The American experiment with representative democracy has been a great success, but we need to realize that it needs to be a genuine representative democracy where ordinary people have a vote, have a voice in choosing the candidates who represent them.

Richard Painter

Categorized in : Great People Success Democracy

If she wants to go and shill for her favorite candidate ... in her personal capacity on her own front lawn, she's free to do so, but in an official interview on White House property, she doesn't have the right to do that.

Richard Painter

I don’t want this to be an attack on Boy Scouts, i think it would be sad for people to turn on the Boy Scouts and portray them as a right-wing organization.

Richard Painter

Scouting prepares Democratic and Republican [ boys ] alike to be loyal to their country, their values transcend political party, and patriotism is critical [ to them ], they have an American flag on their sleeve, not a picture of President Trump.

Richard Painter

What drives my view is the meaning of the word pardon – forgivene... by Richard Painter

What drives my view is the meaning of the word pardon – forgiveness, to forgive someone else.

Richard Painter

Why in the world would the Founders want that in the constitution... by Richard Painter

Why in the world would the Founders want that in the constitution.

Richard Painter

It is very important for the White House to acknowledge she is an employee and not play games, they have given her an office. I’m assuming they will give her the devices — which she needs, because the last thing we need is to be playing ‘Hillary games’ on a private server. She’s going to get security clearance -- she is a government employee.

Richard Painter

You don’t need to be full time or have a salary to be considered... by Richard Painter

You don’t need to be full time or have a salary to be considered a government employee.

Richard Painter

This is a program that's been around for a long time, but we shouldn't have a president making decisions about that program when he himself stands to benefit from the investments that these people are making because, once again, what this program is all about is telling people you're going to get residency in the United States if you bring a lot of money along with you and invest it in American businesses, the President should not be the owner of some of those businesses that are going to be getting that money if he's administering that program, or if his administration is.

Richard Painter

He bent over backwards to get things done – he was a strong suppo... by Richard Painter

He bent over backwards to get things done – he was a strong supporter of our ethics program.

Richard Painter

Hillary Clinton was already the first lady during her appointment, she already had an office in the White House.

Richard Painter

It applies to the entire government, president-Elect Trump should try to negotiate with Congress a change to the statute, because here is the problem: if these family members are, de facto, serving as senior advisers, it would be better to just allow it formally, as to avoid any conflict of interest statutes.

Richard Painter

His family members have a lot more of an informed understanding of policy than some of the people being hired as advisers, i think his family members are pragmatists and he could very well benefit from their input and advice.

Richard Painter

Kushner and the children would have to sell off their interest in any enterprises that would interact with the legislation they are advising on.

Richard Painter

We were told they were going to separate the business from the pr... by Richard Painter

We were told they were going to separate the business from the presidency.

Richard Painter

We've got to get the money out of the system. Our country's going to be run by global corporate wealth.

Richard Painter

It is very difficult to ask family members and family trusts to sell stocks when they will surely get hit with a capital gains tax for doing so, The best answer is sometimes to live with the conflict.

Richard Painter

Donald Trump wants to ignore the rule of law. He ignores the Constitution. He ignores the subpoenas. The Republicans in the House and Senate are afraid to stand up to him, with only a few exceptions.

Richard Painter

stand-up ignore constitution law

If ethics is limited to financial conflicts of interest - that's really what I did in the Bush White House - that's a huge problem for me because Trump refused to sell his businesses. We don't know where he's getting his financing.

Richard Painter

me ethics problem white

It is rational Republicans who want to pull the plug on the Trump... by Richard Painter

It is rational Republicans who want to pull the plug on the Trump presidency.

Richard Painter

pull who rational want

If President Trump will not remove White House officials who are clearly violating the law, he's not doing his job and this would be yet another grounds for Congress considering impeaching and removing the president.

Richard Painter

job law white house