According to Transparency International’s Corruption Index, in 2016 United States of America is the 18th least corrupt nation out of 175 countries. That Corruption Rank in the United States averaged 17.77 from 1995 until 2016. But as business and Donald Trump continue to mix, and as higher courts continue to toss out corruption cases against elected officials, we just might see that number wiggle us down the “good” part of that list.
Today, America correctly focuses on the blatant double standard that seems to have condoned men in power using that position physically to impose their sexual proclivities on women. After the Hollywood revelations, politicians moved to center stage on these sexual abuse cases. Most appropriate! But for whatever reason, we seem to be turning an increasingly blind eye to down and dirty “politicians on the take.”
We are witnessing courts blurring the line between political contributions and according those constituents with what we perceive with untoward political and economic advantage. Our courts have increasing stated that representing constituents is precisely what politicians are elected to do, and as long as there isn’t a clear “pay for play” agreement when the political contribution is made, well, ok then! Some states, with fuzzy statutes concerning personal gifts to politicians, have discovered that such fuzziness might make for ugly perception and reflect poor judgment but that vagueness simply voids any potential criminal prosecution of the offending elected official.
The most visible case of late involves the Governor of Virginia and his wife. The United States Supreme Court, the last judicial venue you would expect to become the great corruption enabler, reversed a litany of lower court decisions upholding a criminal conviction: “[The] court’s most substantial opinion on corruption came last year when it redefined the very nature of political graft in throwing out the bribery conviction of Bob McDonnell, the former Republican governor of Virginia. A jury determined that Mr. McDonnell had helped a wealthy businessman by setting him up with influential people in an effort to promote a dietary supplement he was selling. But even though the businessman had given the governor several gifts and loans, the court concluded it was not illegal. It ruled that Mr. McDonnell’s part of the arrangement — making introductions and setting up meetings — was not in fact a betrayal of his office, or what the law describes as an ‘official act.’….
“‘For years, the court has been hacking away at the prosecutorial tools for combating bribery and corruption,’ said Zephyr Teachout, a law professor at Fordham University in New York who has written extensively on the issue and who ran for governor in 2014. ‘Increasingly, the court has made it really hard to bring cases against anyone but the most inept criminals.’
“The trend began in 1999 when a Supreme Court case called United States v. Sun Diamond Growers of California chipped away at the government’s ability to prosecute officials for taking what are known as gratuities — or minor gifts given to them by businesses or allies. The opinion found that gratuities were illegal only if the government could connect the gifts to specific favors by officials, establishing a visible quid pro quo.
“In 2010, the court attacked another anti-corruption tactic, narrowing the definition of what is known as honest services fraud. The ruling in this case came as the justices reversed parts of the criminal conviction of Jeffrey K. Skilling, the former Enron chief executive who had been found guilty of charges related to his company’s collapse. Although Mr. Skilling was a private citizen, the opinion had a political effect: the newly limited fraud law had frequently been used to go after politicians who served themselves at their constituents’ expense.” New York Times, November 17th.
The first sitting U.S. Senator to be charged with bribery in almost a decade, Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey), faced a trial that ended in mid-November. “Menendez, 63, accepted an abundance of campaign donations, gifts and vacations from Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist, according to prosecutors. In return, prosecutors claimed, he used his position to lobby on behalf of Melgen’s business interests.
“Melgen allegedly directed more than $750,000 in campaign contributions to entities that supported Menendez, according to the indictment, which prosecutors said were inducements to get Menendez to use his influence on Melgen's behalf. Prosecutors have also accused Menendez of trying to hide the gifts… Both Menendez and the doctor, Salomon Melgen, maintained their innocence.
“After the jury again informed the judge they could not reach a decision, a federal judge declared a mistrial in Sen. Bob Menendez's corruption and bribery trial. Earlier… the jury told Walls that they were unable to come to a verdict, but he implored them to continue with deliberations. On Thursday [11/16], the jury again informed him of their inability to come to a decision. .. U.S. District Court Judge William H. Walls said Thursday afternoon that he found ‘no alternative to declaring a mistrial.’” Fox News, November 16th. Huh? Given the new jury instructions, required since the above Virginia corruption decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, it’s getting pretty hard to convict politicians accused of corruption.
Back to that Virginia debacle: “‘Conscientious public officials arrange meetings for constituents, contact other officials on their behalf, and include them in events all the time,’ [Supreme Court] Chief Justice John G. Roberts wrote in his opinion.
“From the court’s point of view, the McDonnell decision was meant to put the brakes on what Justice Roberts called a ‘pall of potential prosecution’ that could disrupt the healthy functioning of ‘democratic discourse.’ In drafting his opinion, he quoted a group of former White House lawyers who worried that the ‘breathtaking expansion of public-corruption law would likely chill federal officials’ interactions with the people.’
“But what has actually been chilled, experts say, is the ability of prosecutors to win convictions against men like Mr. Silver and Mr. Menendez… The McDonnell case opened the door to the point where selling access is now essentially legal,” said Jessica Tillipman, an assistant dean at the George Washington University Law School who teaches an anti-corruption seminar. Ms. Tillipman noted that the government has repeatedly gone after companies like Walmart and Alcoa for bribing foreign officials. ‘But our Supreme Court,’ she added, ‘has made it incredibly difficult to prosecute corruption in our own country.’” NY Times.
The luster that once shone in the light American democracy is fading. Deeply polarized and sporting some of the worst income inequality in the developed world, the vision of “America”seems to be less positive, less influential, that we have seen since such measurements have been made.
In terms of overall image, the election of Donald Trump and his early-term actions have dropped the favorable perception of the United States – we had the best image before his election: “The country with the best brand and image is no longer the United States. It’s Germany… According to a newly released study by the Nation Brands Index survey by German-based market research firm GFK and British political consultant Simon Anholt.
“The U.S. dropped from the top spot to number six. France, Britain, Canada, and Japan took spots two through five… The study calculated how well people viewed a country across six categories: people, governance, exports, tourism, investment and immigration, and cultural heritage.” AOL.com, November 17th. The prestigious UK publication, The Economistrelabeled the U.S. government, over the machinations of the 2016 presidential election, a “flawed democracy.” Hey, I wrote this blog without mentioning the seemingly revolving door of the State of Illinois and its growing list of convicted governors… oooops... couldn’t help myself.
I’m Peter Dekom, and as we continue to misbehave, engage in international hubris, abuse our own democracy, disenfranchise voters and suborn corruption, we have increasing reasons to be ashamed at who and what we have become.
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