May, 07 2020, 12:00am EDT
Patriotic Millionaires: "Congress Must Pass Legislation Expanding the Definition of Illegal Misconduct By Government Officials"
"Using government resources for political purposes should be illegal, and the fact that it isn't already is ridiculous."
WASHINGTON
This afternoon, in response to the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the convictions of the two government officials implicated in "Bridgegate," Morris Pearl, the Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and a former managing director at BlackRock, Inc., released the following statement:
"The Supreme Court's decision to throw out the convictions of Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni reveals an egregious hole in our legal system that Congress must correct immediately. If there is 'deception, corruption, and abuse of power' by a government official, as stated in the Court's decision, then those who committed such acts should be convicted. If there is not sufficient legal basis to do so, as the Court suggests, then Congress must pass legislation expanding the definition of illegal misconduct by government officials. Using government resources for political purposes should be illegal, and the fact that it isn't already is ridiculous.
Political corruption without the intention of personal profit is still corruption, and it needs to be punished. Abusing a position of power to accumulate further power is just as dangerous to our democracy, if not more so, than abusing such a position for personal financial gain. Congress must act immediately to fix this absurd legal loophole."
For further comments or questions, please contact Sam Quigley at sam@patrioticmillionaires.org
The Patriotic Millionaires is a group of high-net worth Americans who share a profound concern about the destabilizing level of inequality in America. Our work centers on the two things that matter most in a capitalist democracy: power and money. Our goal is to ensure that the country's political economy is structured to meet the needs of regular Americans, rather than just millionaires. We focus on three "first" principles: a highly progressive tax system, a livable minimum wage, and equal political representation for all citizens.
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