The Process and Significance of Political Scandals: A Comparison of Watergate and the ‘Sewergate’ Episode at the Environmental Protection Agency

Purposeful scandalmongering is a familiar and particularly dramatic feature of the Amer-ican political process. If successful, it embarrasses one's political opponents, blocks their policies, and perhaps even drives them from office. This paper compares Watergate, the most important recent example of political scandal, and "Sewergate, " the 1983 episode at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Based on this comparison, I develop a conceptual framework that describes the course or trajectory of scandal. I then evaluate what effects the two episodes had on substantive policy and on mass political attitudes. I find that neither Watergate nor Sewergate had much enduring impact and conclude by discussing the significance of scandals in light of their rather modest long-term consequences. In the spring of 1983, a major political crisis erupted at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Weeks of front page coverage featured accusations of political favoritism, sweet-heart deals, conflict of interest, misappropriation of funds and the destruction of evidence. Six congressional subcommittees announced investigations. The White House and Congress engaged in a struggle over control of information that ultimately threatened to set of f a constitutional crisis