"...and U.S. Senators..."

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was initially restricted to a lower salary than other Cabinet members because he was a U.S. Senator when the salaries were raised. The Constitution bars members of the House and Senate from appointment to any U.S. office where compensation was increased during the lawmaker’s term. (Did you know that? I didn’t.)  President George W. Bush in 2008 signed legislation rolling back the Interior Secretary’s salary so that President Obama Salazar could appoint Salazar.

Once Salazar joined the Obama Cabinet, however, he was eligible for a raise. But Senator David Vitter (R-La.) saw a chance for some leverage. He wrote Salazar to inform him that he would place a hold on the bill to raise his salary until Salazar agreed to approve six new deep-water oil drilling permits every month. In effect, Vitter threatened to withhold over $19,000 in salary that Salazar had every right to receive in order to force him to take the actions Vitter favored. How does Vitter’s conduct differ from offering a bribe? No at all, as far as I can see. How does it differ from extortion? Not much. Vitter was trying to force a Cabinet officer make decisions motivated by his own financial interest rather than what he believed was in the best interest of the nation. He was creating an unethical conflict of interest.

The Senate Ethics Committee has entered a statement critical of Vitter’s actions, implying that they were unethical. “While senators have long used holds on nominations to help persuade administrations to carry out or change policies, tying an incumbent secretary’s personal salary directly to his or her performance of a specific official act is different, places a secretary in a precarious and potentially untenable position and undermines a basic principle of government service,” the Committee’s letter said. But it was only words. The Committee refused to issue any sanctions against the Louisiana Senator, on the weak and absurd grounds that the rules did not specifically prohibit the tactic, though no Senator had ever done this before. The Senate rules don’t specifically prohibit strangling other Senators, either, but one would think the members of the august body could figure it out. The Code of Ethics for Government Service says that a public office is a public trust. That covers bribery and extortion, doesn’t it?

Not to this U.S. Senator. Vitter considers himself exonerated, and free to keep on squeezing the Interior Secretary while picking his pocket. “I’ll absolutely place a hold on any raise for him in the future,” Vitter said.

Some people—I believe the technical term is “sociopaths”—believe that if there are not personal penalties for wrongdoing, then it isn’t wrongdoing at all. I often wonder how many such people are in the U.S. Senate.

I know of one for sure.