Consultants - Are they a shady crowd?

I got to thinking about consultants and whether they are, or seem to be, more "shady" than those in other professions. As a member of this profession, I like to think of myself as ethical and anything but shady. Unfortunately, I have come across too many of my brethren and, less frequently, sisthren (not a word I know), who might be less than totally above board. Even in small local races.

An example. The guy who laundered his own client's money to sent out a gratuitous hit piece full of outright lies and slander about his opponent in a water board race. Through a labyrinthine process by which the money went all over the state and eluded disclosure at several levels, it took five years for the truth to out. The candidate, now the sitting water board member got a slap on the wrist in the form of piddling $5000 fine. He's still there.

How about the guy who took the name of a well known and well regarded, but languishing organization and made his own slate card out of it to benefit his wife, running for a City Council race? How about imaginary money for work he did on her campaign and claimed was paid for by a loan - from her.

Then there's the one who stole a campaign from yours truly, lost the race, then came up to me at a party where he was attempting to again wrest a client away, and flashed his materials (the ones that lost the previous race remember) under my nose.

Some consultants just have gall.

Scandal no. 3 Michele Bachmann ethics' slip

Not that she's not enough of a scandal all on her own. Her speech patterns would scandalize any high school English teacher in the nation, but now she's in the thick of it with ethics allegations that have caused her to pull out of seeking re-election.

Oh, don't listen to those naysayers, she whines, or, to be precise, “I fully anticipate the mainstream liberal media to put a detrimental spin on my decision not to seek a fifth term,” she said in a gauzy network-television quality video posted on her campaign Web site. “They always seemed to attempt to find a dishonest way to disparage me. But I take being the focus of their attention and disparagement as a true compliment of my public service effectiveness.”(New York Times, May 29)

But with an alphabet soup of Federal agencies looking up her nighty, she can't get out of town fast enough. And to add insult to injury, the allegations come from the poor woman's own campaign team. What happened to old fashioned GOP loyalty? or is that not a word the Tea Party is familiar with?

Yes, it's fun to watch these clowns flounder in their own brew, as they try to swim out of the rapids created by their own backwash. But I'd rather they performed their sleazy antics on a daytime TV show instead of in the United States Congress where no matter how corrupt their morals or bad their grammar, they still have power to do serious damage to small children and other living things.