The two-fisted, RSS-wearing journos at the Christian Science Monitor have noted that US senators managed to significantly outperform Joe Average in their stock picks during the go-go 90s.

A report showing outsize portfolio gains for US senators is raising new questions about ethics and conflicts of interest for Capitol Hill power brokers.

America's sober second thinkers, apparently, aren't required to avoid private capitaliziation on public business—they can hold stock in companies affected by legislation they're considering.

In addition to campaign contributions, do we now need to see where our elected representatives have parked their IRAs?

"The public perception is that when a member has a stock in an industry he or she is regulating, there is a potential conflict of interest," says Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, which was not involved in the research. "When you add to it the higher rate of return [in the new study], it raises the question of whether new rules are required to avoid the appearance that they have an advantage that the average investor does not have."