Congress has lost its mind...

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by glatt

Sure it's out of line, but it's what I would expect from a pig like Steele. He's just throwing mud and hoping it will stick.

Nothing wrong with recommending a friend or even a lover for a job they are qualified for. The ultimate decision to hire wouldn't have been his, and he wouldn't have been supervising her. I've recommended friends for jobs. Wouldn't you?

Are there no standards for getting people jobs that you are romantically involved with? I do believe there are such rules in government. Anyone who was in the running might be able to file a lawsuit to say there was significant bias in the hiring. It just opens up a number of possibilities for putting the process under a microscope. This is much different than "recommending" a friend for a job.

It just seems to have an appearance of impropriety and that is not a good thing when talking about elected officials getting government jobs for people they are romantically involved with.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

appearance of impropriety

Based on my reading of your article, this is exactly the opposite of an impropriety. Did you read the article? She was working in his office for him. He fell in love with her. Because he wanted to avoid the appearance of impropriety in his office, they thought it would be best if she didn't work for him any more. So he recommended her for another job for which she was qualified. The US Attorney job would have taken her back to the state where she had formerly been a highly regarded state prosecutor. The same type of work she had done so well before, but in a different court system.

It all wound up being moot though, because she found an even better job without his help.

The thing this demonstrates is that the Republicans here are just throwing mud and hoping some will stick. There is nothing to investigate. The facts are all known, and they make Baucus look pretty good and Steele look like a pig.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by glatt

Based on my reading of your article, this is exactly the opposite of an impropriety. Did you read the article? She was working in his office for him. He fell in love with her. Because he wanted to avoid the appearance of impropriety in his office, they thought it would be best if she didn't work for him any more. So he recommended her for another job for which she was qualified. The US Attorney job would have taken her back to the state where she had formerly been a highly regarded state prosecutor. The same type of work she had done so well before, but in a different court system.

It all wound up being moot though, because she found an even better job without his help.

The thing this demonstrates is that the Republicans here are just throwing mud and hoping some will stick. There is nothing to investigate. The facts are all known, and they make Baucus look pretty good and Steele look like a pig.

I guess I read a few of the articles and they ran together. I did not read that, "Because he wanted to avoid the appearance of impropriety in his office, they thought it would be best if she didn't work for him any more." But you know that when someone with his power calls up the other guy and says, "hey I have a great person I think you should consider for a job", it appears that favors are being done and preferential treatment is being given for back door deals. If I was one of the other 2 people being considered for the job I would make a huge deal out of it.

[glatt]

Well, the "other guy" here is the POTUS, so the power of a senator isn't really that impressive.

If you were one of the other 2 guys being recommended by the Senator to the POTUS, would you really make a stink about it? Seriously? You have a Senator going to bat for you with the POTUS, and you are going to complain? Once your name starts circulating at that level, you would be foolish to rock the boat.

My comment of "Because he wanted to avoid the appearance of impropriety in his office, they thought it would be best if she didn't work for him any more." came from this in the article article you linked.

In a statement issued by his office Saturday, Baucus said that "as we grew closer and things progressed, we knew it was time to begin the process of Mel transitioning out of my Senate office."