At one time in the history of the United States of America, members of the Congress and Senate were held to a higher standard of conduct which resulted in each member acting in accordance with propriety and decorum both in private and in public. However, as time went by, things seem to have changed. Members of both houses no longer are holding to the code of conduct set forth by human decency and the federal government, maybe because they’re paid a salary not worthy of what they produce each year.
It is quite interesting to look back over history to
see how many times the leaders of both Congress and Senate have sanctioned someone
within their ranks for misconduct, public scandals, or just for being such as
disgrace to the body to which they serve, for sexual harassment, drunk or disorderly
conduct, ethics violations and don’t forget bribery and corruption and a host
of other infractions placed upon them for their behavior. Neither have they
been sanctioned when it is discovered that they’ve used information learned within
their ranks as a public servant for their own personal gain, stock fraud, or allocating
federal funding to friends and family. Now mind you they’re not considered guilty
for their fractions, because they are being accused of any of the above, just
that there is an investigation into their actions being conducted. The members of the ethics committee should be
fired and sanctioned themselves for failure to do their job. Hell, this would never
have flown in the 17 or 1800s when representatives were true gentlemen and
knew that their actions had consequences worthy of dismissal from their position
representing the people, not anymore, it gives them street creds to campaign for
another round of opportunities to take advantage of the people they represent
in either house. What a disgrace.
According to the Legislator Misconduct Database from
1789 until the present day, there have been only 487 times an elected official was
accused of misconduct by fellow legislators in Congress alone. While that is a very low number considering
the number of years being analyzed What is disturbing is the number of ethics
violations (41), Acceptance of gifts (12), arrests (20), criminal conspiracy (2),
drunken disorderly (2), sexual harassment (7), violations of the Stock Act (7),
bribery and corruption (2) and failure to secure security screenings (14) since
2020. Mostly on the Dem side of the aisle while the number of sanctions for not
wearing a mask was mainly on the Republican side with fines up to 103.000.
Protest fines were only $50 each while not wearing a mask started at $500 for the first violation and then $2500 each after to the tune of 93,000. A few fines
were $500 for ethics violations and $5000 for unprofessional behavior. When you
compare the history of both houses, you will find that in the previous 10
years, 2010 there were 62 ethics violations and 16 sexual harassment (both
sides of the aisle), during the 1990’s there were 30 ethics violations, 4
sexual harassment cases and 7 campaign violations (again both sides of the
aisle) 1980s 10 ethics violations, 1970s 8 ethics violations, 1960s 2 ethics
violations then you go back to the 1810 and there was only 1 ethics violations
whereas in 1790 there were 2 ethics violations. Interesting how the morals of our
elected officials have declined over the years. So where do the fines go and
into what pot of golden money does it flow into when a representative is fined
for the above charges? Just in one review, I calculated over $279,000 dollars
was collected in the last year and a half.
If you go back into history to see just how greedy our
elected representatives have become just look at the base salaries. In 1789
representatives were paid $6.00 per day per diem to conduct the country's
business and their travel was much harder than it is today. Then you look at the
history of those salaries and you’ll see that by 1925 the salary per year went
up to $10,000 and in 1935 it began to increase every year thereafter until it results
in today’s salary of $174,000 for both houses. The President received a salary of
$25,000 back in 1789 and nothing else, but now they get a paycheck of up to
$400,000, and in 1949 Congress added an expense account of $50,000 per year for
food and sundries. The
reason is largely ideological. The rationale, as described by the founding
fathers in the Federalist Papers, is that “the president's salary
reinforces their status as an employee of and servant to the American public. A
president who is not beholden to the people for his livelihood is more likely
to act on their own interests.” The only
president to forgo a pension and expense account was Harry S. Truman. Now there
was a servant to the people.
Think about this, you leave your job upon retirement,
and you get a pension for only being in your job for four years, you get a
stipend allowance for a transition office, staffing personnel, postage and
travel expenses, and secret service security too. You get a free funeral and
burial, GSA allocates taxpayer money to build you a private library, you get
funding for transition expenses when you leave office, and you get free medical
for life. Nice retirement package huh? While the country is trying to figure
out how it’s going to survive financially it tried to reign in the expenses of
the President upon leaving office to limit them to a pension for only 10 years
at the rate of $200,000 per year and an expense allowance of $200,000 inclusive.
Unfortunately, in 2016 President Obama didn’t like the idea that his retirement
package would be so limited, so he vetoed the bill because he thought it was
unfair to economically saddle a former President with the burden to pay out-of-pocket expenses for things associated with his former office. Talk about someone
who thought of himself as entitled. Burden the taxpayer by paying for six living
presidents. The living Americans who have served as president are Donald Trump,
Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter, plus Joe Biden
who is currently in office. Don’t you wish you had a pension plan like these
men have? I know I would.
Let’s get back to our other public servants, Congress,
and Senate. Today we have representatives who have made their elected office a
full-time job for life rather than for a few terms. In Washington DC circles we
called these individuals the “Sharks of the Hill.” The reason they are called sharks
is that a new representative can’t get anything accomplished without kissing
up to the sharks and abiding by their rules of how things get done in
Washington. In other words, they always want a quick pro quo to get anything
done. You sponsor my bill and I’ll think about sponsoring your bill before you
leave the office. This was one of the reasons why the founding fathers wanted
the tree of democracy to be shaken every few years so that new blood could
represent the people of this country. The
longer representatives stay in office the more capable they are and vulnerable
they become to corruption, bribery, and unethical behavior as we’ve seen in the
above instances. Many of the old Sharks are in their mid to late 70s or late
80s showing signs of dementia and other medical ailments.
As of today’s writing, there are 611 former members receiving
a pension and out of that number 311 retired under what is known as the CSRS
program which pays them 74,028 per year plus free medical for life and a small
stipend for office and postage, and the other 276 receive a pension as of 2016
under the FERS retirement program which pays them $41,076 a year plus the free
medical and other stipends allocated to former members of either the House or
Senate. Gotta love the way our government just throws money to the wind, huh?
So why do I bring up these various issues,
well it’s because within the next couple of years we as American citizens have
an opportunity to shake the tree of democracy and change the face of our
elected officials. The use
of public offices should not be used for private gain as it says in the Code of
Federal Regulations 5CFR § 2632.702. “An employee shall not use his public
office for his own private gain, for the endorsement of any product, service or
enterprise, or for the private gain of friends, relatives, or persons with whom
the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity, including nonprofit
organizations or which the employee is an officer or member, and persons with
whom the employee has or seeks employment or business relations.” The Federal Regulation
goes on to say, “An employee shall not use or permit the use of his government
position or title or any authority associated with his public office in a
manner that is intended to coerce or induce another person, including a
subordinate, to provide any benefit, financial or otherwise, to himself or to
friends, relatives or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental
capacity.
Now some on Capitol Hill will argue that they are simply an
elected official and should not be considered an employee, well I beg to differ
with them because according to the Internal Revenue Service Code Section 3401 ©
states that an “Officer, employee or elected official” of government is an
employee for income tax withholding purposes. This includes any official who
administers or enforces public laws whether the public elected the individual
or an office appointed them.” Gotta love it when the federal government covers its own six and stabs the others in the
back without realizing it.
So, to all elected officials, political appointees, and government
employees you are all subjected to the HATCH ACT 5 U.S.C. 7323 (a) and 7324
(a) and the Code of Conduct set forth by Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees
of the Executive Branch wherein you have 14 general principles to adhere too
that are as follows:
§ 2635.101 Basic obligations of
public service.
Public service
is a public trust. Each employee has a responsibility to the United States
Government and its citizens to place loyalty to the Constitution, laws, and
ethical principles above private gain. To ensure that every citizen can have
complete confidence in the integrity of the Federal Government, each employee
shall respect and adhere to the principles of ethical conduct set forth in this
section, as well as the implementing standards contained in this part and in
supplemental agency regulations.
The following
general principles apply to every employee and may form the basis for the
standards contained in this part. Where a situation is not covered by the
standards set forth in this part, employees shall apply the principles set
forth in this section in determining whether their conduct is proper.
1)
Public service is a public trust, requiring
employees to place loyalty to the Constitution, the laws, and ethical principles
above private gain.
2)
Employees shall not hold financial interests
that conflict with the conscientious performance of duty.
3)
Employees shall not engage in financial
transactions using nonpublic Government information or allow the improper use
of such information to further any private interest.
4)
An employee shall not, except as permitted by
subpart B of this part, solicit, or accept any gift or other item of monetary
value from any person or entity seeking official action from, doing business
with, or conducting activities regulated by the employee’s agency, or whose
interests may be substantially affected by the performance or nonperformance of
the employee’s duties.
5)
Employees shall put forth honest effort in the
performance of their duties.
6)
Employees shall not knowingly make unauthorized
commitments or promises of any kind purporting to bind the Government.
7)
Employees shall not use public office for
private gain. Subpart A-General Provisions 2 Codified in 5 C.F.R. Part 2635 As
amended at 85 FR 36715 (effective June 18, 2020).
8)
Employees shall act impartially and not give
preferential treatment to any private organization or individual.
9)
Employees shall protect and conserve Federal
property and shall not use it for other than authorized activities.
10 Employees
shall not engage in outside employment or activities, including seeking or
negotiating for employment, that conflict with official Government duties and
responsibilities.
11 Employees shall disclose waste, fraud, abuse,
and corruption to appropriate authorities.
12 Employees
shall satisfy in good faith their obligations as citizens, including all just
financial obligations, especially those—such as Federal, State, or local
taxes—that are imposed by law.
13 Employees shall adhere to all laws and
regulations that provide equal opportunity for all Americans regardless of
race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or handicap.
14) Employees shall endeavor to avoid any actions
creating the appearance that they are violating the law, or the ethical
standards set forth in this part. Whether particular circumstances create an
appearance that the law or these standards have been violated shall be
determined from the perspective of a reasonable person with knowledge of the
relevant facts.
So in closing, Patriots share this article around in your network and encourage your fellow patriots to begin to educate themselves on the above issues, research your elected offices in your state by contacting the Library of Congress to find out what sanctions have been implemented against your elected representative (there could be a small fee for the results). Then challenge the elected official with the results and inquire why they did what they did to receive such a sanction or fine. Enlighten your fellow voters and let's clean house in Washington the old-fashioned way – the intelligent way and the grown-up way – hit them where it hurts, their ego and reputation. Don’t allow someone to represent you who has been investigated for ethical issues, criminal behavior, sexual misconduct, bribery, corruption, or even for violating the Hatch Act. I’ll write a separate article about the Hatch Act and what it means, along with the Stock Act too.
Author Elizabeth Kilbride is a
former political operative, author, scriptwriter, historian, and journalist.
business professional, creative artist, and life coach consultant. Ms. Kilbride
holds a Master's in Criminology and a BS in Business Management she stepped out
of the loop for a while but is now back with a powerful opinion and voice in
the direction of this country and our economy. As a life coach, she is
available to counsel individuals to enjoy their dreams and a better life. Ms.
Kilbride loves to travel, and photograph her surroundings and is also a gourmet
cook who loves to garden and preserve food for the winter months.
No comments:
Post a Comment