Amnesia or Forgiveness? American Voters Disregard of Ethics Violations

Amnesia or Forgiveness? America Voters’ Disregard of Ethic Violations
                                    Robert A. Levine    1-11-12
In the current Republican presidential primaries, Newt Gingrich has garnered significant levels of support despite past ethical “missteps.” He was involved in the House banking scandal with bad checks in the late 80s and early 90s. The House Ethics Committee levied a $300,000 fine on him in 1997 for using non-profit organizations for partisan political purposes. He excoriated President Clinton for sexual improprieties while he himself was married and having an affair with a much younger woman. There was also a sweetheart deal Gingrich made with a publisher in 1994 that gave him a $4.5 million advance. The pattern of unethical behavior is clear, yet has been disregarded by many voters.

By voting for them again, Americans repeatedly seem willing to forgive politicians’ ethical lapses, questionable conduct and frank hypocrisy, or are citizens simply amnesic?    
      
Almost daily, there are revelations about elected officials at municipal, state and federal levels who are guilty of ethical transgressions or frank felonies. Democracy is supposed to act as a check on officeholders who utilize their positions for venal purposes. Periodically, the voters sit in judgment of those they have elected and are able to dismiss them. And those who have committed egregious offenses can be recalled through petitions and special elections. But that rarely happens.

The electorate is far too lenient in the way it indulges ethically-challenged politicians. Sitting officeholders have been re-elected by their constituents while criminal charges were pending and the evidence of guilt was overwhelming. And ethics violations often seem to mean nothing to the voters, even when affirmed by established ethics committees or independent watchdog groups.

In addition to Gingrich, examples abound. Mary Jo Kopechne drowned at Chappaquidick when Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy was apparently driving drunk and went off a bridge into the water. He left the scene of the accident without reporting it and did not go to the police to try and rescue the woman. Yet in spite of his conduct, his constituents in Massachusetts saw fit to send him back to Washington repeatedly.

Republican David Vitter, a family values religious conservative from Louisiana was involved with prostitutes both before and after his election to the Senate in 2004 and was re-elected in 2010 after all the information regarding this became public.

Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona was rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee for his actions as one of the Keating Five in the late 1980s. McCain and the others interceded with federal regulators of the banking industry on behalf of Charles Keating and the Lincoln Savings Bank after having received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Keating. The senators were able to block the closing of the corrupt bank, costing taxpayers billions of dollars. Yet McCain was successfully re-elected four times afterwards and secured the Republican nomination for president in 2008.

Democratic Congressman William Jefferson was returned to Congress in 2006 by his constituents in Louisiana after $90,000 in unexplained bills were found wrapped in aluminum foil in his freezer and he was accused of various criminal schemes. He was subsequently found guilty of multiple counts and sentenced to thirteen years in prison.
         
In the House Banking Scandal from 1988 to 1991, hundreds of Congressmen wrote overdrafts on their House bank accounts. No penalties or fees were assessed and many of those involved were subsequently re-elected.

There were also dozens of Senators and members of Congress who took money from Jack Abramoff to vote certain ways, or to help Abramoff’s clients deal with federal agencies. Both Republicans and Democrats participated in these schemes, among them Senators Harry Reid, Conrad Burns and Byron Dorgan. Congressmen included Tom DeLay, Denis Hastert, J.D. Hayworth, Roy Blount and Patrick Kennedy.

These are only a small fraction of federal legislators involved in unethical activities over the years. Executive branch members have also been compromised, as well as numerous officials at lower levels. But this problem of corruption is not being addressed by voters. They do not hold elected officials to high standards, perhaps reinforcing perverse conduct.  It is time that Americans became more discerning when they vote and less forgiving of corrupt behavior by officeholders. Character is far more important than a candidate’s ideology. Past actions usually predict politicians’ future performance.

Resurrecting Democracy
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