Senseless in Washington

A Sense of the Senate By Seymour K. Freidin Dodd, Mead, 342 pp., $8.95 Oliver Goldsmith, not much given to such things, once cast a backward glance at the decayed republics of antiquity. “Here,” he wrote, “stood their citadel, but now grown over with weeds; there their senate-house, but now the haunt of every noxious reptile . . .” If we are to believe veteran journalist Seymour Freidin’s A Sense of the Senate, the noxious reptiles have reached Washington well ahead of the weeds. Mr. Freidin backs up his contention with all of the backstairs gossip, legislative trivia and personal bile he accumulated during a year-and-a-half stint as special assistant to the late Senator Tom Dodd. It is an angry but not entirely convincing indictment.

Certainly, the bilious attacks of men like Mr. Freidin only serve to heighten public contempt for the Senate without providing any important guidelines for workable reform. His naive indignation would do credit to a Vassar virgin halfway through her first government course —if virgins are still allowed at Vassar. Freidin is equally enraged at major and minor abuses. Much too much space is wasted in angry snorts about “free parking space in an underground garage,” and similar petty perquisites, and in recounting alleged tipsy tiffs of thirsty lawmakers or the rumored boudoir antics of senators more notable for their carnal appetites.

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Aram Bakshian Jr.

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A Sense of the Senate By Seymour K. Freidin Dodd, Mead, 342 pp., $8.95 Oliver Goldsmith, not much given to such things, once cast a backward glance at the decayed republics of antiquity. “Here,” he wrote, “stood their citadel, but now grown over with weeds; there their senate-house, but now the haunt of every noxious reptile . . .” If we are to believe veteran journalist Seymour Freidin’s A Sense of the Senate, the noxious reptiles have reached Washington well ahead of the weeds. Mr. Freidin backs up his contention with all of the backstairs gossip, legislative trivia and personal bile he accumulated during a year-and-a-half stint as special assistant to the late Senator Tom Dodd. It is an angry but not entirely convincing indictment.

Certainly, the bilious attacks of men like Mr. Freidin only serve to heighten public contempt for the Senate without providing any important guidelines for workable reform. His naive indignation would do credit to a Vassar virgin halfway through her first government course —if virgins are still allowed at Vassar. Freidin is equally enraged at major and minor abuses. Much too much space is wasted in angry snorts about “free parking space in an underground garage,” and similar petty perquisites, and in recounting alleged tipsy tiffs of thirsty lawmakers or the rumored boudoir antics of senators more notable for their carnal appetites.