What is this “conflict of interest” we are hearing about more and more these days? Simply stated, it is: if there is the appearance that a public official has an interest, including monetary, in a matter before a town board he should “recuse” himself by stepping down during the proceeding. Not only at the local level, of town governance, is conflict of interest becoming more a matter of “news”, even the prestigious United Nations is in the news with a multi million dollar oil-for-food scandal. This is based on the idea that a UN executive had been awarding contracts to someone he “knew”.
Think about it. What kind of democracy is there in a system where lobbyists, for most of the large corporations, wine, dine and put big money in the campaigns of senators and representatives? Israel, the most powerful lobby, gets whatever they ask for.
The Supreme Court, highest legislative body in a so-called democracy, makes waves in the news, when certain members are invited on hunting or fishing trips, by big money people or companies who may be in future conflict of interest before the Court.
How does it appear, to the rest of the world, when the President of the United States spends millions of our tax dollars to change Medicare? The trade off is Wall Street brokers, and the companies that paid his way into office shall benefit. When anyone uses or abuses public property, including a good name, to benefit his or her own interest, there is conflict. What sense is there in touting “democracy” to the world unless we begin to practice honesty at all levels of government?
