As a guide for reviewing political class corruption, we have been relying on the multi-level definition of corruption that the Webster online dictionary provides:
a : impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle : depravity
b : decay, decomposition
c : inducement to wrong by improper or unlawful means (as bribery)
d : a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct
Keep these definition of corruption in mind as today we review a hodgepodge of corruption stories from different sectors of the political class. You will see examples of integrity and moral impairment, depravity, decay, unlawful inducement, etc., along with good old basic greed.
Political class greed and corruption at the state government level
The NBC news outlet in San Francisco, along with other local news sources, recently covered the story about California Senator Leland Yee. Apparently Senator Lee has long been a strong advocate for just about every gun-control law proposal that has arisen in his home state. Keeping that in mind, consider now that he been arrested by the FBI for public corruption charges and among potentially other infractions including taking bribes from suspected, and violent, street gangs in the San Francisco Bay Area.
How nice would it be for violent street gangs if politicians like Senator Lee were successful in taking away the Second Amendment rights of law abiding citizens? We know that any gun control law that Senator Lee and others propose would be totally ignored by the gangs, leaving citizens relatively helpless in the face of these street gangs.
The corruption and bribery charges very serious, if it turns out that the Senator is guilty. AND if the bribes he received were intended to strip California citizens of their right to protect themselves and their families in favor of the street gangs, I cannot think of any higher form of corruption for any politician than that potential scenario.
Political class greed and corruption at the local government level
The Philadelphia Inquirer recently reported that the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office had caught at least four Philadelphia-area government politicians taking multiple bribes ranging from a few hundred dollars to thousands in cash and Tiffany jewelry. These bribes were uncovered as the result of a sting operation. The bribes were taken by Philadelphia Democrats, reportedly in exchange for votes and contracts, including opposition to Pennsylvania’s proposed voter ID law.
The sting operation resulted in over 400 hours of video and audio recordings obtained over the course of a three-year investigation that started in 2010 under then-Attorney General Tom Corbett. Seems like the law enforcement folks and prosecutors had put together a pretty strong case.
Corruption in the form of selling legislative votes for financial reward is bad enough. However, to add insult to injury, the current Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, dropped prosecuting the case altogether in 2013, allowing these elected officials to get away with corruption that attacks the core of representative government, the integrity of the voting process.
Kane, a Democratic, told the Inquirer that she was not going to go after the Democratic legislators who took the bribes because she claimed the investigation was, “poorly conceived, badly managed, and tainted by racism… [and] had targeted African Americans.” Just a coincidence that those who are accused of taking the bribes are Democrats and the one excusing their behavior is a Democrat? I doubt it.
The news reporting talked with people familiar with lead prosecutor Frank G. Fina and who dispute Kane’s claims. Fina is described by some as one of the top public-corruption prosecutor in Pennsylvania and he has been responsible for many past investigations that led to prosecutions of both Republicans and Democrats.
The lead agent in the case, Claud Thomas, is an African-American who now works for Democratic District Attorney Seth Williams in Philadelphia. Williams criticized Kane’s claim that Fina and Thomas had specifically targeted African-Americans in their investigation. And, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the investigation targeted both Republicans and Democrats. But no Republicans took any bribes from the undercover operative, while at least four Democrats—who happen to be black—accepted bribes of up to two thousand dollars.
Thus, if you believe these stories, the only reason these four politicians are being prosecuted is because they took the bribes, not because they are African-American, that was just a byproduct of the situation. By the way, all of them voted against Pennsylvania’s voter ID law.
And still, Attorney General Kane is dropping the prosecution of legislators who were apparently caught taking bribes on audio recordings and videotape. What kind of message does that send to the citizens of Pennsylvania? You can take bribes and affect Pennsylvania law due to those bribes just because you are African-American?
Looks like Ms. Kane and these allegedly bribed politicians have hit all of Webster’s definition angles: impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle, depravity, decay, inducement to wrong by improper or unlawful means (as bribery), and a departure from what is pure or correct.
Boozing it up in Washington corruption
The Washington Times reported on March 20, 2014 that Federal spending records show the government spends over a million dollars a year stocking its departments with wine, beer and liquor. In 2013, the Federal government spent almost $1.3 million on alcohol, more than quadruple the $315,000 spent in 2005. The Federal government spending level on liquor has increased over the years toward the $1 million mark, with 2013’s tab growing more than $400,000 over 2012.
I can think of very few reasons why the Federal government needs to spend any money on alcohol, never mind $1.3 million. Yes, maybe there are some state dinners at the White House where there is a need for wine and other forms of alcohol to entertain foreign dignitaries. But that is about it.
Even more discouraging than the overall total spent is the fact that the level of spending is accelerating substantially from where it was just a few years ago. Somebody in Washington is increasingly having a very good time. And those imbibing are probably either rich enough or earning a high enough government salary to pay for their own booze on government time.
This smacks so much of a Hunger Games mentality where those in the capital party on with alcohol that is being paid for by the American taxpayer. This insult smacks of the : depravity, decay, and decomposition aspects of corruption.
Political fund raising corruption
It is no secret to most Americans that excessive money in exchange for political and legislative favors has corrupted our entire political process. A recent Congressional election in Florida to fill a vacant seat, just for the next eight months, saw well over ten million dollars being spent on political advertising, mostly by special interest groups. Thus, the example of political class financial corruption below is used for illustrative purposes, it is probably just one in a seas of widespread corruption relative to political fund raising.
The details of this example include the following political and financial shenanigans:
- Jeffrey Thompson, a wealthy major political donor of the DC area, recently pled guilty in Federal court to two felony charges of making illegal campaign contributions to local and Federal election campaigns.
- U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ron Machen, who prosecuted the case, stated Thompson made illegal donations to two Washington, D.C. mayoral elections and six city council elections worth nearly $2 million.
- Thompson’s illegal donations to one 2008 Democratic Presidential campaign exceeded $800,000.
- That alleged 2008 illegal Presidential campaign donations is alleged to be the campaign of Hillary Clinton and involved donating a money for her campaign in the states of Texas, Indiana, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and in the territory of Puerto Rico.
- The good news for democracy is that it looks like Thompson is going to get a light sentence in exchange for turning state witness against others involved in the illegal campaign financing. It looks like there’s more to come too.
- Thompson is getting a sweetheart deal. Possibly as little as six months in jail, so he can spruce up his tennis game, and it sounds like he’s singing a tune for the Feds.
- Machen is quoted in news reports as saying that Thompson “admitted to bankrolling efforts to secretly inject millions of dollars into local and federal elections.” and that “DC campaigns have been compromised by covert corporate money for years….Jeffrey Thompson’s guilty plea pulls back the curtain to expose widespread corruption.”
This will do it for today. Tomorrow we will look at several other varied examples of Washington DC political class corruption, in all of its corruptible forms.
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