This section of the Jackson Progressive web site is concerned with the integrity of public officials, both local, state and Federal. It also deals with the willingness of our public servants to put the short-range interests of the powerful and wealthy above the interests of the rest of us, or even the nation. We believe that this nation has, for the last twenty years, embarked upon a course of action that, if continued, will result in the vast majority of the American people impoverished, the environment irreparably damaged and the freedoms for which so many gave their lives destroyed. The mainstream media have not only ignored this process, but have actively furthered it. It is therefore appropriate to lead off this section with a commentary on Mississippi's own Mike Espy and how he escaped conviction due to Congress's redefinition of corruption.
by Walter Brasch
November 26, 2005 -- Michael Brown, the disgraced former head of FEMA has gone into the consultant business. What is he consulting about - emergency preparedness. Read all about it.
by Thom Hartmann
March 30, 2003 -- Thom Hartmann makes a strong case for progressives joining and capturing the Democratic Party, much like the right-wing took over the Republican Party in the '60s and '70s. He argues that the U. S. Constitution, with its winner-take-all electoral system, makes it impossible for third parties to be anything but spoilers. Read the article.
by Thom Hartmann
March 17, 2003 -- Hartmann contrasts the ways two different societies--Germany under Hitler and the U.S. under Roosevelt--reacted to the Great Depression, and the different outcomes that resulted. He does this by tracing the course of depression German in a way that rings ominous when held up to what is now happening to our republic today. Read and Heed.
And they changed the law under our noses
Sunday, November 21, 1999, Jackson. Nestled on page 18A of the Clarion-Ledger is the article "Critics: Battle against corruption has collapsed," recounting the welcoming by congressional staffers of Ann Eppard, former legislative chief of staff for Rep. Bud Shuster, R-Pa. Eppard had beaten a seven count federal indictment alleging that she accepted illegal gratuities, embezzled campaign funds and filed false federal documents. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of taking illegal compensation and received a $5,000 fine.
Apparently, the feds had plenty of evidence. There was a problem, however, in getting the conviction. Congress, just a few years prior, changed the illegal gratuities statute to eliminate the receiving of gifts by federal officials as a crime unless it was for something specific, a quid pro quo. If somebody gives an official money or gifts in the general expectation of favorable treatment the recipient is no longer guilty of a crime. 18 U.S.C. §201(c)(1)(A). On April 27 of this year, the U. S. Supreme Court held that Sun-Diamond Growers of California was not criminally liable for giving "anything of value" to former Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy unless the prosecutors could make a specific connection between the two matters in which Sun-Diamond had an interest in favorable treatment that were pending before Espy and the gratuities conferred. United States v. Sun-Diamond Growers of California
Since the 15th Century, the definition of bribery has remained unchanged: 1. money or favor given or promised in order to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust; 2 : something that serves to induce or influence. Merriam-Webster Dictionary There is nothing in the definition that requires a quid pro quo, and indeed, the most insidious form of corruption is not the bestowing of gratuities for specific favors to be done, but the unspoken assumption that the official's real constituent is the giver, rather than the public, which is the legal and moral beneficiary of the trust vested in the official. The change in the statute, unnoticed by most of us, is no more or less than a license to give and receive bribes as long as giver and recipient do not agree on specific favors in return for the bribe. The unanimous Sun-Diamond decision virtually guarantees that officials are now virtually immune from prosecution for taking bribes.
In the case of Eppard, there's no question that she's a crook. There is strong evidence that while she was Shuster's chief of staff, she accepted gratuities, embezzled campaign funds and filed false federal documents. After Shuster became chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure in 1995, she opened Ann Eppard Associates and did extremely well as a transportation lobbyist.
What's scary is that she was welcomed back into the halls of Congress like a heroine, as though she had done nothing wrong, by the representatives of the people of the United States. The fact of this reception, rather than the severity of her crimes, or the fact that she merely received a slap on the wrist, indicates not only a serious moral and ethical problem among members of the House of Representatives and their employees, but a serious moral and ethical problem among the voters who elected them. Apparently Schuster wasn't worried about retribution from the electorate.
When The Jackson Progressive first came on line, our philosophy emphasized our responsibility as citizens. Where is our responsibility in all this? What should we do? Here are our initial suggestions: 1. Write your congressman and senators and tell them that you are outraged over this matter -- that public servants, as a condition of holding their position, have no business receiving one nickel, for whatever reason, from anyone except the taxpayers; 2. Convince your friends to do the same. Unless the power of big money over our elected officials is reduced, our democratic republic will, in only a few years, exist only as a pleasant memory.
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