FISRT LOBBYIST? Excellent article on the questions that Mrs. Daschle, airline lobbyist, might get should she run for First Lady. Stephanie Mecimer predicts that the American public won't be as willing to give the Daschles a pass on conflict-of-interest questions as the Washington crowd has been. Many in Washington are in no position to throw stones when it comes to spousal influence peddling.
These are important questions, though. Does the spouse of a high-level public servant have a right to pursue any profession they choose? Even one which involves being paid to influence the high-level public servants within their spouse's sphere of influence? Or one which may raise the appearance of impropriety in other ways? Hillary's classic retort, when questioned about Whitewater in Spring '92 was that she supposed she could have baked cookies and had teas instead. (Oh, fate worse than death! That was the moment I began to dislike her, by the way. I voted for Tsongas.) Or do we even care about impropriety these days, much less the inkling of its appearance? I worry greatly that we don't.
Mrs. Daschle is apparently well-versed in the legalities of her profession and never flubs them. She discloses everything according to law. Thus, there is no scandal, so far. Still, thinking about his wife's expert influence peddling makes Senator Daschle's campaign finance self-righteousness stick even harder in my craw. If a presidential campaign brings her wider exposure, other even smaller-crawed Americans may have the opportunity to find it irritating, as well.
On the other hand, if someone is of a mind to vote for a President Daschle in the first place, I doubt they'll care what his wife does anyway, especially if she plays the cookie card.
Posted by shilohbucher at January 07, 2002 01:40 PM