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‘March 5,1980 Representative Peter Rodino House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Representative Rodino: This evening I watched some of the proceedings of the committee of which you are Chairman and which is currently looking into ABSCAM. I must admit I am not in the least surprised to find that most of what I heard seemed to be concerned with "entrapment" and "leaks". First, I would like to address the so called problem regarding “leaks". This certainly isn't new and on many occasions “leaks" originate right in Congress itself. I'd say that the only reason for such a flap at this time is that the “leak" originated outside Congress! Next, let's look:at "entrapment". You who are elected to offices in government, and in fact, all who are in government should and . © must be above any sort of dealings which have the slightest aroma of illegality. If you are smart enough to hold such lofty positions, you must be smart enough to keep clear of situations such as ABSCAN. In all my life I've never heard of anyone who is innocent yelling "entrapment", Entrapment to me means, "I've been caught and now I want a way out"! Am I far from wrong? Some people ask why some politicians would even get involved with something such as ABSCAN in the first place. My thinking is that it's very simple. Why not? What could happen to them? In the past not much if anything happened to a member of Congress who's been caught “in the act", This leads me to ask one question of youe In all your years in the government, how many Hepresentatives or Senators who have been caught in illegal dealings have been punished. Oh, please don't tell me about reprimands and censures. My Mother did that and more to me for putting my hand in the cookie jar. I mean punished, such as losing their seat or actually going to jail. I.would think you'd not have to think too much about this as no doubt the answer would be very, very short. One, maybe two? And how many deserve being “banished" at the very least? If you wonder why the American people seem to be losing faith in our *leaders" I can tell you. When a guy steals from a gas station he's a criminal. When he steals from the government, if he's in Congress he gets a reprimand. Diggs, Richmond, Flynt and Sikes are a few names that come to mind offhand who have not been entirely ethical to say the least and what's happened to them. So let's start talking about honesty, not "entrapment, ours trul