A recent Facebook post got me thinking about how our national legislature can enact laws restricting how people may behave in their private lives without the legislators themselves being subject to the same restrictions. Cases in point: Many positions require one must have a clean driving record and clear a criminal and background check. There is no such requirement for elected officials. Indeed, convicted felons may be allowed to serve as a Congressional Representative or Senator so long as they meet the federal requirements for serving in office (see http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34716.pdf ).
Elected felons can be expelled from office by their peers, but as of the date of this blog, this author has found that only Jim Traficant has expelled from office due to criminal conduct. The single opinion I found on the matter suggests that a member of congress convicted of a felony would be expelled (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080713061305AA2yELJ). This, however, flies in the face of the case of the late Ted Stevens (Sen. - R - Alaska) who would have been allowed to serve had he won the election.
Other positions require successfully passing a polygraph as a condition of employment and passing annual polygraphs as a condition of continued employment. No such requirement is placed on elected officials.
Convicted felons forfeit their right to vote, own firearms or run for office. However, if an elected official is convicted of a felony while in (or already running for) office, only their peers may remove them. The silver lining is that once convicted they cannot run again. There is quite a gray area covering this scenario which should be addressed by referendum.
Topics to come: Campaign Finance Reform, Elected Officials' Healthcare and more.
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