The Metcalfe plan

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: August 7, 2008 - 12:29 pm

From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage --

Ray Metcalfe says it's too hard to convict politicians and he's proposing to make it easier.

To convict on federal bribery charges, prosecutors have to prove there was quid pro quo - meaning an exchange of an official act for a gift or other thing of value. Metcalfe, running in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, said it would be one of his highest priorities to lower the bar for conviction.

Here's the statute he proposes:

The act of using one's elected or appointed office to direct government contracts, assets, or favored treatment, to one's associate, client, business partner or contributors is a class C felony for the elected or appointed official and the participating recipient(s) regardless of whether a quid pro quo is proven.

Penalty guidelines for persons convicted of a class C felony require sentences of not less than 10 years or more than 25. Such a law would go a long ways toward eliminating corruption at all levels of government.

Here's what Metcalfe has to say about it:

In the absence of proof that a vote or official act was promised in exchange for a payment, current federal law requires prosecutors to convince twelve jurors that acts that do not appear related on first view really were related. Proving beyond a reasonable doubt that a private citizen brought a public official into a lucrative business deal as a means of masking a bribe is a tall order for a prosecutor. That high hurdle is likely part of the reason the FBI's corruption investigations have taken so long.

If elected, I will establish a corruption tip-line within my U.S. Senate office and use the powers of the office to assure the vigorous investigation and prosecution of all credible evidence of corruption in local, state, and federal government.

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