“If they have some sort of influence over how the money gets awarded, or how much money gets awarded, they should not be the recipients of those funds. If they are the recipients of their own cash that they’re handing out, it really raises questions of self-dealing.”
—Craig Holman, an advocate from the watchdog group Public Citizen, on the awarding of $16.6 million in coronavirus relief funds to 22 companies at 40 Wall Street, an office building in Lower Manhattan owned by Donald Trump. [Trump’s attorney during the Mueller investigation was the recipient of some of that money].
“The Secretary has no connection to the business and she had no idea a loan was obtained.”
—Statement from the Department of Transportation after it was revealed that Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s family’s shipping company, Foremost Maritime, received between $350,000 and $1 million in stimulus money. [Go figure: Chao is the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky). Is there a single, living, breathing soul reading this who believes Chao “had no idea a loan was obtained”?]
Louisiana Voice 
Translation: Is the term “self dealing” another way of saying “open and arrogant government corruption?” Just wondering….
As Gomer would say, “Surprise, surprise, surprise…”
And the recipients pretty much know there will be no repercussions or accountability. God forbid little things like ethics and altruism should intrude on their “public” service.
Somehow the fact that we ALL know about these corrupt abuses of power for self-enrichment and nothing is ever done and there is no oversight makes them even worse than they are….we are sitting back and watching the corrupt eroding of the “public servant” concept evolve into “serve myself” concept. This cannot end well!
Over many long years I have become convinced voters, and certainly too many in Louisiana, accept corruption as a necessary evil of our political system about which they can do nothing. If they would simply pay attention rather than being apathetic we could get somewhere.
We should encourage people to vote, but way too many of them are too lazy to do the research necessary to make rational decisions and often rely on their equally uninformed friends for recommendations often based on fallacies. How do we fix this? I have no idea. One of my favorite malapropisms, I’ve mentioned before is:
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him think.
Whatever happened to “cleaning the swamp”? It seems murkier and more polluted. Chao had no idea. Really? This is a twist on “inside trading”. And folks seem not to care, which is even sadder. This is taxpayer’s money and we will be stuck with the bill. By then Trump will be out of office and folks will blame the Democrats.
OH…and, sadly, I have tried to engage my Republican US Senators and Representatives and all I get is a form letter thanking me for my interest and assuring me that they are looking into these matters. I can only guess that they are not hearing a ground swell of concerns and demands that something be done about this….and, they are secure in their re-elections…as Pogo once said: “I have met the enemy and he is us!”
To get wealthy while holding office or a public position is pretty obviously corruption. I have not seen many retire from the Congress who do not walk away a lot better off than when they started. For that matter, it would seem that a few of our recent Presidents and Vice-Presidents have done pretty well for themselves. How does one amass millions on a salary ?
OH, do you think only Republicans are corrupt ?
Zoe, has anyone – ANYONE – said or even implied that only Republicans are corrupt? HAVE THEY? Would you please cease and desist in trying to put words in our mouths? You are very good at doing that but not so good in defending the corruption of Trump, Jindal, Grover Norquist, Karl Rove, Mitch McConnell, et al.
Thank you!
Zoe…I have said this before and it is a point that you seem to keep missing. I will challenge and let the Democrat elected officials know when I think they are not upholding their promises to serve us just as I do the Republican elected officials. My problem is that all of my “public servants” are Republican and the only responses I get are stated above. This is on them!
Tending on Twitter – Leave Me A Loan. We need to laugh a little during these bad, awful, terrible times.
https://meidastouch.com/exclusive-new-video-meidastouch-presents-leave-me-a-loan/
First of all, Zoe, I agree with Tom. Second, the annual salary of the president is $400,000. So, they are not getting wealthy off of that salary. A former president’s net worth increases after he leaves office. This wealth, for most former presidents, comes from paid speeches, book deals, etc, after they leave office. However, some former presidents were wealthy before they took office, including both Bushes and Trump.
I love these comments even Zoeeee!
It really is up to the voter to respond to this outrageous conduct. We have become numb. Vote the bums out!