Some Thoughts on Mrs. Clinton’s Mess

The Barometer became an independent years ago because there was not a dead-cat-swing’s worth of difference between the two political parties in the United States.  Lest animal rights readers take offense, the Barometer has never swung a cat, dead or alive — just speaking metaphorically, of course. The following comments address the various ethical issues that resulted when Mrs. Clinton’s dang e-mails clunked onto the political battlefield ONE MORE TIME with just 10 or 11 days, give or take a few hours, remaining until election day.

How did FBI Director Jim Comey became the bad guy in all of this?  This morning he was targeted in a New York Times editorial for violating the Hatch Act??  Mr. Comey has shifted from hero to villain, from straight-arrow prosecutor to political hack, from seasoned lawyer to Satan, and all since July, with the fleeting characterizations dependent upon one’s political affiliation and timing.

A little root cause analysis is in order.  In the movie “Midnight Run,” starring that charming, sometime ranting, Robert De Niro, and the fussy Charles Grodin there is a lesson for Mrs. Clinton.  Charles Grodin plays a straight-laced accountant (Jonathan Mardukas) who embezzled from the mob when he realized that he was indeed the accountant for the mob.  Probably a bad idea.  Mr. De Niro plays a bounty hunter hired by a naive Los Angeles bondsman who posted bail for Mr. Grodin. Mr. De Niro’s job is to get Mr. Grodin back to jail.  Mr. Grodin had jumped bail just after his embezzlement arrest and hid because he figured the mob would be after him.  He was right.  So, Mr. De Niro finds Mr. Grodin, and Mr Grodin travels cross-country, handcuffed to Mr. De Niro as the mob and the FBI chase the both of them.  Mr. Grodin tries to convince Mr. De Niro to let him go because these mob types are bad folks.  Mr. De Niro asks him why on earth he did such a dumb thing as stealing from the mob in the first place, and then adds, “John, you’re in this mess because you’re in this mess.”

The root cause here was Mrs. Clinton’s conduct with her e-mails, whether one views that conduct to be careless, negligent, grossly negligent, willful, purposeful, diabolical, criminal, intentional, and/or Satanic.  Regardless of one’s view on the whys of the e-mail, the private server, the wiping, the bleaching, etc. etc., the results were the same:

  • Classified documents made their way onto sites, servers, and Yahoo where they could be viewed, download, or hacked.  If the Internet trolls can figure out that I just looked at a navy skirt on Talbot’s site and then post said skirt on the sidebars of my e-mail and on every site I view for time and all eternity, Mrs. Clinton’s coming and goings and her “C” documents were easy targets.  Mrs. Clinton is in the mess because of Mrs. Clinton.
  • There are consequences in law, in many areas, for grossly negligent conduct.  For example, a director of a film went to prison because a member of his crew was killed when he was staging a train accident.  He made a mistake, he had no intent to kill anyone, but the way the scene was set up and the envelope pushed on filming resulted in the death. Run a red light and hit someone and try and sell your story that it was negligent to gun it to make the light but you never meant to hurt anyone and see how far you get with a judge. Mrs. Clinton faces consequences because of what Mrs. Clinton did.  What those consequences are remains to be seen, but the investigation will reveal that outcome.  Her mess, her consequences.  Sometimes consequences affect personal lives.  Indeed, that is part of the punishment. Oh, and apologizing for mistakes is not a sentence — it is generally a way to reduce a sentence when the judge is making a decision.
  • The “unprecedented” argument about Mr. Comey’s conduct is silly.  Of course it is unprecedented for the FBI to announce the reopening of an investigation 10-11 days before a presidential election.  Then again, we have never had a nominee for president engage in the type of behavior that was fast and loose with the law, national security, and truthful responses to the FBI and the American people.  Generally the FBI is not involved investigating presidential candidates.  Oh, sure, a few presidents, and some who should have been, but none in the run-up to office. In fact, there was a time in this great Republic when the announcement of an FBI investigation in the first place would have caused a candidate to withdraw, or, at a minimum, a political party to object, saying, “Is this really a good idea to nominate this ne’er-do-well?” In short, Mrs. Clinton is in this mess because of Mrs. Clinton.
  • No one who is the target of an FBI investigation has the right to turn to the FBI and demand, “I want to see all the evidence, NOW!”  Not even a presidential candidate.  We are  all equal under the law.  No exceptions for presidential candidates.  The timing for justice is, well, you know the saying, the wheels grind slowly. Still, Mrs. Clinton is in this timing mess because she’s in this mess.  Justice should be blind when it comes to presidential election calendars.
  • Do we really want to destroy the FBI so that Mrs. Clinton can win an election?  Heaven help us with the precedent that would set. Mrs. Clinton’s actions belong to Mrs. Clinton, not to our Republic.  We did nothing wrong and would prefer to have centuries-old rules of law and prosecution stand, complete with equal justice under the law.  The job of the Republic is not to fix Mrs. Clinton’s mess.  Mrs. Clinton, and Mrs. Clinton alone, is responsible for what happened, and continues to unfold, not Mr. Comey, not those rascally Republicans in Congress, not Huma Abedin, not Carlos Danger, not Reince Priebus, not Donald Trump, and not Wikileaks.  Unless we want “Banana” in from of our name, we all need to remember root cause:  Mrs. Clinton. It is her mess.

About mmjdiary

Professor Marianne Jennings is an emeritus professor of legal and ethical studies from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, retiring in 2011 after 35 years of teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in ethics and the legal environment of business. During her tenure at ASU, she served as director of the Joan and David Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics from 1995-1999. In 2006, she was appointed faculty director for the W.P. Carey Executive MBA Program. She has done consulting work for businesses and professional groups including AICPA, Boeing, Dial Corporation, Edward Jones, Mattel, Motorola, CFA Institute, Southern California Edison, the Institute of Internal Auditors, AIMR, DuPont, AES, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Motorola, Hy-Vee Foods, IBM, Bell Helicopter, Amgen, Raytheon, and VIAD. The sixth edition of her textbook, Case Studies in Business Ethics, was published in February 2011. The ninth edition of her textbook, Business: lts Legal, Ethical and Global Environment was published in January 2011. The 23rd edition of her book, Business Law: Principles and Cases, will be published in January 2013. The tenth edition of her book, Real Estate Law, will also be published in January 2013. Her book, A Business Tale: A Story of Ethics, Choices, Success, and a Very Large Rabbit, a fable about business ethics, was chosen by Library Journal in 2004 as its business book of the year. A Business Tale was also a finalist for two other literary awards for 2004. In 2000 her book on corporate governance was published by the New York Times MBA Pocket Series. Her book on long-term success, Building a Business Through Good Times and Bad: Lessons from Fifteen Companies, Each With a Century of Dividends, was published in October 2002 and has been used by Booz, Allen, Hamilton for its work on business longevity. Her latest book, The Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse was published by St. Martin’s Press in July 2006 and has been a finalist for two book awards. Her weekly columns are syndicated around the country, and her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Reader's Digest. A collection of her essays, Nobody Fixes Real Carrot Sticks Anymore, first published in 1994 is still being published. She has been a commentator on business issues on All Things Considered for National Public Radio. She has served on four boards of directors, including Arizona Public Service (1987-2000), Zealous Capital Corporation, and the Center for Children with Chronic Illness and Disability at the University of Minnesota. She was appointed to the board of advisors for the Institute of Nuclear Power Operators in 2004 and served on the board of trustees for Think Arizona, a public policy think tank. She has appeared on CNBC, CBS This Morning, the Today Show, and CBS Evening News. In 2010 she was named one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Business Ethics by Trust Across America. Her books have been translated into four different languages. She received the British Emerald award for authoring one of their top 50 articles in management publications, chosen from over 15,000 articles. Personal: Married since 1976 to Terry H. Jennings, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Deputy County Attorney; five children: Sarah, Sam, and John, and the late Claire and Hannah Jennings.
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