"DA records: State police head angry over release"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 4:23 p.m., Tuesday, August 5, 2008

ALBANY -- More than 8,500 pages of interviews, e-mails and documents released Tuesday include the angry testimony of the former state police superintendent who compiled specific travel records on Gov. Eliot Spitzer's chief political enemy but said he never intended the records to become public.

The testimony of former Acting Superintendent Preston Felton, made a year ago behind closed doors to the Albany County prosecutor, shows the state police veteran was angry the records he provided at the request of top Spitzer aides were released to a newspaper.

The records showed exactly where then-Senate Republican Majority Leader Joseph Bruno was traveling in New York City when he used state aircraft.

Felton, who now faces an ethics charge for his role in the scandal that paralyzed New York's government for a year, testified that William Howard, a key Spitzer public safety aide, ordered him in 2007 to create the synopsis of Bruno's travels.

The details went beyond what state police in previous administrations would release publicly about a politician's travels, Felton said.

Those details are usually kept quiet as a security precaution.

"I will say this to you, when they brought to my attention that those materials were in the newspaper, they had to scrape me off the roof because that's not why, you know, those were given to him (Howard) and it was made plain and clear to him that that's not why they were given to him," Felton said.

"My recollection is it wasn't a pleasant situation."

Felton faces an ethics charge by the state Public Integrity Commission that could result in a $10,000 fine for his role in the scandal.

Now retired, Felton has refused to comment publicly.

"We're kind of stuck in the middle of this thing," Felton testified a year ago.

"You know, provide transportation, don't provide transportation."

"They, you know, stick us in the middle, and we shouldn't be in the middle, basically."

The Public Integrity Commission, in its report issued July 24 of this year, accused Felton of "knowingly and intentionally" violating ethics law for compiling travel data "that he believed would be provided to the media by the executive chamber."

Felton said Howard was his boss and that he, as head of the state police, worked for Spitzer.

"We're part of the executive department, we have to live with that," Felton testified in the August 2007 interview with Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares.

"They changed a lot of things from the old way of doing business."

"We had to live with that."

"You know, it's just a fact of life."

Spitzer Communications Director Darren Dopp turned the state police records over to a newspaper reporter who wrote a July 2007 article that was critical of Bruno and, Spitzer aides said internally, might expose Bruno to greater attention by the FBI that was already investigating him.

The records were released under the state Freedom of Information Law, often referred to as FOIL.

"What I made clear was this is not a FOILable document," Felton testified.

Howard accepted a lesser ethics charge by the Public Integrity Commission that carries no penalty.

Dopp also faces a possible $10,000 fine by the Public Integrity Commission if the ethics charge against him is proven.

Dopp has told Soares that Spitzer played a larger role in the release of records in the scandal than he and his lawyers have acknowledged.

The Public Integrity Commission also picked up a copy of the Soares documents Tuesday.

As for Spitzer, the governor was asked in his voluntary, unsworn interview if he ever ordered "any type of surveillance by anyone on Senator Bruno."

"Absolutely not," Spitzer stated.

The Democrat also said he was unaware of any change in policy for the release of state records.

But internal e-mails, in which he identifies himself only by his middle name "Laurence," shows Spitzer was angry at Bruno.

On June 22, 2007, "Laurence" said he wanted to reach out to other senators in part because "it will further undermine Bruno if we go around him."

A May 16, 2007, e-mail with typos and sentence fragments from Laurence also says of Bruno:

"I want to punch back at him."

"He is making personal attacks and I am going really go after him at some point."

E-mails exchanged the day the Bruno story ran in the Albany newspaper, showed Spitzer aides sought to capitalize.

"How does it look?" Spitzer wrote early that day.

"Gotta see to believe," Dopp responded.

"Think we need to move quickly to refer it to proper authorities."

"Wow."

"He's got a problem," Dopp e-mailed Secretary to the Governor Rich Baum.

"Ground him and refer to IG?" he also wrote, referring to the state Inspector General's Office.

"Exactly," Baum wrote.

In other records released Tuesday, a top Spitzer aide said the governor approved the decision to have aides submit written statements instead of personally testifying in the attorney general's initial investigation into the dirty tricks scandal that followed the newspaper article.

Spitzer's approval came even as the governor was saying publicly that he and his administration would fully cooperate with the probe.

The records also show some statements provided by the governor's office were handled in a way that they ended up being "perjury proof" and that two top aides at the center of the travel scandal differed in their recollection.

The DA's report did not conclude if the statements by Dopp and Baum were intentionally made perjury-proof.

In his testimony, governor's counsel David Nocenti "emphatically denied" he intentionally orchestrated the aides' statements in such a way that Dopp and Baum couldn't face perjury charges.

After first concluding there was no plot, Soares later issued a report in which Dopp accused the governor of ordering the release of the travel records.

There was no immediate comment Tuesday from Spitzer's spokeswoman.

He resigned March 17 after he was named in a federal prostitution investigation.

"Thousands of hours have been expended over the past year to uncover that no laws were broken and that politicians will always attempt to undermine their political enemies," Soares said.

------

AP Writers Valerie Bauman and Michael Virtanen contributed to this report from Albany.

I got stuck in the middle, too ....

And HARD ...

To make an example to others who might think of doing the same thing that I was doing - CHALLENGING CORRUPTION in New York State ....

And so ...

POLITICIANS in New York State are very dangerous children ...

And so ...

AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN, I FIND IT INCREDIBLE, IN THE LIGHT OF THESE FINDINGS OF THE U.S. "JUSTICE" DEPARTMENT INSPECTOR GENERAL RECENTLY ABOUT THE POLITICIZATION OF THE U.S. "JUSTICE" DEPARTMENT BY THE BUSHIAN WHITE HOUSE TO KEEP OUT "CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS" AND "HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS", THAT GEORGE W. BUSH CAN NOW STAND UP ON THE WORLD STAGE AND OPENLY CRITICIZE THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA FOR EXACTLY THE SAME OFFENSES THAT BUSH HIMSELF HAS BEEN FOSTERING AND PROMOTING HERE IN OUR AMERICA FOR THESE LAST EIGHT LONG YEARS ....

And so ...

"From Bush, rebuke and praise - President lauds China's market reforms but strongly criticizes its human rights record"

By BEN FELLER, Associated Press

First published: Thursday, August 7, 2008

BANGKOK, Thailand -- With all eyes on Beijing, President Bush bluntly told China that America stands in "firm opposition" to the way the communist government represses its own people, a rebuke delivered from the heart of Asia on the cusp of the Olympic Games.

Bush balanced his chiding with praise for China's market reforms and hope that it will embrace freedom, reflecting the delicate balance that Bush seeks to strike with the potent U.S. rival.

"We speak out for a free press, freedom of assembly, and labor rights not to antagonize China's leaders, but because trusting its people with greater freedom is the only way for China to develop its full potential," Bush said in perhaps his last major Asia address.

"And we press for openness and justice not to impose our beliefs, but to allow the Chinese people to express theirs," the president said.

Bush's brought his message to Thailand, a turbulent democracy.

The marquee speech of his three-country trip hailed deepening ties between the U.S. and Asia.

He pledged that whoever follows him in the White House will inherit an alliance now stronger than ever.

The President planned to quickly pivot from his speech to a full day of outreach toward the people of Myanmar, who live under military rule across the border.

Heading eagerly to the Beijing Olympics himself as a sports fan, Bush faced pressures all around: a desire not to embarrass China in its moment of glory, a call for strong words by those dismayed by China's repression, and a determination to remind the world he has been pushing China to allow greater freedom during his presidency.

But his message will surely be noted in China, which has already knocked Bush for intruding in its affairs by hosting Chinese dissidents at the White House.

"The leadership in Beijing will almost certainly find his comments irritating or objectionable," said Sophie Richardson, the Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch.

"But they will clearly understand that the United States will not impose any real consequences if they do not make progress on human rights."

Seeking an event scrubbed free of protest, China has rounded up opponents and slapped restrictions on journalists, betraying promises when it landed the hosting rights.

"America stands in firm opposition to China's detention of political dissidents, human rights advocates, and religious activists," Bush said.

He tempered his remarks by saying China has the right to choose its own course.

A committment to Reform is the Deficit remaining in the Obama Campaign.

Livy, first let me say i feel for you. It's always annoying and time consuming having to deal with anonymous, unidentified intimidation.

Two questions:
- what's the sign post made of and just how hard has it been to shear it off ?
- how many other houses on that road you live on ?

Thank you sincerely for the kind thoughts, picadilly ....

They are very much appreciated, and they also help me to get some "distance" between myself and this event, which is the critical factor right now, to lose the numbness ....

The sign post was one of those metal posts that is formed into a kind of "U" with wings ....

The sign post would have had to have been pushed over and then worked back and forth several times to shear the metal as it was sheared, which was not clean ....

The one deputy sheriff thought they had run it down with a car, but the sign was not at all damaged .....

It took some work to break that sign post off, and it was broke off down at ground level, not further up ....

It wasn't something that you could do easily at all, and I don't know if one person alone could have done it ....

There are a handful of houses on my road ....

It is a country lane that is not lit ....

The people who live there are mostly older than I am, and have been there for years ....

We can't see each other's houses from where I am ....

My protection has been my invisibility ....

Or so I thought ....

Now that has been stripped from me ...

And so ...

One reason that I started this thread, rla, is because incidents like this usually stay way underneath the radar ....

They stay hidden from sight ....

The tree that fell in the woods when no one was around, so no one was there to hear it fall ....

You cannot commit to reform if you are unaware of the need for it, rla ....

That is just how it goes ....

And when people like this perp believe that no one cares, or will care, or might even congratulate them for "finally killing that son of a *****" ....

Then they are motivated to take action ....

Action as digusting as this was ....

And intimidating, as well ...

The big state trooper put it this way, rla --- IT IS NOW A QUALITY OF LIFE ISSUE .....

That is reassuring, because to me, it puts things in their proper perspective with respect to this UGLY incident ....

And so ...

I understand Livyjr...hits a jungle out thar...I hope I have at least 10 more good years of it...

Well they had to do it quick, couldn't pussyfoot around.

My guess is they did run it down, you might liek to check the posts for marks.
Did they dust the post for prints, by the way ?

I wouldn't look to far back in time or in dis.

Me, too, rla .....

Well, picadilly ....

Your first point is interesting ....

While there are not a lot of houses around, there is one right down near where the stop sign was broken off ....

And did they have to do it quick?

A dark night out on a country road without much traffic ....

I did take a good look at the stop sign pole while waiting for the sheriffs to get there ....

And they took pictures of it ....

But no, they did not dust it for prints ....

I looked at the post myself, because I was curious as to how they did break it off ....

The only mark that I could see was a black smear down near the bottom of it which was strange-looking ...

It might be off of a snow-plow mount that hangs down below a vehicle's frame up here ....

At this point, there is not a lot of doubt as to the "quarter" from which this assault on my quality of life came ....

The doubt now is related to where it is going to go ....

The "suspects" are from a politically-protected family up here ....

Protected by the local judge and the county District Attorney ....

Up here, there is no way to force a DA to prosecute a case, and so, the DA's in their turn can put the "arm" around people to make them untouchables ....

Literally ...

And there appears to be nothing on the surface that the police or anyone else can do about it ....

That is a part of the reason I have this thread going in here ....

In retrospect, I wish that like yourself, I had thought of dusting that sign post for fingerprints ....

I was too upset and disgusted by the whole thing at the time to be thinking more clearly, it seems ....

And so ...

Thanks for the feed-back, picadilly .....

It is appreciated from the standpoint of keeping me analytical instead of emotional about this in here ....

Emotional serves no purpose other than to burn up gobs of energy ....

And that is crippling ....

Mind-crippling ....

And so ...

Actually there is, provided you can link the suspects to another district that will investigate, or has a criminal record against them, any criminal record.

You could also get your insurance to prosecute, and generally they do it from always the same district, generally another district than yours.

Well, picadilly ...

THE GAME ....

The political GAME to be exact .....

POWER ....

And that takes us back to PROTECTION ....

And its relationship to holding POLITICAL POWER up here in NYS ....

PUBLICLY, in 1986, I was tasked as a public health engineer with cleaning out the corruption in a county health department up here that defined the term CORRUPTION ...

And that is not just me talking to talk ...

That is a point made in hundreds of pages of FBI records which I have in my possession right before me as I sit here now ....

In a March 16, 1989 Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it states as follows with respect to that CORRUPT county health department, to wit:

"According to [name deleted], the results of the State's investigation were that New York State laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, Rensselaer County laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, and there was very little 'enforcement activity' even in the face of illegal sales."

"According to [name deleted], the object of any county health department (in the state of New York) is to protect the public, and not to facilitate developers, or development."

"In the case of Rensselaer County, it appears that the Rensselaer County Health Department was in business to facilitate developers and development rather than to protect the public!"

end quotes

There is ALPHA, for all practical purposes, picadilly ....

And those same FBI records are in the possession of the State of New York and the U.S. government, and they are on file as public documents down in New York City in the records of the U.S. 2d Circuit Court of Appeals ....

So someone like yourself, independant of me, could go and get these same FBI records, and review them and come to whatever conclusions that they might come to ....

And it all goes back to these THREE SENTENCES right above here ....

Now, there are then two possibilities ....

Either the FBI was telling the truth ....

"According to [name deleted], the results of the State's investigation were that New York State laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, Rensselaer County laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, and there was very little 'enforcement activity' even in the face of illegal sales."

OR THE FBI WAS LYING ....

But there is a separate "state investigation" which is also a matter of public record, so we will assume that the FBI was not lying when it wrote those words ...

VERY LITTLE ENFORCEMENT ACTION EVEN IN THE FACE OF ILLEGAL SALES ....

THE MORTGAGE SCAM OF TODAY IN ITS INFANCY IN NYS, picadilly ....

Here we are, TWENTY YEARS LATER, and the fruit of then is in full bloom now, not only here in the USA, but in the world as well, as financial institutions and world governments find that they are holding BOGUS PAPER ....

While publicly, I was supposed to be rooting out this CORRUPTION, behind closed doors, I was supposed to be keeping it going by simply signing off on more and more and more BOGUS PAPER ....

THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF IT ....

And each month, the quota had to go up ....

I refused ...

And a stand-off ensued for a while ....

But only for a while ....

The politicians sit around and figure out a way to get rid of you, and then they put it in motion up here, and in my case, that method was to resort to violence against myself ....

There is an operative saying up here as follows: EVERYBODY HAS A PRICE, OR A LIMIT - IF WE CAN'T REACH THE FIRST, THEN WE'LL TAKE YOU TO THE SECOND ....

In my case, I didn't have a PRICE then, and I still don't .....

So then, I had to be BROKEN ....

In the summer of 1988, I was ordered to go out to a certain place and when I got there, a back-hoe operator came within an inch of knocking my head clean off in front of a group of "witnesses" ....

I began moving when the back-hoe operator's hands began moving on the controls, and thankfully, I pulled back just enough to have the bucket miss my head as it went by literally right in front of my nose ....

Unfortunately, I was wearing a hat and the back-hoe bucket caught the brim of the hat and spun my head sideways and around and tore scar tissue in the back of my head and neck from getting wounded in Viet Nam ....

My health went into a severe decline because of that ....

When I went back to my office still alive to confront my boss, the little CORRUPT COWARD piled into a corner of his office and cried out that he had nothing to do with that ....

That "solution" came from above him ...

And that is the ALPHA before the FBI ALPHA .....

When that back-hoe operator failed to knock my head off in a pre-planned anbush, then I became a real serious problem for these people ....

AND ....

The back-hoe operator who did that got PROTECTION ...

Now, that ambush was not done in secret or in isolation and this is in a small town in a rural county ....

So sides were taken, and lines were drawn ....

EVERYBODY but a handful were on the side of CORRUPTON ....

And nobody but a small powerless handful were on my side ....

"YOU BROUGHT IT ON YOURSELF!"

"GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT AND THEY WILL LEAVE YOU ALONE!"

This came from the "AUTHORITIES", picadilly ....

"IT'S POLITICAL, I'M NOT GETTING INVOLVED!"

That came from "law enforcement" up here ....

The U.S. Attorney's Office ....

The State Attorney general ....

The FBI ....

"You have powerful enemies ..."

I think of all of them, the FBI is the most cowardly crowd that I have ever encountered in my whole life ....

And there is where it is up here, picadilly ....

I am writing these words from between the rock and the hard place ....

And so ....

I'm not sure how I malfunctioned. My post went to the wrong place and I'm trying to find it.

I hope that you make it back alright, rla ....

Most of CYBERSPACE is still uncharted wilderness, afterall ....

You could be lost in a warp in time for ages in there, rla ....

And so ....

You are so right, rla ....

Excessive emotion can cripple us ....

It can even kill us ....

There is a class of OCCUPATIONAL DISABILITY here in NYS that stems from INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS by the employer ....

The County of Rensselaer in New York State set the precedent in court proceedings for that CLASS of DISABILITY in New York State ....

I collect a small Worker's Compensation permanent disability pension from Rensselaer County based on that precedent for its having stipulated in Workers' Compensation proceedings in New York State that it caused me permanent harm through its intentional infliction of emotional distress on me while I served as a public health engineer in Rensselaer County ...

When they say that they are going to take you to your limit, they mean by the INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS ....

It is an art form in Rensselaer County ....

The 1988 back-hoe assault, by way of example ...

This incident last weekend is a further example of how they go about breaking you and keeping you broken ...

They need you to keep feeling entirely powerless ....

I counter that by BLOGGING about it in here, which restores power to me, and defuses the emotional component which can be so overpowering ...

To not be broken, you have to escape the emotional gravity of it ....

And that is sometimes most difficult to do ...

That is why the CORRUPT POLITICIANS up here like to resort to INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS ....

It is like kids pulling the wings off of flies ....

They just like to torture ....

And so they do ....

And so ...

Speaking of the INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS by the County of Rensselaer in the State of New York, this following October 13, 1988 letter from the Rensselaer County Department of Health to the New York State Department of Health concerning myself clearly demonstrated Rensselaer County's intent in October of 1988 to subject me to an ever-increasing CAMPAIGN OF TERROR against myself if I would not leave off with my investigation of corruption in Rensselaer County at that time ....

This October 13, 1988 letter was retrieved from the files of the New York State Department of Health by myself through FREEDOM OF INFORMATION and served as one of the foundation documents or evidence to support my successful Worker's Compensation suit against the County of Rensselaer seeking damages for INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS by them on me beginning in 1987 and continuing though October of 1988 ...

And so ...

October 13, 1988

Dr. Ian T. Loudon, M.D.
Regional Health Director
State of New York Department of Health
Albany Regional Office
Building 7A
State Office Building Campus
Albany, New York 12226

Dear Dr. Loudon,

As of October 13, 1988, our Director of Environmental Health/Associate Public Health Engineer has been placed on a paid leave of absence status for thirty working days.

A copy of my memorandum to the County Executive on this matter, which cites contributing factors, is attached hereto.

Although there are other options available for dealing with this issue, I HAVE HOPES THAT THE LEAST PAINFUL AND MOST HUMANITARIAN APPROACH HAS BEEN INITIALLY TAKEN.

WHETHER Livyjr SEES IT THAT WAY OR NOT, I CAN'T SAY.

Kenneth Van Praag
Rensselaer County Public Health Director

THE LEAST PAINFUL AND MOST HUMANITARIAN APPROACH HAS BEEN INITIALLY TAKEN ....

Talk about a pregnant phrase, alright ....

And so ....

The intentional infliction of emotional pain from Government and Business it to impose compliance
domesticly. When used internationally, we call it, "Coercive Diplomacy."

Well,you can do what we did.

We live out in the middle of nowhere so when we moved in here I invested about 500 bucks in a video surveillence system. Anything which happens out here is captured on the hard drive of my computer. And to keep anybody from sneaking up to the house or barn I invested another 500 bucks in a wireless annunciator system. Walk into any ofthe zones covering the barn, house, and driveway will announce an intruders presence inside the house. The only downside is coyotes keep sitting it off a couple a times every month.

Before we moved in here we had a couple of problems with the local meth addicts coming around to steal. I caught one of them one night and now have the reputation of that crazy with a pump shotgun with the thieves in the area. They go elsewhere to steal now.

Thanks for that thought, Marine ...

But I have deer all around my house at night ....

And other living things, too ....

Anything that detects motion would be having me crazy ....

I've already considered that option ....

If this keeps up, then I would have to go with video surveillance ....

Does that work in the dark, though, Marine?

And I'm not getting a gun .....

I refuse to go that route ....

And I shouldn't have to on my own property ....

And so ...

I agree.

There is of course a very obvious set of problems here with regard to OUR sovereignty as citizens in an alleged REPUBLIC when the "government" can take repressive actions against us for UPHOLDING THE LAW AS PUBLIC SERVANTS in OUR OWN GOVERNMENT, instead of being corrupt ....

SOVEREIGN PEOPLE: The political body, consisting of the entire number of citizens and qualified electors, who, in their collective capacity, possess the powers of sovereignty and exercise them through their chosen representatives ....

- Black's Law Dictionary

As was made incandescently clear in a March 16, 1989 Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the situation in Rensselaer County as I encountered it in June of 1986 was as follows, to wit:

"According to [name deleted], the results of the State's investigation were that New York State laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, Rensselaer County laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, and there was very little 'enforcement activity' even in the face of illegal sales."

"According to [name deleted], the object of any county health department (in the state of New York) is to protect the public, and not to facilitate developers, or development."

"In the case of Rensselaer County, it appears that the Rensselaer County Health Department was in business to facilitate developers and development rather than to protect the public!"

end quotes

The Rensselaer County Department of Health exists in the first place because the people of Rensselaer County voted in 1946, the year I was born, to have Rensselaer County be a HEALTH DISTRICT pursuant to the New York State Public Health Law.

There is a New York State Public Health Law because in 1938, I believe it was, the people of New York State voted to amend the New York State Constitution to make the public's health a matter of state concern ....

The New York State Public Health Law was subsequently amended to allow for creation of county health districts and county health departments in rural counties in New York State, and in 1946, the people of Rensselaer County became the first people in the State of New York to so create a county health department ....

THE ISSUE IS ONE OF HONEST DELIVERY OF GOVERNMENT SERVICES ....

By 1986, it was apparent that WE SOVEREIGN CITIZENS of Rensselaer County WERE NOT GETTING honest delivery of government services from the Rensselaer County Department of Health ...

As an associate level public health engineer in New York State, I documented that exact corruption in the Rensselaer County Department of Health as was subsequently stated above in the FBI Report ...

Those were my findings based on my evidence from my investigation pursuant to the NYS Public Health Law ....

And by October 11, 1988, I was getting ready to prepare a summary of my findings for the New York State Health Commissioner, Dr. David Axelrod ....

The following day, October 12, 1988, I was called into the office of the Rensselaer County Public Health Director at 4:45 P.M., and I was told that I had upset some of the most powerful men in Rensselaer County, and that he could no longer protect me ....

He told me to not go home, to leave Rensselaer County and to keep driving .....

To get as far away as I could before nightfall ....

And I was to make no attempt to go around him to the New York State Department of Health ...

The following day, he sent that letter above here to Dr. Ian Loudon of the New York State Department of Health confirming that he had gotten rid of me as a threat to the STATUS QUO, which is described above here in the FBI records .....

"DON'T MAKE THEM HAVE TO HURT YOU, FOR THEY WILL!"

They can, because the courts allow them too ....

We are no longer sovereign citizens here where I am ....

The government is not ours .....

We are no longer entitled to HONEST DELIVERY OF GOVERNMENT SERVICES UP HERE where I am ....

WE ARE SUBJECT TO REPRESSION IF WE TRY TO PROVIDE THEM IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAW AS IT IS WRITTEN ...

And so ...

The political implications here is how to influence the Obama Campaign to take on a larger
and more intense initiative to Reduce Corrunption and Incompetence?

And that of necessity takes you right into the very heart of FACTION, rla ....

And the holding of power ....

What is necessary for a politician like Obama to gain and hold power in America ....

The deals and compromises he of necessity must make ...

There is where people like me go right under the wheels of the bus ....

SPLAT!

And so ...

That is certainly a danger. Things may not get better fast enough to prevent them from getting worse...

"Politicians do not have to steal to make a living because a crook is a fool and a politician can become a millionaire through 'honest graft."

GRAFT: the popular meaning is the fraudulent obtaining of public money unlawfully by the corruption of public officers ...

Advantage or personal gain received because of peciliar position or superior influence of one holding position of trust and confidence without rendering compensatory services, or dishonest transaction in relation to public or official acts, and sometimes implies theft, corruption, dishonesty, fraud, or swindle, and always want of integrity ...

CORRUPTION: An act done with an intent to give some advantage inconsistent with official duty and the rights of others.

The act of an official or fiduciary person who unlawfully and wrongly uses his station or character to procure some benefit for himself or for another person, contrary to duty and the rights of others ...

DUTY: a human action which is exactly conformable to laws which require us to obey them ...

Legal or moral obligation ...

An obligation that one has by law or contract ...

AN OBLIGATION, RECOGNIZED BY LAW, REQUIRING ACTOR TO CONFORM TO CERTAIN STANDARD OF CONDUCT FOR PROTECTION OF OTHERS AGAINST UNREASONABLE RISKS ...

Those obligations of performance, care or observance which rest upon a person in an official or fiduciary capacity ...

The word "duty" is used throughout the Restatement of Torts to denote the fact that the actor is required to conduct himself in a particular manner at the risk that if he does not do so he becomes subject to liability to another to whom the duty is owed for any injury sustained by such other, of which that actor's conduct is a legal cause ....

In its use in jurisprudence, this word is the correlative of right.

Thus, wherever there exists a right in any person, there also rests a corresponding duty upon some other person or upon all persons generally ....

- Black's Law Dictionary

Livyjr, this appears to be a good enough to start with, Operational Definition, at a
more concrete & specific level, for the phrase (Term), I have been refering to in several Threads as, the "Rights and Obligations of a Person in a Soverign Nation", accross all Nations, through Time,
throughtout the Total Human Social System.

DO OTHERS HAVE OTHER OTHER WAYS for reducing Corruption and Incompetence?

PERMANENT INJURY: physical or mental impairment or disability which will last throughout life, or injury reasonably certain to be followed by permanent impairment of earning capacity or one producing permanent irremedial pain ...

PERSON: in general usage, a human being, though by statute term may include labor organizations, partherships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, or receivers ....

Scope and delineation of term is necessary for determining those to whom Fourteenth Amendment of Constitution affords protection since this Amendment expressly applies to "person" .....

Aliens are "persons" within meaning of Fourteenth Amendment and are thus protected by equal protection clause against discriminatory state action ....

- Black's Law Dictionary