Prior to our exchange I've actually given this area some thought, and it seems to me that more than an act of savvy it's more an extreme act of chutzpah and dishonesty, and since it's congress and the senate the police the congress and the senate and most of America isn't paying attention they are doing as Pete Stark said they could do, which is just about anything they want.
So what you're pointing to as an example of savvy I see as an example of extreme dishonesty. Now maybe you're correct, and it's an intellectual decision to read the situation and decide to be massively corrupt and dishonest, or I may be correct and they are massively corrupt and dishonest and are somewhat lucky to find themselves in a situation where no one holds them accountable.