Congressman David Schweikert and His Moral Bank Account

There is disappointing news about an ethics scandal in the office of Congressman David Schweikert. The fine imposed by the U.S. House of Representatives (Arizona Congressional District 6) for $50,000, paid by the Congressman, is indicative of serious improprieties. While some of this seems to surround his chief of staff Oliver Schwab, the responsibility is always with the boss.

As we peruse news reports, the exact nature of the violations remains unclear. Campaign finance laws can be quite arcane and difficult, but such laws are written by Congress, are they not?

But the concern many Conservatives have is the Congressman has drunk the murky water of the Potomac, found a comfortable lily paid, and has taken up residence in the swamp; something many of us are trying to drain.

We hope that is not the case.

So, what does a Conservative do under these circumstances?

The theologian and talk show host Dennis Prager has an interesting way of framing these kinds of issues.  He says each person has a moral bank account. A person makes deposits of good deeds into the account over a lifetime. Because of the basic sinful nature of people, we all unfortunately make withdrawals as well.

There is not one of us who is perfect so we must judge a life, a career and assess the moral balance remaining in an individual’s moral bank account.

David Schweikert has been, on balance, a good representative of his Arizona District, earning a better than 98% rating with the American Conservative Union Foundation. He has not been involved in previous infractions. From a Conservative perspective, you can’t get much better than his voting record.

In the limited interactions we have personally had with him, he was always gracious and uncommonly well informed, especially on budget issues.

We regret his actions and do not mean to minimize our disappointment in him. This was all unnecessary. It is also dangerous, for Arizona is at risk of turning purple and shading towards blue. His seat is important and he should not mess with our political health for his own benefit.

He has made a substantial withdrawal from his moral bank account with this incident. However, the balance is still positive, especially because this appears to be the first time he has gotten into this kind of difficulty.

His seat is too important for Conservatives to lose, and with his moral bank account still strongly in positive territory, we will pinch our nose and vote for him again and support him, letting him know we don’t want to see this kind of problem ever again.

We suggest you do likewise.