Haven’t heard from Jimmy for a while…my late father’s favorite performer. (I liked him a lot too; still do.)
August 2022 was a rotten month ethically, for the nation, business-wise, for my family, for the Red Sox. I’m glad to see it go.
The opinion of national security law expert Bradley Moss after analyzing the DOJ’s filing in the Mar-a-Lago documents case is that Trump illegally retained classified documents, delayed, obstructed and resisted government efforts to recover them, and concealed the records from investigators, or at least there is enough evidence of that to support an indictment. Yet unnamed sources are telling reporters that “under DOJ policy, no investigative steps will be taken 60 days before an election,” which would be September 10 this year, so if they are going to indict, they better hustle.
Of course, they won’t. They didn’t even hustle in raiding Trump’s abode, though supposedly doing so was a matter of national security. But Donald Trump is not a public official, nor is he a political candidate in the 2018 election for any office. That alleged policy shouldn’t be a factor at all, unless the Biden Justice Department thinks that indicting Trump will mean more Republican votes. A policy directive issued in 2012 states, “[l]aw enforcement officers and prosecutors may never select the timing of investigative steps or criminal charges for the purpose of affecting any election, or for the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party.” Well, delaying indicting him or indicting him would both violate this guideline. It is how Obama’s Justice Department managed to look like it was gaming the election regarding Hillary Clinton, not that it would ever do such a thing intentionally.
If Justice has the goods and the guts, then the ethical thing is to indict the former President now. Imagine if John Roberts had announced that the Supreme Court would hold off on its Dobbs decision until after the November elections.
1. Following this story: Indiana University Northwest in Gary fired Mark McPhail, a tenured professor of communication who was the institution’s chief academic officer, in 2021. An administrator accused McPhail of having said “the solution to racism is to kill all white people.” Yes, McPhail is black. The American Association of University Professors announced this week that it is investigating Indiana University because the school “terminated his appointment based on allegations of misconduct that Prof. McPhail sharply denies, contending that the administration acted in retaliation for his outspoken criticism of the institution, including formal and informal complaints about discrimination and racial inequity on campus.” AAUP standards on tenure require that dismissal for cause must be preceded by an adjudicative hearing before an elected faculty body. McPhail was allegedly terminated without such due process.
Then another metaphorical shoe dropped: the ex-professor was appointed interim provost of Linfield University in McMinnville, Oregon, which is passing strange when the new hire is battling claims that he wants to kill white people. But this is Oregon, so there’s that. Linfield has its own problems. Its administration has been fighting with its faculty after the school abruptly terminated a tenured Jewish professor last year following his tweets calling out the university’s handing of sexual-misconduct allegations against several members of the board. About that: after sexual abuse charges were made by students against a former trustee in 2020, faculty members voted 88 to 18 on a motion of no confidence in David C. Baca, the chair of the college’s board of trustees.The board continued to support Baca. An outside agency is investigating another claim , this one by a faculty member, of “inappropriate touching” by two trustees.
Ethics Alarms 