Self Dealing on Steroids

Much has been reported about the conflicts of interest exhibited by the candidates.  They both criticized the other for lack of transparency.  And that is the positive spin of things.

Past Presidents of the United States were given pensions, elected officials in other political offices were very kind in voting themselves pensions while gerrymandering themselves into districts where "majorities rule" and it is almost impossible to vote them out of office. 

Political scientists Ken Kernaghan and John Langford, in their book “The Responsible Public Servant”, define self-dealing as “a situation where one takes an action in an official capacity which involves dealing with oneself in a private capacity and which confers a benefit on oneself."  In a larger sense this is what loopholes in the law are all about.

 

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