
Originally Posted by
Times Roman
there are ways around this. Since we are playing god here making all the rules, then I'm saying they are only p/t politicians and still hold their day jobs. Therefore, they have jobs waiting after their two terms.
The next step is to institute an ethics review panel similar to what CPA's have to go through. One of the rules for public accountants and public accounting firms, since they used to have this problem as well (leaving public accounting and then going to work for a client firm), is to institute a cooling off period. I would suggest that for as long as a politician served, say 4 years in this case, then the cooling off period would be 4 years. During this time, he is barred from going to work for any company/individual that is associated in any way with his political career. Instead, the politician should go back to work at his old day job.
So, the list of barred potential employers after leaving office would be as follows:
Anyone or any firm/company that has previously made political contributions (money) in any form
Anyone or any firm/company that is within the political scope or jurisdiction of the politician's realm of authority. for example, If i were a state senator, and had been a huge critic of anti gun laws, it would therefore be inappropriate to take a position with the NRA after leaving office.
yes, this is a very restrictive criterion. But it would also prevent sweetheart deals in return for prior political decisions. There should be no Quid Pro Quo.
Look at former president clinton. how many pardons did he give out on his last day in office? and what do you suppose the correlation between that list of pardoned individuals and political favors/cash he received is? Pretty high I would imagine. Why? Because he waited till the 11th hour of the last day to do his dirty deeds.
We need to change the mind set of our politicians from entitlement and privelege, to one of service and sacrifice.