The nominee for HHS Secretary, Rep Tom Price (R-GA), has turned out to have quite a few questionable ethical decisions in his wake. As Steve Benen on MaddowBlog notes:
The Wall Street Journal recently reported, for example, that Price “traded more than $300,000 in shares of health-related companies over the past four years while sponsoring and advocating legislation that potentially could affect those companies’ stocks.” Kaiser Health New added soon after that Price got “a sweetheart deal” on an investment opportunity from a foreign biotech firm. CNN then reported that the congressman bought stock in a medical company, introduced legislation that would benefit that company, and then received a campaign contribution from the company’s PAC.
And there’s more beyond that – go read Steve’s post. But while Steve is bemoaning the fact that this doesn’t seem to be derailing Price’s nomination like it should – and I agree – I prefer to make lemonade.
- This is exposing, to the people of Georgia, the quality of their Representative. They may not care, but if not, then we know that the people of Georgia do not demand high ethical standards from their Representatives. Does it matter? Well … consider what happened to Indiana following the passing of a regressive religion-oriented bill.
- If he’s confirmed, then he’s removed from Congress. Think about it. No longer can he do damage in that particular environment. Now, he may find ways to damage the nation while self-dealing in his new job, but that’s only theoretical; we know that as a powerful Representative he was misbehaving. One in the hand.
- And if he’s confirmed as HHS Secretary, then that should be a message to the American citizen concerning the ethical standards now embraced by the GOP. The only problem with this point? That information may not make it to the citizens. It must be properly advertised.
Consider this to be my part in getting the word out: Representative Tom Price of Georgia does not appear to have the ethical make-up to represent Georgia. Georgians, send him packing.
