One of the more brazen displays of allergies to ethical systems is on display down in Georgia. It centers around Secretary of State Brian Kemp, a Republican, who decided to enter the primary for the Georgia governorship a few months back.
A person with an ethical system would have resigned or, at least, recused himself from any matter having to do with counting the votes of the primary. This is, I shouldn’t need to add, simple, basic, obvious: a conflict of interest shakes the confidence of the voters in the system, and for good reason, as there have been numerous occurrences of people in power manipulating the system to keep and gain more power.
Did Kemp resign or recuse? No.
Next came the general election, and the ethical requirements were the same: resign or recuse. Need I report that he did neither?
The man in power will be counting the votes that could move him along to another seat of power.
But he appears to have become nervous, because just a day or so before the election, he’s tried to assure his selection through what appears to be another dirty tactic, as NBC News reports:
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the Republican candidate for governor, said Sunday that he was investigating the state Democratic Party for an attempted hack of the voter registration system — a claim met with a swift response from Democrats charging him with a shameless “political stunt” two days before Election Day.
Kemp, who is in a neck-and-neck race with Stacey Abrams, alleged that the state Democratic Party made a “failed attempt to hack the state’s voter registration system” and announced that his office was opening an investigation into the party. Kemp said his office alerted the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, but he offered no evidence to back up his allegation.
“While we cannot comment on the specifics of an ongoing investigation, I can confirm that the Democratic Party of Georgia is under investigation for possible cyber crimes,” Candice Broce, press secretary for the secretary of state, said in a statement. “We can also confirm that no personal data was breached and our system remains secure.”
Since the FBI will supposedly be investigating any possible attempts to corrupt the electoral systems of Georgia, I’m left at a loss as to what Kemp legitimately thinks he’ll accomplish, because, of course and following in President Trump’s footsteps, he must despise the FBI – an institution once beloved of the ‘law and order party’. And, at least to those of us paying attention to computer crime, it should be no surprise there’s probably not a public computing system that has not been the target of hacking. So Georgia’s electoral computer logs show they’ve been a target? So does every other state’s.
But I think it’s more interesting to notice how being a public citizen, such as Kemp, means that your ethical system necessarily becomes a public statement. If your ethical system is strong, if you have that sense of being an honorable public servant, then there’s little to worry about insofar as honor goes. You may not achieve the electoral success you desire, but the electorate are a bunch of assholes, anyways. They’re private citizens and can betray their ethical systems on a whim.
But if it’s weak, as Kemp’s conduct proves his to be, then we see blatant disruptions of commonly agreed-upon norms.
It makes for one big old storm cloud for his opponent, Democrat Stacey Abrams. The silver lining will be very little comfort if she loses: Kemp will run a high risk of leaving office in disgrace, and even handcuffs.
That’s what often happens to the unethical public citizen, as we’ve seen in a number of States.
And, just as importantly, while Kemp may win one for the Party short-term, long-term the Party takes another hit to its ‘brand.’ Do they understand this? Is it so important that they win through brazen underhandedness that the future doesn’t matter?
Or are they so confident in their ability to manipulate the voters through superior marketing techniques, as well as gerrymandering?
Inquiring minds want to know.
