Hold Public Officials Accountable

At Stuyvesant, it is common for students to kiss up to teachers. They’ll compliment teachers on their looks, offer to run errands for them, or buy them little gifts. Some teachers are more receptive to this than others, and when it comes time to put in grades, a teacher might raise a student’s grade if the student has treated them well.

This is bribery. A student is offering an inducement to gain favor from a teacher in the form of a higher grade. This is unethical behavior by the student, but the burden still rests with the teacher to resist gifts that are expensive or that are obviously trying to say more than “thanks.” Teachers have the responsibility to recognize that a student is trying to influence and manipulate them to help them raise their grade.

When teachers raise grades in response to bribery attempts by students, it is frustrating and unfair to other students. When public officials bring the same compromised attitude to the government offices, it’s illegal and undermines their role as public servants. However, a recent Supreme Court ruling threatens the ability of prosecutors to hold public servants accountable.

In McDonnell v. United States, former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell was ruled to not have violated federal bribery laws when he accepted $175,000 in personal gifts, luxury items, and loans from Johnnie Williams, a Virginia businessman. In return, Williams received favors from McDonnell such as meetings with other public officials and quick access to clinical tests on a supplement he was developing. However, the Supreme Court decided in a unanimous decision to overturn McDonnell’s conviction, finding that these were not “official acts” of an elected official’s power—only actions such as selling votes for money or making regulations would qualify as such.

This decision flies in the face of the ethical responsibilities that public officials have to uphold. The actions of Bob McDonnell were clearly bribery, as a normal Virginia constituent should not have been able to give Rolexes to the governor and then expect to receive special favors in return. The executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said this could essentially legalize personal profit from public acts. Public servants should serve all of the people they represent, not just the ones who can pay to play.

The aftereffects of the McDonnell decision are already showing in other bribery cases of government officials. In New York State, former leader of the Assembly Sheldon Silver had his fraud and money laundering convictions overturned because of McDonnell, even though he directed state funds to a Columbia research center in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions. Silver’s counterpart in the State Senate, Dean Skelos, also had his conviction overturned because of the McDonnell decision.

Using government positions to enrich one’s self is not only unethical, but illegal and the Supreme Court should recognize that cases such as these clearly constitute bribery. Without oversight, corruption and fraud will run amok in city, state, and federal governments.

The Washington Post reported that prosecutors are already pursuing fewer bribery cases because they’re scared of meeting the unfairly high standard set in McDonnell. Just this past January, federal prosecutors dropped all charges against Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who had received private jet flights and luxury hotel stays from a wealthy opthamologist who wanted Menendez to obtain visas for his foreign girlfriends.

Accountability is one of the central tenets of public service. Government officials are responsible to the public, so when they misuse their power to help enrich themselves and provide friends with special favors, they need to face consequences.