We've been around to see lots of Washington scandals, big and small. Nixon's Watergate was a real threat to the republic, although the particulars hung on burglary and dirty tricks. Bill Clinton's misdeed, while real, was neither a threat to democracy or worthy of impeachment, while the book on the high crimes and misdemeanors of George W. Bush is still being written as we speak.

But if you had to pick one modern scandal that was a clear-cut case of the leaders of this nation deliberately trying to subvert the U.S. Constitution, it would have to be the Iran-contra affair. In December 1982, Congress passed the Boland Amendment, which barred the U.S. government from funding the anti-government force, or contras, in Nicaragua. Rather than obey the law as enacted by Congress, the Reagan administration set up an elaborate operation to fund the contras anyway by trading arms to Iran -- also an apparent violation of a law, the Arms Export Control Act -- in return for winning the freedom of hostage in the Middle East.

When this sordid plan came out in late 1986, President Reagan falsely told the nation there had been no arms sales, and while he backtracked somewhat, his underlings continued in a campaign to lie to Congress and the American people what had happened. More than a half-dozen administration officials and co-conspirators were indicted and, at least initially, convicted of crimes (more on this later).

Right in the middle of the orgy of law-breaking and Constitution-subverting was the then-Vice President, George H.W. Bush:

Vice President Bush had his fingerprints all over both sides of the Iran-contra affair, both the Iran side and the side funneling military supplies to the contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Key personnel from his office, including former CIA officer Donald Gregg who had become Bush’s national security adviser, placed Cuban-American operative Felix Rodriguez in Central America. Rodriguez soon was running the day-to-day operations re-supplying the contras and coordinating with national security aide Oliver L. North.

A flow chart that emerged during later investigations indicated that Bush’s office managed the contra network after Congress passed laws in 1983-84 first limiting and then barring U.S. military assistance to the contras. Authority for the secret re-supply operation later passed to North, according to the flow chart.

So why does this all matter today? It matters because today, the National Constitution Center here on Philadelphia announced that it has selected George H.W. Bush as its chairman of the board. Officials with the center on Independence Mall said the 41st president will come to Philly frequently for board meetings and will consult regularly on its day-to-day operations with president Joe Torsella.

Here's what Torsella said today in a statement (via Phawker):

President Bush occupies a special and beloved place in American life that reflects many of this institution’s core values, especially the ethic of citizenship and service.

OK, we don't claim to know what the Constitution Center's core values are, but we would hope that one of them is that the executive branch shouldn't engage in a conspiracy to subvert laws passed by the legislative branch. That's just a guess.

Yes, it's true that the American people went ahead and elected the elder Bush president in 1988, knowing something of his role in Iran-Contra. But in fact even then Bush continued in a very deliberate effort to conceal his role from voters. This is from the report of special prosecutor in the Iran-contra case, Lawrence Walsh:

In 1991 and 1992, Independent Counsel uncovered important evidence in the form of withheld documents and contemporaneous notes that raised significant questions about the earlier accounts provided by high Administration officials. The personal diary of Vice President Bush was disclosed to Independent Counsel only in December 1992, despite early and repeated requests for such documents. This late disclosure prompted a special investigation into why the diary had not been produced previously, and the substance of the diary.

And that's not all. After voters rejected Bush for a second term in the 1992 election, his final act in the Oval Office was to pardon the six people convicted of crimes, including former defense secretary Casper Weinberger, in Iran-contra, even as Walsh was continuing to probe the role of higher-ups including Bush and Reagan:

Mr. Walsh bitterly condemned the President's action, charging that "the Iran-contra cover-up, which has continued for more than six years, has now been completed."

George H.W. Bush is a complicated human being. As we wrote just this week, his one-term presidency looks slightly better than it did at the time, when we contrast his approach to Iraq to his son's fiasco. And his work for tsunami victims is a good deed, and so we're not going to sit here and quibble with the Freedom Medal that he shared with Bill Clinton here in Philly.

But this is different, and it's not really all that complicated. The National Constitution Center is an important living memorial to our most important document, and it's all about one thing: The U.S. Constitution, and its history. And so a man so closely connected to one of the most serious assaults on that document in its history should not be overseeing the joint.

Period.

As we brushed by earlier in this post, in 2007 the Constitution is again at great risk, from intentional violations of the federal laws on eavesdropping, to signing statements that are again undermining our legislative branch. If America ever needed strong defenders of the Constitution, it is right here, right now. The selection of this key Iran-contra figure is exactly the wrong message.

And so Philadelphia needs to send the National Constitution Center a message straight from the Reagan-Bush years.

Just say 'no.'

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