Restoring Honor and Integrity to the White House?

As we all know, President Bush ran on a platform of restoring honor and integrity to the White House, after a series of "scandals" during the Clinton Administration brought on "scandal fatigue". As it turned out, many of the so-called scandals weren't, and the allegations of supposed dishonor and lack of integrity of the Office of President (if not the President himself) were largely motivated by viscious partisan politics rather than an attempt to investigate wrongdoing. One hates to use the term "vast right wing conspiracy," but you have only to think of the allegations that the Clintons had Vincent Foster murdered (to pick just one example) [link], and you begin to wonder. To be safe, perhaps the phrase "vast right wing confluence of talk radio, money and a damn-the-consequences politics" is more accurate.

Anyway, Carpetbagger Report [link] has taken the time to catalogue some of the scandals that have actually resulted in investigations of Republicans, both in the current administration and elsewhere. The Washington Post has a useful compendium as well. [link]

By and large, I concur in the items on Carpetbagger's list, but I would not have included two of them: the prosecution and conviction of Rep. Bill Janklow, and the investigation of Connecticut Gov. John Rowland. In Janklow's case, being convicted for manslaughter after a drunk-driving accident isn't an ethical lapse. It might fairly be characterized as a criminal lapse in judgment, but that's not on par with the Valerie Plame affair, the 9/11 commission stonewalling, Rep. Tom DeLay's criminal fundraising violations in Texas, and the like. As for Gov. Rowland, while his is an ethical scandal, I don't recall President Bush campaigning that he would restore honor and integrity to the statehouse in Hartford, so it's hard to make the argument that Rowland's lapses are Bush's lapses.

As Carpetbagger acknowledges, the list is not comprehensive. For example, it only generally mentions Halliburton, but does not tie the scandals back to the Bush administration. So I will -- the company now admits that while Vice President Cheney was CEO of Halliburton, the company paid an illegal bribe to the Nigerian government, which may violate federal law (specifically, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act). The Justice Department is currently investigating. [link] Also, there have been allegations that Halliburton engaged in price-gouging in Iraq, and that certain employees accepted kick-backs in connection with Pentagon contracting. [link]

The list doesn't include the investigation into charges that Boeing Corp., while actively negotiating with the Pentagon to lease air-refueling tankers to the Air Force, impermissibly received details of a competitor's bid, and later hired the senior Pentagon procurement officer in charge of the contract to work for Boeing. Both Congress and the Pentagon are investigating. [link]

Only passing reference is given to Enron on Carpetbagger's list, but here too, let me connect some dots: Secretary of the Army (and former Enron senior executive) Thomas White was formally rebuked by the Senate Armed Services Committee over his failure to properly divest himself of Enron shares that he owned and had said he would sell. [link] Apparently, the FBI and SEC poked into those transactions. Meanwhile, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission looked into the role that Enron Energy Services, where White was vice-chairman, played in the Enron-engineered California energy crisis a few years ago. [link] Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs investigated (among other things) efforts by Enron to have Nora Brownell and Pat Wood nominated as FERC commissioners. [link]

Having supplemented Carpetbagger's list, I invite others to supplement my list. Here comes the motivational speech: Just think, with a little bit of effort, people, we can assemble a comprehensive compendium of scandal and ethical lapses by lots of people associated with the current administration. And won't that be a hoot!