You may have read that the commission investigating September 11 will have roughly a year to do its work and a budget of $3 million -- one year and $2 million less than a commission appointed in 1996 to study legalized gambling. But here's another comparison: Independent counsel Donald Smaltz's investigation of Clinton agriculture secretary Mike Espy on charges that he took $35,000 worth of illegal gifts from regulated businesses ran even longer and cost even more -- and Espy was acquitted by jurors who called the case "a travesty." (Smaltz did obtain a number of convictions or guilty pleas by others in the course of his investigation.) News reports at the time of Espy's acquittal put the duration and cost of the investigation at four years and $17 million; however, this report by the independent counsel himself was made nine months later, at the five-year mark, and claimed costs of $22 million -- with more anticipated. No update to this 1999 report is posted at www.oic.gov, but in 2001 the total cost of the investigation was reported to be $24.2 million.

Now, I'm no fan of corporate lobbyists who dole out goodies to public officials or of the officials who take them, but here's what we're being told:

* $35,000 worth of freebies merits a $24 million investigation.

* 3,000 dead merits a $3 million investigation.