Foley Halts House Aid on Traffic Tickets

WASHINGTON —  Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) ordered House officials Tuesday to stop helping members reverse city parking tickets, as special privileges for lawmakers continued to disappear at a rapid pace.

The policy will not end dismissal of parking tickets issued to members of Congress, because a city ordinance allows them to park almost anywhere when they are on “official business.”

But Foley’s action will force a member who receives a ticket--whether at noon outside an office building or at 3 a.m. in front of a nightspot--to personally make the case that he or she was on House business. The sergeant-at-arms had been handling that job.

It was the latest action taken by the House to do away with privileges that have been abused by some members. The House voted, 390 to 8, last Thursday to close the members’ bank by the end of the year and have the Ethics Committee investigate the bank’s policy of covering members’ bad checks without penalty.

Also, the House restaurant system has begun a pay-as-you-eat program for members and groups they sponsor to prevent large delinquent tabs, such as those accumulated by about 300 current and former members and their sponsored organizations.