CHECK KITING CALLED A DEMOCRAT SCANDAL

Admissions by three Bush Cabinet secretaries that they wrote bad checks when they were members of Congress haven't slowed down Michigan Republican Congressman Guy Vander Jagt's spin on the story.

"It remains a Democrat scandal, for four reasons," said Mr. Vander Jagt in a Monitor breakfast yesterday.

1. As the majority party in Congress, Democrats ran the bank.

2. "Like Watergate," he says, the Democrats tried to cover up the bank scandal, "until the 11th hour." The Democratic leadership held out to the last minute in supporting full disclosure of all people who wrote bad checks.

3. The overwhelming majority of the top abusers are Democrats - 21 out of 24, according to a leaked list.

4. "It is a metaphor for the kind of arrogance of power that has accumulated after 38 consecutive years of one-party rule," he said.

Vander Jagt, who is chairman of the House committee that works to get Republicans elected to Congress, says he hopes voters will consider not just the individuals when they vote but the parties they represent.