Jimmy Carter the other day called Citizens United “legalized bribery.” Hillary Clinton last night angrily labeled Bernie Sanders’ implications about her reliance on contributions from Wall Street an “artful smear,” insisting that she has never changed a position to accommodate a Wall Street donor.
But has Bernie implied that Hillary knowingly accepts quid-pro-quo bribes from millionaires and billionaires? Of course not. Her dudgeon about his supposed attack on her character was a smokescreen for the larger issue. In a diary at the top of the rec list this morning, absdoggy goes there:
I was an auditor. One of the rules, or set of rules, we lived by were the independence rules. Those rules required us to be independent of our clients, and here’s the important kicker: in FACT and in APPEARANCE. What did this mean? One of my firm’s clients was a large chain. My brother-in-law was a meat cutter there. I was at the time, in my 2nd year, no power, no decision making capabilities whatsoever. My brother in law didn’t get bonus pay, stock options, or anything of the sort. His job wasn’t remotely connected to accounting. But you know what? I couldn’t work on that audit. When I reached the level of management, I couldn’t own even 1 share of stock in that company. No matter how small or remote the possibility that I would influence a decision about my firm’s opinion on the company’s financial statements, I couldn’t be associated with it.
Well, I was a doctor, and most of my colleagues were confident that their treatment recommendations weren’t influenced by the largesse they accepted from drug companies – free luxury travel, luncheons for the entire office, prime tickets to sports events, free medications, ready-made lecture slides, and yes, speaking fees. But of course they were influenced. After the fiasco of hormone replacement therapy (which I’m proud to say I saw through from start to finish, though I can’t say I managed to convince a single colleague), the medical profession woke up to the reality of unconscious bias. It’s long past time for politicians to do the same.