Wish We Could Trust Them
I'm tired of political scandals, aren't you? I don't mean that I'm tired of scandalous behavior coming to light. I mean, I'm tired of people in power acting scandalously. Now we're in the midst of the Tom Delay-Bill Frist-Scooter Libby-Karl Rove accusations. Before you start your e-mails, I know that none of these guys has been found guilty of anything. All of the alleged improprieties might turn out to be groundless. But if they are, I guarantee there will be others either in the administration or in Congress who will be found to have committed crimes and/or ethical lapses. That's just the way it's been with all the administrations in recent memory. Now, you can say that some people in all walks of life commit crimes. But doesn't it seem that the people we have entrusted with power are crooks at a higher rate than the rest of the population?
Politicians ethically challenged
A Recent poll of Wisconsin voters shows them increasingly cynical about and weary of the way politicians conduct business.
Almost half, or 47%, said elected officials were representing their own interests, while 41% said public officials are attuned to special interests; 6% didn't respond to the question.
Only 6% of residents said they think elected officials most often represented constituents' interests.
Those surveyed also share the sense that politicians increasingly have become ethically challenged.
Similar to other polls, within and outside the USA, the figures raise a spectre of voters simply losing interest in the system.
Mike McCabe, executive director of political watchdog Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a government watchdog group said “Frustration among voters is ‘off the charts,’. But the worst possible scenario would be for voters to turn away from the process. That creates a vacuum that these special interests want to fill," he said.
Debra Pickett SUN-TIMES Chicago (Will lessons in hiring make city a class act?) reports:
This week, Chicago aldermen and other top city workers started remedial courses in how to hire people for city jobs.For the most part, though, you have to wonder just how useful these classes will be. It is, after all, pretty hard to argue that a rigorous selection process is needed to find a secretary for the deputy assistant vice commissioner for neighborhood art fairs when, if you're filling a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, a simple "she's real nice" is supposed to be enough.
Protesters demand refund
A protest at U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District, office in Norwich Friday turned into a brief but heated exchange between the congressman's staff and a protester. District Manager Jane Dauphinais and protester Jim Eaton of Norwich exchanged words as a dozen members of MoveOn.org descended on the office to demand Simmons return campaign contributions from former House Majority Leader Congressman Tom DeLay, indicted in Texas for engaging in illegal campaign fund-raising activities.
Rep. Green refuses to give up
GREEN BAY - Rep. Mark Green is rebuffing calls by Democrats to divest campaign funds donated by former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Green's campaign manager, Mark Graul, says all but $2,000 of the money has been spent and the campaign will keep the money until there is a clear determination of DeLay's guilt or innocence.
Nashville, Metro Council are having problems with an ‘Ethics Bill’, which some regard as ‘too strict’. The new version of the bill requires less frequent and less thorough financial disclosures from council members and their families. But some say it still may be too onerous.
If passed, the bill would require quarterly disclosure of financial interests and place limits on gifts and benefits to council members.
It would ban the meals that special interest groups have traditionally served the lawmakers on the nights they meet to make decisions for the city. And it would make it more difficult for a wayward lawmaker to hide potential conflicts of interest.
The bill comes at a time of low public trust in government, just months after indictments at the statehouse in a federal bribery sting. Some Metro council members flinch when their actions are put in the context of events unfolding on the state level.
Footnote:
You can’t trust them!
What are you going to do about it? People everywhere should be absolutely bloody furious that, having entrusted their representatives, they now face a constant barrage of scandal. No, not simply scandal, theft, bribery, cover up and a whole litany of base criminal activities.
This when we should, as sophisticated nations, be discussing deeply fundamental issues of human progress; or alternatively getting on with our lives in the knowledge that entrusted authorities are doing their jobs.
It seems the lot of this generation to either root out this epidemic corruption and enforce greater standards of behaviour, or cede the future well being of future generations to crooks.
If the current mess doesn’t make you angry enough to act than we truly deserve our miserable fate.
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