Pete Williams of NBC raised the question on
MSNBC this afternoon:
Is Hillary Clinton barred by the Constitution from accepting the post of Secretary of State? Article One, Section Six of the U.S. Constitution says the following....
"No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office."
Essentially, you cannot take a job if the salary was increased during your current congressional term. And the salary for cabinet officials has gone up in the past year. Of course, no one will raise this question, especially the Republicans who would be thought to be mean and vindictive for even mentioning this fact. But the idea is, members of the Senate could raise the salaries for positions to any level of pay rate, then accept the position, a clear cut conflict of interest. Trivial, but interesting, to be sure. Obviously MSNBC's Pete Williams is on the top of his constitutional game. Now prove Obama is not a native born citizen, and that would be another matter entirely....
No comments:
Post a Comment