Hidden Agenda

September 29, 2006

By Roy J. Tanner
U.S. Senate Candidate (FL)

The announcement reply was brief and to

the point, “If you’re planning to be a “career”
politician, you’d better be prepared to sell your
soul.” Of all the advice that I’d take to heart
in my run for higher office, in retrospect,
nothing could be more prudent than the
admonition of maintaining your integrity.

According to media research, the FBI’s focus on

public corruption includes over 2,000 cases that
are currently under investigation. High profile
scandals include everything from IL Governor
George Ryan’s conviction for racketeering and
fraud, to the Jack Abramoff lobbying inquiry, to the multi-pronged corruption
probes associated with House Representative Randy Cunningham’s guilty plea.

To counter the corruption, I’m running for the U.S. Senate (FL). And while I have
no interest in becoming a “whistle blower” and have pledged not to engage in
the politics of personal attack, my campaign is devoted to reforming the political
process as it now exists in Washington D.C. Aside from policing human nature
though, how can the institutionalized practices (that lead to abuse) be improved?

Said differently, independent of demands for character and qualifications from

those who represent us, how can the complex legislative phenomena that our
founder’s set in motion – as the primary value-mediating institution in American
society, perform at a higher standard? The stakes are huge when our answer will
yield either better accountability from Congress, or settling for rule by thieves.
Iron triangles – What invites corruption most are closed, mutually supportive
relationships that often prevail between government agencies, special interest
lobbying organizations, and the legislative committees that have jurisdiction
over a particular area of government policy. These triangles are said to be as
“strong as iron” versus other interests, which are excluded from policy-making.

Career politicians - The common welfare of the citizenry is also sacrificed when
incumbents engage the practice of “pork-barrel” legislation, which appropriates
public funding for projects that narrowly benefit their constituency. To increase
their likelihood of reelection, insiders who rely on this type of appropriation also
encourage “logrolling” or vote trading, to bring home the bacon – at our expense.

Pocketbook Issues – Why be concerned? Legislative “earmarks” (now $27-billion

annually) also generate economic distortions by diverting public investment to
capital projects where bribes and kickbacks are more plentiful. And corruption
lowers the bar of compliance with public regulation and reduces the quality of
public services. All of which adds to budgetary pressure to raise our tax burden.

Why reform is needed – Historian Alexis de Tocqueville said it best by stating “The
American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe
the public with the public’s money.” Conversely, Alexander Tytler suggested, “A
democracy will continue to exist up until the time citizens discover they can vote
themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.” As such, reform is overdue.

Principled leadership - To maintain the integrity that public service demands my

campaign has accepted no special interest funding. And to mute the siren song of
populist polls and career patronage, I pledge objective servant-leadership limited
by a single term. Given the perils that threaten the American experiment, only
someone who takes-on the tough issues, bearing the mantle of trustee, will do.

Platform independence – No one is debating the need of a vibrant two-party

system, nor the senior statesmanship that aggregates subcommittee power. But
given the rising levels of rancor and obstruction that pervade the capitol, only an
independent, committed to leveraging non-partisan best practices, will be able to
circumnavigate the factious environment that has slowed governance to a crawl.

Process improvement – Congress requires only a small percentage of non-partisan,

public servants to hold our two-party system accountable. Only after sending
independents to the Senate will “career” politicians finally understand that – it’s
citizens that have granted you their power in order to serve the nation, and we
are inclined to remove it from those who would rather serve themselves.

While their agendas may be hidden, their affects are visible to us all,