Q 6

PLAYBOY: You readily agreed to talk with us. Do you feel that politicians can use the press to their advantage?

John LeBoutillier: Even a very clever politician, such as New York mayor Ed Koch, who's adept at saying things to use the media, can't manipulate them just the way he wants. The last laugh is always the media's. They control the amount of space or of air time the politicians get.

But if I couldn't use the press, why would I ever want to do an interview? When you get down to it, the only reason a politician wants press is that it leads to power. The more press you get, the more publicity, the more people who know you--and, you hope, like you--the more powerful you become politically. You want the power to do the things that you want to have done. Doing an interview with PLAYBOY will probably lose me my next election. I do not have lust in my heart.

Q 7

PLAYBOY: Does the Congressional life offer you any favorite perks? Isn't the Capitol renowned for its bean soup and cheap haircuts?

John LeBoutillier: I don't like bean soup and I wouldn't go into the Congressional barbershop. That place is a butchery. I pay for my own haircuts in New York.

Q 8

PLAYBOY: Is it possible to maintain sexual relationships and function as a member of Congress? Or do you constantly face that teenage problem "How far can I go?"

John LeBoutillier: It's possible. But the threshold is a lot lower for members of Congress than for freshmen in high school. You had better judge very carefully whom you talk with, whom you go out with, where you go. If I'm photographed talking with someone at a party, that photograph can ruin me. I toe a very safe line. A woman can come into this office, see me alone, walk out and say that I made a move on her. Even if it's not true, I'm guilty once I'm charged.

There are evil people here and they're out to get you. I've been invited to a couple of parties and turned them down because I didn't know the people who had invited me. I could go to the party and get taken into a room with a video recorder going. You just have to be careful. So I go right home to my apartment, which is across the street, and I lock and bolt the door and stay in there alone. I'm always afraid that my apartment is wired.

Q 9

PLAYBOY: Would a bug in your apartment expose something sordid?

John LeBoutillier: I swear a lot, which to me is no vice but which I know gets some people upset. And I bet on sports. I love fights. I bet on all the fights I can.

Q 10

PLAYBOY: What's your major political concern?

John LeBoutillier: I have one thing I care about more than anything else. I'm absolutely convinced--I know for a fact--that there are living American prisoners of war in Southeast Asia. Some of those guys have been sitting there for 14 or 15 years, abandoned by their Government. I'd give up anything in my life to be able to get those guys out.

Q 11

PLAYBOY: Some members of Congress are considered experts in such fields as taxation, defense and foreign relations. Do you claim an area of special competence?

John LeBoutillier: I'm probably not very competent in anything. All of us are ignorant about many things. You may be speaking about Poland one minute and about taxes or health care the next, and I promise you that you can't know much about any of that stuff. I don't think there's anybody in Congress who's incompetent, because people had to get elected to get here--so the public has judged them to be competent. Whether or not I would judge them to be competent--now, that's a different story.

Q 12

PLAYBOY: How does the White House get the Republican troops in Congress to fall into line on Administration proposals?

John LeBoutillier: I wasn't going to vote for an agricultural bill, and a couple of days before the vote, I told a guy in my office to let the White House know. So a couple of White House guys started calling me. I got a little bit of heat on that one. The night before the grain-embargo vote, a guy called me and said, "The President is very concerned about your vote." I told him, "Bullshit! If he's so concerned, why hasn't he ever talked to me about it? Why don't you get him to call me?"