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Tuesday, April 16, 2024

The Origin for Honesty Bond

 In 1982 I ran for State Senate as a candidate of the Libertarian Party of California.  At the time, I was also Southern California Vice Chair.  

The 20th State Senate Seat was then occupied by Alan Robbins, who instead of putting out campaign literature, sent pot holders with his name printed on them.  I have accumulated several of these, as they were free and useful.  But it both aggravated and amused me that Robbins did not say anything substantial about what he was actually doing while occupying the position to which someone, certainly not me, had elected him.  

Then, in 1991 Robbins was indicted, and pleaded guilty to federal racketeering and income tax evasion charges in connection with the Shrimpscam scandal, and was sentenced to five years in federal prison on May 2, 1991. On November 20, 1991, Robbins resigned from the California State Senate.  This was a Federal crime, and reports trickled in on the scandal.

Robbins pleaded guilty to the charge of federal racketeering and income tax evasion in connection with the Shrimpscam scandal, See Wiki.  and was sentenced to five years in federal prison on May 2, 1992.

Robbins was incarcerated in the federal prison in Lompoc, California, but was released after 18 months. After being released from the federal prison, he spent another two months in a half-way house.

By that time, I was living in North Hills, but the Robbins Pot Holder, had come along with me. 

This gave me to think about what could be done about ensuring elected officials were honest.  That is where the idea for Honesty Bond originated.  I put together the plan, and then a registered Republican and active in the National Federation of Republican Women, wrote up the idea and took literature and several large banners about the plan to the Republican Convention in 1992.  

By then, I had moved to Santa Barbara.  

That was where it started.  

But I made the mistake of handing a piece of the literature to John Fund, I had known Fund when he was newly active in the Libertarian Party years before, in fact, we had helped him on his expenses for the internship he had with Evans and Novak.  Novak recommended Fund for a job at the Wall Street Journal, leaving California behind him.  

The brochure I handed the formerly starving Fund was handed over to Newt Gingrich, one of his comrades in NeoConism and became what you know today as the Contract With America. But in Fund and Newt's NeoCon version, all accountability had been eliminated. 

I did not realize this until my daughter, Morgan Pillsbury Gell informed me of this, while we were still talking.  Fund and Morgan would start a sexual relationship on October 26, 1998 at a conference in New York while Morgan was on her way to England and Paris with my estranged husband, who also had designs on her.

You can get more on these stories at RuthlessPeople.info and TheNeoConningofAmerica.com

So, that is the story.  Here, I continue to promote the idea of accountability for those in politics, and, naturally, all other parts of our lives.   


 

Friday, February 8, 2008

The Honesty Bond Rules

Every time you hire a professional that individual is bonded. That bond is put up by the professional to ensure their honesty and that they will serve your interests. It is a kind of insurance of good faith. The Honesty Bond allows Americans control and oversight over the elected officials in which the so much trust is necessarily invested. This is another kind of insurance.

Your Congressman or President can, obviously, wreak havoc unimagined by your housecleaner or accountant.


You might ask yourself why we did not long ago insist on electing only those who put up a bond. Ask them, when you have a chance, why they do to such lengths to avoid accountability.


We need honesty. Therefore, we need to demand that each individual standing for election be bonded. We cannot wait to pass laws. Since they control our access that will never happen. Instead, we need to stop electing candidates who we cannot hold liable and remove. The Honesty Bond also allows us to decide the potential cost of electing any individual in advance.


What if people express a wish for, say Hillary Clinton, to be bonded for honesty and no company of good repute is willing to risk their money on her ability to tell the truth? Now, that would certainly provide a new way to assess the value of her as a candidate. Se how it works?


Additionally, the size of the bond stipulated would tell you a LOT about how an objective third party who would be liable, views the ethics of the individual being scrutinized. Time someone did that.


Actually, if we can get honest elections too the chances are that neither Hillary of McCain would be elected. The smart money would, in that case, be on the likelihood either would break their bond before they finished reciting the oath of office.


The bond would have to be enough to remove them.


The company setting the size of the bond will be one of those institutions who provide bonding for professionals such as brokers, insurance salesmen, and others in whom fiduciary accountability must be assured.


However, if the candidate is found to be UNBONDABLE by more than one such business or if those offering the bond are, ahem, less than satisfactory, we will not recognize the bond as being made in good faith. Good faith is something we need to insist on.


Procedure:


Honesty Bond will send a letter to every candidate for whom a listing is requested informing them that the request has been made. To list the candidate you want to see bonded get in touch with us. We will inform the media and the candidate. You can then begin innovative ways of driving home the point. Check with the Ron Paul Revolution for tips.


Each candidate will be listed along with the amounts required for bonding to take place and the institutions offering the bonding. These will be researched.


These amounts will come as bids from all bonding companies desiring to participate along with the notation of UNBONDABLE in the case that is the assessment of the any company.


We may do a lottery on which candidate will win the distinction of being deemed UNBONDABLE first.


Notifications will be sent to all media and to those candidates also confirmed as running in that election. As candidates qualify each will receive notification of the status of all other candidates for that specific office by e-mail. The Bond Document will note the specific promises offered by the candidate and the specific form the promises take. For instance, the candidate may promise to merely vote for specific legislation, legislation on a specific topic, or vote not to oppose specific legislation. Or promises could be more varied. He/she may say that he/she is faithful to his/her spouse or, for instance, that he/she does not give tongue love to foreign heads of state. All assertions, representations, and promises the candidate offers can and will be noted; conflicts between promises to different groups will also be noted for your edification.


The candidate may also offer already written legislation and promise to see that it is passed into law, laying out his or her plans for ensuring this takes place. We encourage you to be proactive in documenting lies by candidates. Please send along your sources and documentation.


Honesty Bond will encourage specificity from candidates.


The cost for bonding each candidate will be borne by the campaign organization of that candidate. As H. L. Mencken said, “Elections are futures markets in stolen property.” At least the candidates should pay the price of being bonded.


The amount specified by the bonding agent will be published on the website. Money will be payable into a fund for removal and to pursue litigation for further non-performance.


Join Honesty Bond. Get our newsletter on how candidates react, their contortions and objections. You will also receive a honest-to-goodness copy of the Liberty Pledge Certificate, the first honesty in politics program which was stolen to produce the Contract on America, suitable for framing.


We keep you up to date on which candidates are doing what to whom. We also have a forum where you can get together and discuss how to handle your own candidates, so to speak.


It needs doing.


What happens when they agree to be bonded?


After the bond is raised and paid and the candidate signs a binding contract with Honesty Bond. Certification is made and is then issued to all media outlets, all other candidates in the race, and the notarized and embossed certificate is delivered to the candidate.


What happens when they are caught lying?


The determination of forfeit will be made by five Justice Coalition Board of Governors drawn from the whole Board at random. Members will be drawn from all political parties. They will ballot by holding up nooses or leaving the noose on the table.


The means for removal will depend on the possibility for recall in the specific district. The removal will be carried out by recall of by law suit.


Accountability will then be exacted, payable at this point in Euros. And we are not kidding about any of this.