Bruce Babbitt Quotes
In 1985 five Senators had received contributions from Lincoln Savings and Loan, and had interceded on the bank's behalf with federal regulators. The same request was made of the governor who refused. You don't intervene in the regulatory process. It's law enforcement. It's like a parent ... calling the police chief to say, "Don't touch my kid." It's wrong. [The Senators' efforts delayed the closure of the bank, costing the taxpayers billions of dollars.
Bruce Babbitt, U. S. Secretary of Interior, Arizona Governor (Democrat), Quoted in The Washington Post, November 7, 1989
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The Senator had intervened in the regulatory process on behalf of the Lincoln Savings and Loan. The bank owner had made large contributions to the senator's campaign:. The bank failed costing the taxpayers billions of dollars.
She and her husband had been flown across the country for a campaign fundraiser by a private businessman in his corporate jet. Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was also on the flight. Her husband was censured for an ethical violation but Hastert was not.
Her co-leader, Martin J. Healy, was accused of accepting a bribe from a judge in exchange for his appointment. What makes this quotation particularly interesting is the fact that she was speaking before a reform organization, yet it is clear that Mathews herself saw no immorality in party officials accepting kickbacks. One of the major problems in reform was that most of the Tammany Hall leaders and voters had a different morality from the reformers and many genuinely thought that the situation as it existed was only “fair.” Reform, as with civil rights, required a transformation of public opinion and sense of right and wrong. See {626674} for one of her solutions to political corruption.
While New York City and a few other jurisdictions—states and local—have more stringent laws and ethical standards for politicians than does Congress and Federal Officials, but most have lower standards. In some of the jurisdictions judges can try cases and rule in favor of a company or wealthy individual who gave the judge the money to campaign with and get elected.
Not all members of Congress use the money personally. Some, when they leave office, give it to other Congressmen for their PACs. However, many” take the money and run”.
Bruce Edward Babbitt is an American attorney and politician from the state of Arizona. A member of the Democratic Party, Babbitt served as the 16th governor of Arizona from 1978 to 1987, and as the President Bill Clinton's Secretary of the Interior from 1993 to 2001.
