Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt slipped off the hook on one political corruption charge last week, but it is increasingly apparent to anyone who bothers to scratch the surface of mounting evidence against him on other fronts that the Cabinet official is just another of the Clinton administration's many sleazy, cheap crooks.

A special prosecutor has concluded there is "insufficient evidence" to indict him in connection with a federal Indian casino investigation.

Prosecutor Carol Elder Bruce was investigating allegations that Babbitt lied to Congress in his explanation as to why the Interior Department in 1995 rejected a permit for a proposed casino by three Wisconsin Indian tribes. Supporters of the casino charged that the decision was influenced by promises of campaign contributions to the Democratic Party by rival tribes opposed to the permit.

The prosecutor is expected to file a report on her investigation with a three-judge federal panel closing that case. But there's plenty more dirt where that came from.

Interior e-mail memos show that, after taking over the department in 1993, Babbitt remained active in the Canyon Forest Village, an Arizona development just outside Grand Canyon National Park, with which he had formally severed ties. There was good reason for Babbitt to drop the project once he went on the U.S. payroll. The housing, lodging, retail and transportation complex sits on U.S. Forest Service land. The Interior Department's National Park Service oversees work with the Forest Service on the Grand Canyon's general management plan.

Babbitt Bros. Trading Co., his family's business, acquired properties for the purpose of including them in a land swap that would keep the Canyon Forest Project moving forward. Such land swaps involving government property are supposed to be of roughly equal value. Ahhh, but when you've got a family member heading the Interior Department sometimes you get a break.

In this case, the federal property in question was appraised at just under $19,853 per acre -- even though land in the same area, yet farther from the Grand Canyon entrance, was appraised in 1995 at more than $1.1 million per acre, according to Investor's Business Daily. Like to get a deal like this? Better get a Cabinet appointment for a close relative. That's apparently how things work in the Decade of Fraud and Corruption, otherwise known as the Clinton era.

Babbitt is one of those politicians who portrays himself as being totally motivated by compassion for his fellow man. Yet he is actually a Clintonesque wheeler-dealer who lies, cheats and steals to get what he wants, then uses his government power and taxpayer resources to cover his tracks.

• At Interior he has tried to buy a private Pacific island, for $30 million worth of your money, claiming it was the habitat of three endangered species. None of the three animals actually live on the atoll of Palmyra, according to the National Wilderness Institute.

• His subordinates use their government time and offices to further the political cause of congressional candidates -- a blatant violation of the Hatch Act.

• Congressional investigations into Interior Department corruption have been met with resistance from Babbitt's top officials.

• Correspondence sought by congressional investigators looking into Babbitt's Interior playpen has suddenly disappeared.

Yup, this is the Clinton administration. It has been the focus of a record six independent counsel investigations. Remember, this was supposed to be the most ethical administration in the history of the United States. We haven't heard that whopper lately, thank goodness.

The Babbitt sleaze hasn't received much notoriety in an administration steeped in corruption. But it's important to sort it out. Congress has a way of letting these matters slide -- especially when its investigations are stonewalled. Officials must not let Babbitt off the hook, again.

The independent counsel game is rigged from the start to the finish. The Constitution gives the authority to Congress, and Congress alone, to check abuses in the executive branch. So far, it has a lousy track record. Let's hope members bring some integrity back to the institution and throw Babbitt the bum right out of the federal government.