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Department of the Interior scandal requires action |
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Tuesday, 16 September 2008 |
Both political parties have been talking about change a lot lately.
The Democrats promise “change we can believe in;” the Republicans promise “the right kind of change.”
The first thing the winning candidate should do if elected, is take the strongest action possible to “change” the relationship between America’s government officials and lobbyist groups before another fiasco like last week’s announcement of massive ethical violations in the Department of the Interior occurs.
Last week, The Denver
Post announced the results of an investigation revealing members of the
Minerals Management Service, a division of the Department of the
Interior, committed serious ethical violations in their dealings with
lobbyists between the years 2002-06.
These violations include having sexual relations and doing drugs with
oil company employees, rigging contracts for said employees, working as
oil company contractors in the private sector and accepting gifts with
“prodigious frequency.”
This makes ordinary ethical violations seem positively mundane.
The extent of the corruption that these employees are engaged in is
nearly off the scale in terms of how severely they have violated their
department’s professional guidelines.
The Department of the Interior is supposed to be the responsible steward of this country’s national resources.
Instead of serving in this capacity, the employees involved in these violations have been in bed with the oil companies.
Literally.
How are we, the citizens, supposed to be confident in this department’s
abilities when confronted with such widespread and rampant corruption
in one of its offices?
For that matter, how are we supposed to be confident in any branch of
the federal government that allows its employees to associate, in any
regard, with lobbyists who have a vested interest in affecting the
decisions of that department?
We, as voters, need to investigate our presidential candidates carefully.
We need to ask if they will take the necessary steps to keep lobbyists
away from federal agencies that make sure our food is safe, our
workplaces are hazard-free, and our natural resources are responsibly
maintained.
Both candidates have talked about reducing the impact of lobbyists on Washington.
We need to select a president who will follow through with this pledge,
instead of reneging on it as politicians tend to do with their campaign
promises.
We need to select the candidate with the most concrete and feasible
plan to remove lobbyist influence in the federal government, a plan
that will ensure violations like those at the Minerals Management
Service are never repeated.
If acts of corruption of this scale are allowed to reoccur, the
consequences will be far-reaching and serious for this entire country,
down to the last citizen.
In order to protect ourselves, we must do something about this country’s lobbyist problem.
Jeff Koehler, a senior journalism major from Greensboro, is a news reporter.
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