Letter Submitted to The Weekly Standard re: Clinton Disqualifications

Much has been written about the corruption surrounding the Illinois senate seat vacated by President-elect Obama - Senate, for Sale or Rent 12/29/2008 and Pssst . . .Wana Buy a Senate Seat? 12/22/2008.  I assume this week’s issue will discuss Gov. Richardson’s (D-NM) fall from nomination grace due to an ongoing corruption investigation.  What has been absent is any serious discussion of Hillary Clinton’s ethical fitness for appointed high office.  By nominating an obviously tainted Clinton, President-elect Obama has thrown down the ethics gauntlet, forcing Senate Republicans to choose where they go from here. Senator Clinton’s nomination for Secretary of State gives Senate Republicans an early opportunity to show that they are a party of principles rather than just members of the world’s most exclusive “club”. 

 Lest anyone forget, Senator Clinton and her husband left the White House in a cloud of scandals.  Questions surrounding the 11^th hour pardons of Marc Rich, Roger Clinton, Susan McDougal, and 137 others; the mysterious disappearance and miraculous reappearance of Hillary Clinton’s subpoenaed billing records; Sen. Clinton’s involvement in the Castle-Grande/Whitewater schemes; and Sen. Clinton’s amazingly profitable cattle-futures investment, among other issues, have never been fully explored or honestly answered.  

Senate Republicans should make it clear that Sen. Clinton will have to answer these and other ethics-related questions at her confirmation hearings.  Our country is entitled to a Secretary of State with unimpeachable ethics.  While it is very doubtful that Sen. Clinton can meet that standard, Republicans must insist that either she does, or else that the Obama administration and Senate Democrats accounts for why good ethics don’t apply to her.  Good ethics are timeless and, as the 2006 congressional elections showed, they are important to voters. Senate Republicans cannot give Mrs. Clinton a pass based on “Senatorial Courtesy”. They must insist on honest and complete responses to the many unanswered questions and they must reject any Clintonesque dissembling from Hillary or attempts by Senate Democrats to white-wash Sen. Clinton’s long history of ethical lapses. Senate Republicans will be derelict in their duty to the country should they accept anything less.