I’d say it was upright, if not grand.

Oy.

I’m trying to think of a way to make a pun on “console.”

But I can’t think of a way to spinet.

… but where knowing about the jobs, and being able to get cleared, are big deciding points. (It should go without saying that if your Dad has a TS/EBI clearance, it’ll be a hell of a lot easier for Junior to get one.)

It is even more questionable in government, where public moneys are dispensed.

Uh, Chuck, are DeLay’s family working for the government? In civil service jobs? I’d understood they were working for the campaign, or in political jobs.

You aren’t under the impression that political jobs are handed out through blind auditions, are you?

I’d say it was upright, if not grand.

Sandy Berger broke the law, not the spirit.It is illegal to do what he did and he violated the law. To compare Sandy Berger’s actions with Delays is absurd. It is illegal to take those documents out and it is illegal to destroy them. What Delay did is legal. I would like the law changed. But if the government is going to declare it in writting that it is okay to pay relatives for political work out of PAC funds as long as it is reported, and if Delay did that I do not see what the ethics violation is.You bring Delay to court. He says I followed the letter of the law. It doesn’t say it is legal to pay relatives but it is unethical. It says these are the rules, follow the rules. Thats what he did.The laws for how to spend PAC money are for political actions only so the what is ethical in society and what is ethical in politics is mute. The present laws fpr political action committee’s allow hiring relatives for political work. If you want to argue that the law should be changed I will join the fight. But to say that Delay by following the law is unethical is something I can not get my head around. And when the truth comes out I would not be suprised if 40 to 50 per cent of the politicians do the same thing. You can’t say something is legal and then accuse someone of wrongdoing when he follows the law.

Which means that it is the pols on government time, torturing the statutes over such private-sector deals between pols and their supporters, that are scandalously creating the government wastage they purport to prevent.

Smelly private deals that are nevertheless legal, need to be tying up pressrooms, not congressional staffs.