The conviction of former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen on several corruption charges reveals yet again that Americans are more troubled by elected officials who pocket personal gifts than by those who accept large campaign contributions, sometimes from the same special interests. If it were otherwise, a considerable number of members of Congress would be on the docket right next to the governor—and on the way to jail.

The public can readily visualize an elected official doing special favors for someone who pays for designer clothing and accessories, a Rolex watch, and even his daughter’s wedding. They get even more enraged if someone gets a free trip of Vegas or a week at a choice golf course. (Such junkets are now labeled “educational" trips, because while Congress piously tightened ethics rules on junkets in 2007, some lobbyists deftly redefined themselves to evade the restrictions).

The public is much less troubled, I regret to report, by boatloads of cash called campaign contributions delivered by special interests to members of Congress and other elected officials, which are much more harmful to the public interest and U.S. Treasury than personal gifts. What did businessman Jonnie Williams get for his gifts to the McDonnells? The governor promoted Williams’s dietary supplement and encouraged a state university to conduct research on it. Now compare this to the power of campaign contributions. For example, the vitamin-supplement industry has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Senators Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, and Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat. The pair has helped keep the FDA from regulating these supplements to ensure that they be safe and effective.