Category: insider corruption

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insider corruption

Candidate No. 5

Last year I said the following, on this very program:

What is it with bribery and Illinois governors? Former Governor George Ryan was convicted of taking bribes. Now Governor Blagojevich is making bribes … to the entire legislature.

I was concerned with Blagojevich’s readiness to change his mind — flip flop — depending on getting a return. Blagojevich proved unrepentant. He knows how politics usually works.

Apparently logrolling and flip-​flopping didn’t go far enough down the bribery road. So now, his task as Illinois state governor to appoint a successor to Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate has been just as straightforward as his other politic deals.

There’s talk of a million dollars being put “on the table” by people close to a “Candidate No. 5.” By the time this appears, you will probably know more about this than I do now, as I type these words. But any uncertainties I may have about this whole affair were not firmed up by the protests from Jesse Jackson, Jr., now confirmed as that notorious No. 5.

Jackson defended his honor, his staff’s honor, in no uncertain terms. “It’s impossible,” he says, that someone on his staff — or even on his behalf — has offered anything improper.

Until he said “impossible,” I gave him the benefit of the doubt. But, folks, we’ve learned from Governor Blagojevich himself how politics works. Bribery is the art of the possible.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
insider corruption porkbarrel politics

The Snarl From Alaska

Senator Ted Stevens is an unrepentant porkster whose close relations and special deals with an Alaska business recently led to a conviction on seven felony counts. But he’s not giving in, and has appealed his conviction. He also ran for a seventh Senate term, and it looks like he’s won it … or no … late vote counts gave the nod to his competitor.

I have argued many times that Senator Stevens is a living, walking, snarling advertisement for term limits. In a Townhall column years ago, I emphasized that his indecent playing of interest upon interest has led to an obvious, big-​as-​the-​nose-​on-​his-​face “appearance of corruption.”

I also argued that, no matter what his below-​the-​table shenanigans may have been — may continue to be — his above-​board porkmeistering is itself a form of corruption, one that our republic should repudiate.

And his party should repudiate.

And his constituents should repudiate.

During the campaign, John McCain and Sarah Palin, asked that Stevens resign. Lots of people have demanded it. Utterly defiant, Stevens insists on representing Alaska while his lawyers “pursue the appeals to clear” his name.

Yet if as many as five or six — or even all seven — of the counts against him are not upheld, his name will still appear dirty in my book, dirty from all the porkbarelling. Senator Ted Stevens is a horrifying example of much that is wrong in government.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
free trade & free markets insider corruption nannyism too much government

The Boomers’ Bust

Remember when Bill Clinton ascended to the presidency? There were hurrahs. At last the Baby Boom generation had its own president!

We’ve gone through another Baby Boom president, and now we — and I’m talkin’ ’bout my generation, here — have our very own economic bust. Call it the Boomers’ Bust.

John Kass, writing in the Chicago Tribune, notes how different things look for Boomers, now. “In the ’70s,” Kass writes, “the slogan was ‘Do your own thing.” But today’s slogan might be ‘Washington, please save us.’”

Kass attributes some of the difference merely to age. When we were young, we took risks. Now that we’re older, we simply want to keep our houses and our cars and our TV sets, and our retirement plans.

The ominous marker in all this is the transfer of power. In our desires, demands, for security, we’ve given up a lot. Kass says we are giving up “liberty for all” and exchanging it with “power in the hands of a few.”

We can see it is who gains most: people and corporations on the inside track. But, as Kass points out, look who loses: “The casualty will be the entrepreneurs, those on the outside.… Such men and women will be on the outside for decades now.”

Since it was entrepreneurs who accomplished the most enduring good during the last 40 years, this will be tragic.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
general freedom insider corruption

Beating Up Joe the Plumber?

When Samuel Wurzelbacher hit the news as “Joe the Plumber,” his story played well. Presidential candidate Barack Obama had been going door to door, with cameras, in an elaborate meet-​and-​greet binge. When he got to Wurzelbacher’s door, he got an earful. And John McCain got one of his few opportunities to really do some damage to the Obama juggernaut.

Now, the election is over, and new causes will be celebrated and reviled. But Joe’s right to speak his mind remains a live issue, one that we should all worry about.

Yes, there’s more to this story than you may have heard.

Here’s the rest of the story: Soon after his newfound notoriety, the real Joe, Mr. Wurzelbacher, found himself under investigation by the local police.

It’s an old, ignoble tradition throughout much of the world: A person speaks up, out come the billy clubs.

Fortunately, the investigation into his private records was nipped in the bud. The records clerk who actually made the inquiry has found herself under investigation. She’s even been charged with “gross misconduct” for allegedly making an improper, politically-​based inquiry.

We’ll see if the investigation goes further than just this one clerk. The higher-​up who approved the probe, Helen Jones-​Kelley, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, has defended her move. Will her maximum contributions to Mr. Obama’s campaign be judged irrelevant?

We’ll see.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
First Amendment rights insider corruption

Shocker: Criminal Web Links!

Aliens take over government! Soviets control U.S. weather! Ancient Mayan temple has Sandisk flash drive!

If you’ve ever been to a supermarket, you’ve seen these and other ludicrous mile-​high headlines blaring from the newsstands.

Here’s another impossible headline that might issue from the pen of any zany, unscrupulous tabloid fabulist: BLOGGER TREATED AS CRIMINAL FOR POSTING WEB LINK TO CITY AGENCY!

Not a concoction, I’m afraid. The city of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, did indeed harass a blogger named Jennifer Reisinger for linking to the website of the city police department. No alleged libel, alleged copyright violation, or other alleged crime. Ms. Reisinger and her lawyer believe the threat was retaliation for her role in trying to recall the Sheboygan mayor, Juan Perez.

Intimidated by the unprecedented cease-​and-​desist order she received from the city attorney, Reisinger at first removed the link. But then, after being threatened with a criminal investigation for her dastardly providing of information, she hired a lawyer. The lawyer advised her to restore the Web link, which she did. The mayor’s office dropped its threat, but Reisinger is suing anyway.

Mayor Perez and his henchmen deserve to be stomped in court — if only to pre-​empt similar stupidity and contempt for First Amendment rights by other vindictive politicians.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
Accountability insider corruption

Corrupt Cooking

Can you be kicked out of the government for serving sautéed shad roe?

Prime Minister Samak Sundarave of Thailand has just been ousted by a Thai court for violating the constitution. His crime? Hosting TV cooking shows while in office.

Samak was the host of “Tasting, Grumbling,” and “Touring at 6 a.m.” After becoming premier, he kept doing them for weeks, until finally quitting the shows in response to political outcry.

Samak probably violated Thai law. But I can’t say I’m appalled by the spectacle of someone in the government also holding a legitimate private-​sector job. And I don’t think the concept of “appearance of corruption” should be so elastic that it distracts us from recognizing and combating real corruption.

In the U.S., Senator Tom Coburn has been battling the loose and even corrupt spending habits of senatorial colleagues. He has also, as senator, continued working as a doctor delivering babies. Coburn has agreed to collect no pay for his work, but the Senate’s so-​called ethics committee wants him to stop. Ridiculous.

I’m no expert on politics in Thailand. Perhaps Samak is verifiably corrupt — for reasons having nothing to do with mixing sauces on television. Opponents have also been gunning for Samak’s cabinet. Perhaps the complaint about his cooking was just a handy way to get rid of him.

But in my book, that’s the wrong way to cook up a scandal.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.