Was Laura Bush a Director at Halliburton While Bush Was Governor of TX?

[CorpGovActivist]

That's an illustration of why conflicts of interest matter, folks.

- Dave

[Olney Blue]

1. I thought she was a school librarian.

[CorpGovActivist]

6. If She Had Been...

... how many threads would there be on DU over the years about it?

- Dave

[aquart]

2. Laura had a job? LAURA? A JOB? WHEN????? HOW????

[CorpGovActivist]

4. Funny...

... how you sidestep the issue.

- Dave

[Jai4WKC08]

3. Yep, that's what I want in future presidencies

A man to run the nation, the little woman to stay at home.
:sarcasm:

[CorpGovActivist]

5. OK, Governor Granholm's Husband As Director of GM in Detroit

Same principle, same problems.

- Dave

[Jai4WKC08]

7. Exactly

If we want to have women in high office, we are going to have to accept that they will come with husbands who have connections. Women of ambition and ability tend to marry men of ambition and ability (and I don't mean ambition as a bad thing -- you don't get to high office without it).

We'd better get used to the idea.

Perhaps there are ways to limit the potential for abuse -- we really haven't had much call to worry about it for most of history. But to say that no spouses can ever have a conflict of interest is to say, essentially, there can be no women in public office (or at least, not in office high enough that having a spouse is expected). Or men with powerful wives either, for that matter.

Most of the right-wing hate against Hillary, and why it stuck with so many in the middle, was precisely because she was the first presidential wife who didn't stay home and back cookies. That was why they had to downplay her role as presidential advisor, altho many on the inside have said she was involved in just about everything. To include some former-Clinton staff who are now working for Obama.

[CorpGovActivist]

8. Um...

... I wouldn't be fond of the notion of Senator Granholm's husband sitting on the board of such a prominent homestate company.

I'm sorry, but there are too many regulatory issues that come up for that not to be a conflict of interest.

The Clintons were wrong to see their way clear to having Hillary serve on the Wal*Mart board.

- Dave

[Jai4WKC08]

11. Then there will be VERY few women who qualify for your vote

And as more and more women ascend to important positions in business and industry, fewer and fewer men. And I'm guessing that, for the next several generations, the ones who go missing will all be Democrats.

You will recall that Geraldine Ferraro, the very first (and so far only) woman to be nominated for vice president had her husband's business connections used against her as well. No need to get into an argument as to whether the complaints were legitimate or not. The point is that any woman who would be in a position to be considered for high national office is almost sure to have a husband with some sort of baggage. The alternative to accepting that fact is to have no females in high national office, and for me that's a price too high to pay.

[CorpGovActivist]

12. There will be very few men who qualify for it, if their spouses or domestic partners...

... engage in activity that gives rise to a reasonable inference of a conflict of interest.

- Dave

[rinsd]

9. Except for Obama.

Conflicts of interest are par for the course and willfully ignored.

[CorpGovActivist]

10. How many regulatory issues did Wal*Mart have pending in Arkansas...

... while Bill was Governor of the state, and Hillary was a member of the Board of Directors?

Compare and contrast that power dynamic with the Obamas, please.

- Dave