To whom it should concern (i.e., members of Congress): Here’s your big chance to prove you can handle yourselves with some manner of decorum.

Rep. William Clinger, R-Pa. has announced that he could hold hearings regarding the alleged White House abuse of the FBI background files as early as next week.

It has been alleged that the White House gathered background files on a number of former employees that is potentially unauthorized, illegal and damaging to the personal rights of those were whose files were the subjects of the search.

As Bob Dole and other Republicans have let us know, the file requests made by Anthony Marceca of the Army Criminal Investigative Division included files for employees of the Republican George Bush administration who stayed on during President Clinton’s term.

There could be something amiss here. Utilizing government agencies to assemble what many have called an “enemies list” would be unethical and downright shady.

Then again, perhaps all this is just as the White House has said: an big bureaucratic mix-up. Hopefully, this planned probe will uncover the truth of the matter.

But we sincerely hope the quest here will be for the truth, and not to besmirch the president long enough to damage his re-election campaign. We wouldn’t want to accuse you of putting politics ahead of justice, but some of you have been rather public in your dislike of the president.

Good luck. We hope the truth comes forth. And we hope partisan politics takes a badly-needed vacation.