EDITORIAL POWER CORRUPTS DEMOCRATS MUST AVOID ETHICAL PITFALLS THAT SANK GOP.

LIKE their Republican colleagues before them, some members of the incoming Democratic congressional majority are starting to realize that ``honest government'' is a lot less appealing when you're the party in power.

Democrats owe a big part of their victory in this month's elections to Republican scandal-mongering. With Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham and Mark Foley, the GOP made itself the poster child for government corruption, and Democrats campaigned hard on the promise to bring ethics and accountability back to Washington.

After they cleaned the GOP's clock on Election Day, House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi vowed that Democrats would give us ``the most honest, most ethical and most open Congress'' in history.

And she probably meant it, but power has a way of corrupting, and fast.

Only days later, Pelosi would push for Pennsylvania Rep. Jack Murtha to become the House majority leader. But government-watchdog groups charge that Murtha has used his position on the defense appropriations subcommittee to channel federal dollars toward political donors -- the same sort of illicit conduct that contributed to Republicans' downfall.

To their credit, most Democratic House members rejected Pelosi's lead, and chose Maryland's Steny Hoyer as majority leader. But meanwhile, some members are trying to water down the Democrats' ethics reform plans.

Initial proposals would prohibit members of Congress from accepting meals, gifts or trips from lobbyists. They would also limit lobbyists' access to politicians, and require lobbyists to disclose all contacts with lawmakers. But some of the old-timers in the party bristle at these suggested changes in the status quo.

Murtha, for example, has colorfully called the plan ``total crap.''

And some more stringent proposals, such as legislation creating an independent ethics watchdog or banning spending ``earmarks,'' are running into even tougher opposition. California's own senior senator, Dianne Feinstein, for example, opposes the watchdog, naively saying, ``If the law is clear and precise, members will follow it.''

Somehow, we doubt it.

Fortunately, other Democrats, such as Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, are trying to hold party leaders to their word, and are pushing for real reform. And with Republicans now in the minority -- humbled, one hopes, by their colossal defeat -- maybe the GOP will be willing to work with reform-minded Democrats to get serious about Washington's ethics problems.

Politicians of both parties would be wise to remember recent history. Republicans took power in 1994 promising to clean house. When they proved to be just as corrupt as the Democrats who preceded them, they were bounced from office in November.

If Democrats fail in their promise to clean house, they can expect the same fate. Power may corrupt, but the corrupt don't stay in power for long.