[Vision2020] GOP Administrations: By Far the Most Corrupt
Nicholas Gier
ngier006 at gmail.com
Sun Nov 5 10:43:36 PST 2017
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/1/11/1619079/-Comparing-Presidential-Administrations-by-Arrests-and-Convictions-A-Warning-for-Trump-Appointees?detail=emailclassic
In May 2015, conservative *New York Times* columnist David Brooks mentioned
on PBS’s
<http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/05/31/david_brooks_obama_amazingly_scandal_free_administration_chosen_people_scandal_free.html>*Newshour
<http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/05/31/david_brooks_obama_amazingly_scandal_free_administration_chosen_people_scandal_free.html>
*that
the Obama administration has been remarkably scandal-free:
“President Obama has run an amazingly scandal-free administration, not only
he himself, but the people around him. He’s chosen people who have been
pretty scandal-free.”
As Obama’s administration winds to a close, that remains true. Not one
criminal indictment for anyone in the Obama administration over the entire
eight years of his tenure. In fact, it is the only Presidential
administration since Watergate to end with *zero *criminal indictments.
The GOP leadership in the Senate is trying to ram through as many as
Trump’s controversial nominees as quickly as possible. Most of them have
not yet completed FBI security clearance checks or ethics reviews by the
United States Office of Government Ethics, something that OGE Director
Walter M. Shaub, Jr. has said in a letter has never happened in the four
decades since the OGE was established.
This actually puts Trump’s nominees at personal considerable risk. The OGE
serves to protect them from potential violations of ethics laws. An ethical
review before Senate confirmation allows them to address potential ethical
conflicts by, for example, divesting themselves of their stock holdings or
even withdrawing their nomination. But if an ethical violation is
discovered after confirmation, it could result in criminal indictments and
potential jail sentences for those individuals.
If Obama’s administration is considered to be the least scandal-ridden, it
made me wonder which administrations in recent history were the *most *
scandal-ridden?
Comparing scandals by administration
In comparing scandals by administration, first I had to decide what
constituted a scandal. How many were genuine problems versus those
artificially hyped by opposition parties. Benghazi? Whitewater? Travelgate?
Even when someone was forced to resign over a scandal, how much of that was
politically motivated rather than a criminal issue, like Joycelyn
Elders’ masturbation
comments
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joycelyn_Elders#Comments_on_human_sexuality_and_termination>
or
Shirley Sherrod’s firing over what turned out to be a doctored video
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firing_of_Shirley_Sherrod>?
I ultimately relied on Wikipedia’s list of federal political scandals in
the U.S.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_political_scandals_in_the_United_States>,
but limited it to only the executive branch scandals that actually resulted
in a criminal indictment. I also decided to only go back as far as Richard
Nixon, whose participation in Watergate ultimately resulted in him being
the only sitting president to ever resign. This lets many other
scandal-ridden administrations off the hook—notably that of Warren
Harding and the Teapot Dome scandal
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teapot_Dome>, and of Ulysses S. Grant and
the Whiskey Ring <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Ring>and Black
Friday <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(1869)> scandals—but so
be it.
The chart below only includes people who served in the administration, and
excludes others (like members of Congress and private individuals) who may
have also been swept up and indicted for the same scandal. The
“Convictions” list includes both those who went to trial and were found
guilty as well as those who plea bargained and pleaded guilty. The “Prison
Sentences” should be considered a minimum figure, as Wikipedia's list
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_political_scandals_in_the_United_States>
wasn’t
always clear on penalties and I wasn’t able to look all of the unclear ones
up.
EXECUTIVE BRANCH CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES BY PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION
ADMINISTRATIONPARTY
YEARS IN
OFFICE
CRIMINAL
INDICTMENTS
CRIMINAL
CONVICTIONS
PRISON
SENTENCES
BARACK OBAMA Democratic 8 0 0 0
GEORGE W. BUSH Republican 8 16 16 9
BILL CLINTON Democratic 8 2 1 1
GEORGE H. W. BUSH Republican 4 1 1 1
RONALD REAGAN Republican 8 26 16 8
JIMMY CARTER Democratic 4 1 0 0
GERALD FORD Republican 2.4 1 1 1
RICHARD NIXON Republican 5.6 76 55 15
Overall, Richard Nixon’s administration had the most criminal indictments
and convictions. Wikipedia’s list
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_political_scandals_in_the_United_States>
enumerates
13 specific individuals who were convicted and imprisoned over Watergate
alone, but notes that a total of 69 officials were indicted for the scandal
and 48 were either convicted or pleaded guilty. (Nixon himself is not
included; after his resignation, President Gerald Ford gave him a blanket
pardon, sparing him from any potential indictments. However, his first vice
president, Spiro Agnew, is included for indictments unrelated to Watergate.)
The Reagan Administration is next with 26 indictments and 16 convictions
(including guilty pleas), followed by the George W. Bush Administration
with 16 indictments, all ending in convictions or guilty pleas. The Nixon
Administration had at least 15 people serve at least some time in prison
for their crimes, while Bush 43’s administration had at least 9 and the
Reagan Administration had at least 8. (Scooter Libby’s sentence is included
here even though Bush pardoned him in 2007 before he was sent to jail,
since the pardon did not expunge the crime and the pardon itself is a
political act, not a judicial determination. But others whose convictions
were later overturned—like Oliver North’s
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_North> and John Poindexter’s
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Poindexter>—are included under
indictments but not convictions since it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to
second-guess the courts’ reasoning for overturning those convictions.)
All those Clinton White House “scandals”? Despite hundreds of thousands of
dollars spent on hearings on Whitewater, Travelgate, the use of the White
House Christmas card list, and other oddities, almost all resulted in
absolutely nothing. Clinton himself isn’t included. As with Nixon, the
impeachment proceedings themselves should count as an indictment, and in
the end his only citation was for contempt of court, which I didn’t
interpret as the same as an indictment. (I will update this if folks show
me this was incorrect.) The only indictments for his administration were of
his Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Espy> (who was acquitted of all 30
charges) and of Espy’s chief of staff Ronald Blackely
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Espy#Trial_and_acquittal>, who was
convicted of making a false statement and sentenced to 27 months in prison.
The George H. W. Bush Administration only had a single criminal indictment,
but it’s notable for two reasons. It was the only time that a U.S.
treasurer has ever gone to prison
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalina_Vasquez_Villalpando>. But Catalina
Vasquez Villalpando’s conviction and sentence is probably less notable than
who *didn’t* go to jail: President Bush 41 himself escaped potentially
ruinous scandal by granting clemency to six people indicted in the Reagan
Administration’s Iran-Contra scandal
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Contra_Affair>, thereby avoiding trials
that could have exposed Bush 41’s involvement.
[image: Crimes_by_Admin.png]Executive branch criminal actions from Richard
Nixon through Barack Obama.
Comparing scandals by party
Just glancing at the chart above, it’s pretty clear which administrations
are the most criminal, but let’s roll up the data anyway.
EXECUTIVE BRANCH CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES BY PARTY SINCE 1968
ADMINISTRATION
TOTAL YEARS
IN OFFICE
CRIMINAL
INDICTMENTS
CRIMINAL
CONVICTIONS
PRISON
SENTENCES
DEMOCRATIC 20 3 1 1
REPUBLICAN 28 120 89 34
Some might try to argue that this unfairly penalizes Republican
administrations because GOP administrations held office for eight more
years than Democratic administrations during this time period. The huge gap
between the numbers shows how ridiculous that is, but even so, let’s get
the averages per year of combined administrations:
AVERAGE EXECUTIVE BRANCH CRIMINAL ACTIONS BY YEAR SINCE 1968
ADMINISTRATION
AVERAGE #
INDICTMENTS
PER YEAR
AVERAGE #
CONVICTIONS
PER YEAR
AVERAGE #
IMPRISONMENTS
PER YEAR
DEMOCRATIC 0.15 0.05 0.05
REPUBLICAN 4.29 3.18 1.21
Even when we standardize it by getting annual averages, GOP administrations
still have 29 *times *more indictments, 64 times more convictions, and 24
times more prison sentences.
[image: Crimes_by_Admin_Party_comp.png]Average annual executive branch
criminal actions by party dating back to 1969.
For those who say going back to Nixon’s Administration in order to include
Watergate was an arbitrary cut-off, I’d argue that *excluding *Watergate
would have been a more extraordinary and arbitrary decision. It was the
biggest political scandal of modern times and the only one to lead to the
resignation of a sitting president. It marked a huge turning point in the
American public’s distrust and skepticism of our governmental institutions.
And while I could have included the Johnson administration in order to make
it the last 50+ years rather than 48, that would just serve to make the
Republican metrics look even worse. It would have added five years to the
Democrats’ denominator without adding any more executive branch criminal
actions
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_political_scandals_in_the_United_States#1963.E2.80.931969_Lyndon_B._Johnson_Administration>
to
their numerator, which have just served to lower the Democratic annual
percentages even further. And while Watergate and other criminal actions in
the Nixon administration certainly added a huge chunk to Republican totals,
the Reagan and Bush 43 administrations certainly did their part to keep
those numbers up.
A warning to the Trump administration
Donald Trump’s nominees are already in danger. Trump already has a
reputation for deliberately fostering conflicts and rivalries
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/michelinemaynard/2016/12/30/5-tips-for-covering-ceo-president-donald-trump-managing-conflict/#1653913a1a1b>
among
his subordinates. Somehow he survived *despite *this behavior in the
boardroom, and naturally thrived on it in his reality television
career—many viewers turn in to see conflict, not cooperation. But in the
White House, it will be a disaster. Enemies will seek to undermine their
rivals, and that will mean leaks, investigations (by journalists if
Congress shirks its duty), and potential criminal indictments even if the
Justice Department turns a blind eye. (Not just one but *two* of Nixon’s
attorneys general ended up going to jail, so a compliant Department of
Justice isn’t protection.)
Trump’s own potential conflicts
<http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/trump-organization-international-conflicts-of-interest>
are
too numerous to list, and while the president is exempt from some conflicts
of interest laws, it’s not a blanket immunity, especially for things in the
Constitution like the Emoluments Clause
<https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-emoluments-clause-its-text-meaning-and-application-to-donald-j-trump/>.
(How many of us had even heard of that clause before this election? I only
knew of it vaguely as a prohibition of elected officials to accept Titles
of Nobility <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_of_Nobility_Clause> while
still in office—Ronald Reagan
<http://articles.latimes.com/1989-06-14/news/mn-2281_1_knighthood-british-empire-queen-s-warning>
and George H. W. Bush’s
<http://articles.latimes.com/1993-12-01/news/mn-62855_1_queen-elizabeth-s-court>
British
knighthoods came after they left office and Dwight Eisenhower’s
<https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/all_about_ike/awards_medals.html> were
awarded before he became president for his leadership in World War II, for
which he nevertheless needed congressional authorization
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_of_Nobility_Clause#Congressional_authorization>
at
the time since he was still serving in the military.)
But as I mentioned before, his nominees are at great *personal *risk if
their nominations are rushed through before FBI or Office of Government
Ethics review. A conflict that is revealed after they take office could
result in criminal indictments. And while President Trump could pardon them
for criminal violations (but not civil acts), that only applies to federal
charges, not those filed under other state laws, should there be any. And
how many pardons can he issue before his own support erodes? Yes, some of
his most rabid supporters won’t care (but still want to seek criminal
charges against Democrats who didn’t even commit any crimes). But his
winning edge in the states that pushed him over the Electoral College top
came from a lot of undecided voters who broke for him in the final
week (or eleven
days, specifically
<http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/28/politics/hillary-clinton-email-timeline/>)
but won’t stay loyal if scandals grow. (Already, “voted for you Trump“
<https://twitter.com/search?q=voted%20for%20you%20trump&src=tyah> on
Twitter reveals a lot of his disgruntled voters telling him they voted for
him but want him to stop tweeting, vet his nominees with proper ethics
review, address the Russian hacking issue, and other expressions of
disappointment.)
If they were wise, Trump’s nominees and appointees should *insist *on an
Office of Government Ethics review before taking office for their own legal
protection.
The vetting process is intended to expose legal conflicts as well as
potentially politically embarrassing issues that could cause a nomination
to be withdrawn or rejected by the Senate, but it also provides the
appointee with a road map for how to legally protect themselves once in
office. This process typically includes
<https://www.law360.com/bankruptcy/articles/862997/-a-primer-on-the-presidential-appointee-vetting-process>
investigating:
- Tax issues
- Ethical and financial conflicts of interest
- Legal and law enforcement history, such as criminal records
- Publications and organizational affiliations that could prove
embarrassing
- Medical, family, and personal issues
Issues exposed in the process could result in working with the U.S. Office
of Government Ethics to address those conflicts (such as divesting stocks
or business assets that could provide a conflict), developing a plan for
how to speak about past history in confirmation hearings, or potentially
even withdrawing the nomination for an insurmountable issue. They work with
the OGE to craft a binding letter
<https://www.oge.gov/web/oge.nsf/Congressional%20Correspondence/092B59EFD6EC27608525808800724288/%24FILE/Carper%20response.pdf?open>
that
outlines the steps the official will take to resolve conflicts identified
by the OGE.
The vetting process is a chore, but it’s an important step to avoid
potentially worse embarrassments for the administration after the
confirmation, not to mention potential criminal liability for the
appointees. In 2004, Rudy Giuliani persuaded President Bush to nominate Bernie
Kerik <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Kerik> for secretary of
Homeland Security. Kerik was a former NYPD and NY Department of Corrections
Commissioner who later served in 2003 as the interior minister of the Iraqi
Coalition Provisional Authority. His nomination was derailed when the
vetting process revealed that he had illegally employed an undocumented
immigrant as a nanny, and then ended up pleading guilty to two unrelated
ethics charges resulting in a $221,000 fine. In 2009, Kerik pleaded guilty
to eight more charges, including tax fraud and false statements, and was
sentenced to four years in prison. As embarrassing as it was for the Bush
administration to have to withdraw their nomination for a high-profile
cabinet post, it would have been even worse for their actual secretary of
Homeland Security to be arrested while in office.
When Obama was elected in 2008, his transition team employed dozens of
lawyers to help with the vetting process, according to Rachel Maddow on the
opening segment on her January 9, 2017, show. One of the most complicated
vetting processes was for Penny Pritzker
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Pritzker>, a Chicago billionaire who,
among other things, was daughter and heir of the co-founded of Hyatt
Hotels. She was considered for secretary of Commerce in 2009, but withdrew
from consideration. She was then nominated and confirmed for the position
when it became vacant in 2013. Her disclosure forms listing all of her
assets, holdings, and business interests were 184 pages long
<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/opinion/donald-trumps-nominees-are-in-for-a-rough-ride.html>.
The U.S. Office of Government Ethics spent six months going through every
line item of those 184 pages to develop a plan for Pritzker to divest
herself of her business conflicts and shield herself from potential
criminal liability for a conflicts violation. In the end, she had to sell
her stakes in more than 200 business entities.
But it worked. She’ll leave office on January 20 without a single ethics
charge. Though the Obama team’s ethics review missed some things before
nomination—like Tom Daschle’s $140,000 in back taxes he owed due to
unreported income in the form of the use of a car and chauffeur
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Daschle#Withdrawal> provided by one of
his lobbying clients—the vetting still captured those issues during the
confirmation process. None of Obama’s appointees had a criminal conflicts
of interest violation or any other criminal violations after taking office.
Not one.
Time will tell, but I would not be surprised if this new administration
sets records for the number of indictments, convictions, and prison
sentences. Controlling the Justice Department and Congress won’t be enough
to insulate them from prosecution. And it’s quite possible that members of
his own family are risk of criminal liability if more is investigated about Don
Jr.’s secret meetings with Russian officials
<http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-jr-syria-russia-2016-11> *during
the campaign*, or his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s own conflicts of interest
<http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/9/14205898/jared-kushner-white-house-conflicts-anbang>,
including pursuing a business deal just weeks *after *the election
with a Chinese
company that had already been blocked from doing business in the U.S.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/07/us/politics/jared-kushner-trump-business.html>,
after his role in the administration was already being discussed,
which was finally
officially announced
<http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/09/politics/jared-kushner-to-be-named-senior-adviser-to-the-president/>
a
few days ago. Before the next four years are over, we could have another
president resign in the face of impeachment, particularly if the public
disgust grows great enough for Democrats to defy odds and retake the House
and Senate in 2018. But since this president seems impervious to shame, he
may well try to weather the storm, which could well result in the first
impeachment and conviction and involuntary removal from office of a sitting
president. (And if that happens, will Pence pardon Trump the way Ford
pardoned Nixon? I guess it depends on whether he sees greater opportunity
with Trump’s rabid base or with more mainstream voters.)
When Richard Nixon resigned in 1974, no more than 15 Republican senators
still supported him. At the time there were 42 members of the GOP caucus
(including a third party senator who caucused with the GOP), which means
that nearly two-thirds of the GOP caucus in the Senate had turned against
him. The current GOP crop seems far more partisan than in 1974, but you
never know when Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell decide to cut their losses,
especially if the tide sweeps away their majority in two years. Lord knows,
they probably already have enough evidence to seek impeachment. It’s just a
question of finding the will.
Criminal actions included in this data
This list was compiled from Wikipedia’s List of Federal Political Scandals
in the United States
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_political_scandals_in_the_United_States>.
I did not research each individual case, so the numbers of those who served
prison sentences may be an undercount if it was not specifically noted on
Wikipedia’s list.
President Barack Obama’s Administration
- No appointed officials have faced criminal prosecution.
President George W. Bush’s Administration
- *Felipe Sixto*—Office: Special Assistant for Intergovernmental Affairs
as well as Duty Director at the Office of Public Liaison. Crime: Misuse of
grant money from the U.S. Agency for International Development from before
he took office. Result: conviction and imprisonment
- *Scott Bloch*—Office: head the United States Office of Special
Counsel. Crime: pleaded guilty to criminal contempt of Congress for
withholding information from a congressional investigation. Result:
conviction and imprisonment
- *Lewis “Scooter” Libby*—Office: Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick
Cheney. Crime: perjury and obstruction of justice in the Valerie Plame
case. Sentence: imprisonment (commuted by George W. Bush)
- *John Korsmo*—Office: chairman of the Federal Housing Finance Board.
Crime: pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. Result: convicted but not
imprisoned
- *Darleen A. Druyun*—Office: Principal Deputy Undersecretary of the Air
Force. Crime: pleaded guilty to inflating the price of contracts to favor
her future employer, Boeing. Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *David Safavian*—Office: General Services Administration Chief of
Staff. Crime: found guilty of blocking justice and lying in the Jack
Abramoff Scandal. Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *Roger Stillwell*—Office: Staff in the Department of the Interior.
Crime: Pleaded guilty to participating in the Jack Abramoff scandal.
Result: convicted (imprisonment suspended)
- *J. Steven Griles*—Office: Deputy to the Secretary of the Interior.
Crime: pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in the Jack Abramoff
Scandal. Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *Italia Federici*—Office: staff to the Secretary of the Interior, and
President of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy. Crime:
pled guilty to tax evasion and obstruction of justice. Resulted: convicted
but not imprisoned
- *Jared Carpenter*—Office: Vice-President of the Council of Republicans
for Environmental Advocacy. Crime: pled guilty to income tax evasion.
Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *Mark Zachares*—Office: staff in the Department of Labor. Crime:
bribed by Abramoff and guilty of conspiracy to defraud. Result: convicted
but not imprisoned
- *Robert E. Coughlin*—Office: Deputy Chief of Staff, Criminal Division
of the Justice Department. Crime: pleaded guilty to conflict of interest
after accepting bribes from Jack Abramoff. Result: convicted but not
imprisoned
- *Kyle Foggo*—Office: Executive director of the CIA. Crime: was
convicted of honest services fraud in the awarding of government contracts.
Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *Claude Allen*—Office: Advisor on Domestic Policy. Crime: series of
felony thefts in retail stores. Result: convicted by not imprisoned
- *Lester Crawford*—Office: Commissioner of the Food and Drug
Administration. Crime: pleaded guilty to conflict of interest. Result:
convicted but not imprisoned
- *Bernard Kerik*—Office: nominated to be Secretary of Homeland Security
but confirmation derailed. Crime: employing an undocumented nanny two and
other improprieties, and later two counts of tax fraud and five counts of
lying to the federal government. Result: convicted and imprisoned
President Bill Clinton’s Administration
- *Mike Espy*—Office: Secretary of Agriculture: Crime: indicted on 30
counts of receiving improper gifts. Result: found innocent of all charges
- *Ronald Blackley*—Office: Chief of Staff to the Secretary of
Agriculture Mike Espy. Crime: perjury. Result: Convicted and imprisoned
President George H. W. Bush’s Administration
- *Catalina Vasquez Villalpando*—Office: Treasurer of the United States.
Crime: pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and tax evasion. Result:
convicted and imprisoned
- *Iran-Contra Affair pardons*—President George H. W. Bush granted
clemency to five convicted government officials from the Reagan
Administration as well as to Caspar Weinberger, whose trial had not yet
begun. This action prevented any further investigation into the matter,
potentially protecting Bush from being personally implicated. (Results
tallied under the Reagan administration.)
President Ronald Reagan’s Administration
- *Melvyn Paisley*—Office: Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Crime:
pleaded guilty to accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes.
Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *James E. Gaines*—Office: Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
Crime: accepting an illegal gratuity, and theft and conversion of
government property. Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *Victor D. Cohen*—Office: Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force.
Crime: pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and conspiring to defraud the
government, the 50th conviction obtained under the Operation Ill Wind
probe. Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *James G. Watt*—Office: Secretary of Interior. Crime: charged with 25
counts of perjury and obstruction of justice. Result: convicted but not
imprisoned
- *Deborah Gore Dean*—Office: Executive Assistant to Samuel Pierce,
Secretary of Housing & Urban Development. Crime: 12 counts of perjury,
conspiracy, bribery. Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *Philip D. Winn*—Office: Assistant Secretary of HUD. Crime: pleaded
guilty to bribery. Result: convicted by not imprisoned
- *Thomas Demery*—Office: Assistant Secretary of HUD. Crime: pleaded
guilty to bribery and obstruction. Result: convicted but not imprisoned
- *Joseph A. Strauss*—Office: Special Assistant to the Secretary of HUD.
Crime: convicted of accepting payments to favor Puerto Rican land
developers. Result: convicted but not imprisoned
- *Silvio D. DeBartolomeis*—Office: Assistant Secretary of HUD. Crime:
convicted of perjury and bribery. Result: convicted but not imprisoned.
- *Lyn Nofziger*—Office: White House Press Secretary. Crime: indicted
for lobbying. Result: convicted, but conviction overturned on appeal.
- *Caspar Weinberger*—Office: Secretary of Defense. Crime: indicted on
two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice relating to
the Iran-Contra Affair. Result: indicted by pardoned by George H. W. Bush
before trial
- *Robert C. McFarlane*—Office: National Security Adviser. Crime:
convicted of withholding evidence in Iran-Contra Affair. Result: convicted
but not imprisoned, later pardoned by George H. W. Bush
- *Elliott Abrams*—Office: Assistant Secretary of State. Crime:
convicted of withholding evidence in the Iran-Contra Affair. Result:
convicted but not imprisoned, later pardoned by George H. W. Bush
- *Alan D. Fiers*—Office: Chief of the CIA’s Central American Task
Force. Crime: convicted of withholding evidence. Result: convicted but not
imprisoned, later pardoned by George H. W. Bush
- *Clair George*—Office: Chief of Covert Ops-CIA. Crime: convicted on 2
charges of perjury relating to the Iran-Contra Affair. Result: convicted
but pardoned by George H. W. Bush before sentencing
- *Oliver North*—Office: National Security Council staff member. Crime:
convicted of accepting an illegal gratuity, obstruction of a congressional
inquiry, and destruction of documents. Result: conviction overturned
because it conflicted with the immunity he had been granted in exchange for
congressional testimony
- *John Poindexter*—Office: National Security Advisor. Crime: convicted
of 5 counts of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, perjury, defrauding the
government, and the alteration and destruction of evidence. Result:
conviction overurned by the Supreme Court
- *Duane Clarridge*—Office: CIA senior official. Crime: indicted on 7
counts of perjury and false statements relating to the Iran-Contra Affair.
Result: indicted but pardoned before trial by George H. W. Bush
- *Richard V. Secord*—Office: major general in the Air Force. Crime:
pleaded guilty for organizing the Iran arms sales and Contra aid in the
Iran-Contra Affair. Result: convicted but not imprisoned
- *Thomas G. Clines*—Office: intelligence official. Crime: convicted on
four income tax counts, including underreporting of income to the IRS and
lying about not having foreign accounts. Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *Joseph F. Fernandez*—Office: CIA Station Chief of Costa Rica. Crime:
Indicted on five counts in 1988. Result: case dismissed when Attorney
General Dick Thornburgh refused to declassify information needed for his
defense in 1990.
- *Michael Deaver*—Office: Deputy Chief of Staff. Crime: pleaded guilty
to perjury related to lobbying activities. Result: convicted but not
imprisoned
- *Anne Gorsuch Burford*—Head of the EPA. Crime: Cut the EPA staff by 22
percent and refused to turn over documents relating to the Sewergate
Scandal to Congress. Result: convicted of contempt but not imprisoned
- *Rita Lavelle*—Office: an EPA Administrator. Crime: misused
“superfund” monies and was convicted of perjury. Result: convicted and
imprisoned
- *Melvyn R. Paisley*—Office: Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Crime:
participating in the Operation Ill Wind defense procurement scandal.
Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *J. Lynn Helms*—Office: head of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Crime: plea bargained charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission
with diverting $1.2 million from an issue of tax-exempt municipal bonds to
his own personal use. Result: convicted but not imprisoned
- *Peter Voss*—Office: US Postal Service Board of Governors. Crime:
theft and accepting payoffs. Result: convicted and imprisoned
President Jimmy Carter’s Administration
- *Bert Lance*—Director of OMB. Crime: indicted for misuse of funds
during the sale of a Georgia bank to BCCI. Result: acquitted of all nine
counts
President Gerald Ford’s Administration
- *Earl Butz*—Office: Secretary of Agriculture. Crime: charged with tax
evasion for failing to report more than $148,000 in 1978. Result: convicted
and imprisoned
President Richard Nixon’s Administration
- *Spiro Agnew*—Office: Vice President. Crime: convicted of tax fraud
stemming from bribery charges, accepting a plea bargain that allowed for no
prison time in exchange for his resignation. Result: convicted but not
imprisoned
- *Watergate*—Burglary and “bugging” of the Democratic Party National
Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel and subsequent cover up. Crime: 69
government officials were charged and 48 convicted or pleaded guilty.
Result: 48 convictions, at least 13 prison sentences.
- *John N. Mitchell*—Office: Attorney General. Crime: convicted of
perjury. Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *Richard Kleindienst*—Office: Attorney General. Crime: convicted of
“refusing to answer questions.” Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *Jeb Stuart Magruder*—Office: Head of Committee to Re-elect the
President. Crime: pleaded guilty to 1 count of conspiracy. Result:
convicted and imprisoned
- *Frederick C. LaRue*—Office: Advisor to Attorney General John
Mitchell. Crime: convicted of obstruction of justice. Result:
convicted and
imprisoned.
- *H. R. Haldeman*—Office: Chief of Staff for Nixon. Crime: convicted
of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury. Result: Convicted and
imprisoned
- *John Ehrlichman*—Office: Counsel to Nixon. Crime: convicted of
conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury. Result: Convicted and
imprisoned
- *Egil Krogh*—Office: aide to John Ehrlichman. Crime: crimes
relating to Watergate. Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *John W. Dean III*—Office: counsel to Nixon. Crime: convicted of
obstruction of justice. Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *Dwight L. Chapin*—Office: deputy assistant to Nixon. Crime:
convicted of perjury. Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *Herbert W. Kalmbach*—Office: personal attorney to Nixon. Crime:
convicted of illegal campaigning. Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *Charles W. Colson*—Office: special counsel to Nixon. Crime:
convicted of obstruction of justice. Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *Herbert L. Porter*—Office: aide to the Committee to Re-elect the
President. Crime: convicted of perjury. Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *G. Gordon Liddy*—Office: Special Investigations Group. Crime:
convicted of burglary. Result: convicted and imprisoned
- *Maurice Stans*—Office: Secretary of Commerce. Crime: pleaded guilty
to 3 counts of violating the reporting sections of the FEC Act and 2 counts
of accepting illegal campaign contributions. Result: convicted but not
imprisoned
- *Harry Shuler Dent*—Office: Presidential Counsel and Strategist Harry
Shuler Dent. Crime: pleaded guilty to violations of Federal election law.
Result: convicted but not imprisoned
- *Jack A. Gleason*—Office: White House Aide. Crime: pleaded guilty to
violations of Federal election law concerning an illegal fund-raising
operation run by the White House. Result: convicted but not imprisoned
- *Richard Helms*—Office: Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Crime: pleaded no contest to misleading Congress concerning assassination
attempts in Cuba, anti-government activities in Chile and the illegal
surveillance of journalists in the US. Result: convicted but not imprisoned
- *Donald Segretti*—Office: Political Operative for the Committee to
Re-Elect the President. Crime: ran a “ratfucking” campaign of dirty tricks
for Nixon, pleaded guilty to distributing illegal (forged) campaign
literature. Result: convicted and imprisoned.
--
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they
shall never sit in.
-Greek proverb
“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.
Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance
from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not in
lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without
guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ‘Have courage to use your own
understand-ing!—that is the motto of enlightenment.
--Immanuel Kant
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