergate” scandal very seriously.

Chalk some of it up to timing. People struggling to keep the mortgage check from bouncing don’t want to hear about public servants bouncing checks with impunity.

And Americans are tired of politicians being out of touch with common-sense principles: There’s a difference between a convenience such as an on-premises bank and an abuse of privilege such as repeatedly overdrawing a bank account. That abuse is what the public controversy is about.