Opinion: A defining moment for Alaska’s congressional delegation

Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich must choose between complicity and commitment to their fundamental constitutional obligations as legislators. Like so many scandals before, the root cause and means of correction for our current national crisis resides in the deliberative body, not the executive.

It’s been nearly 25 years since energy giant Enron filed for bankruptcy. The company collapsed after it was discovered that CEO Kenneth Lay and other executives had concealed massive debt through fraudulent accounting practices. Billions disappeared from pension plans and retirement accounts of ordinary people across the country.

Executives, like Mr. Lay, capture our attention with their boundless capacity to believe in themselves to the very end, even as the lies, abuse and secrets finally catch up with them.

Despite the coverage they receive, such leaders are really a symptom of a more serious underlying autoimmune disease: a systemic failure of the organization’s policymaking and oversight body.

Time and again, boards that could prevent or contain executive misconduct are caught up in the success of the moment, blinded by groupthink, constrained by the perceived necessities of competitive edge and public image, and passive in response to a forceful leader considered integral to the organization’s success.

The U.S. government provides an unparalleled example of this dual failure of executive leadership and legislative oversight.

President Trump has:

• Been found civilly liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll and is the subject of numerous credible allegations of sexual misconduct.

• Incited an attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters, threatened the vice president and members of Congress in an attempt to interfere with the peaceful transition of power, and later pardoned or commuted the sentences of all those criminally convicted of violence against D.C. and Capitol police during the attack.

• Openly profited off the presidency through the use of cryptocurrency pay-for-play political schemes to the tune of billions of dollars.

• Weaponized departments of the federal government to target his personal enemies.

• Terrorized lawful immigrants and U.S. citizens and stoked domestic conflict through the use of militarized and masked federal police forces in the name of crime reduction and immigration enforcement.

• Threatened our allies with military action in contravention of ratified U.S. treaties and committed acts of war without congressional approval.

• Through his Department of Justice, illegally concealed the names of possible co-conspirators in a case of child sex trafficking associated with the highest echelons in our society, a case in which the president himself is potentially implicated.

Congress is the United States’ board of directors. It is responsible for investigating executive misconduct and, if warranted, impeaching and removing the president and cabinet members.

Members of Congress who refuse to perform their constitutional duties of oversight share responsibility for President Trump’s actions.

That Sen. Sullivan and Rep. Begich belong to the same party as the president is irrelevant. No one considers it a valid excuse if trustees happen to belong to the same political party as the executive leadership they are charged with overseeing. The job remains the same: oversight, accountability, exercise of budgetary authority and policymaking.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, often alone in her party, has stood up to the Trump administration, modeling the independent-minded leadership we need from all members of the legislative branch.

The United States of America is not a large energy company. Much more is at stake. Innocent people in Alaska and across the nation and world will suffer even more if Republican legislators, including Sen. Sullivan and Rep. Begich, refuse to investigate and fulfill their oath to check the abuse of executive power.

If the Alaska delegation does not act decisively now, they will never be able to wash their hands of these things. The stench of President Trump’s actions will remain with them long after their service to our state has ended.

Joel Potter is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

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