Guilt is never a good defense for guilt

Let’s talk about guilt. Webster’s defines it as a feeling of responsibility or remorse.

I have to admit, I’ve been wrestling with feelings of guilt for all the nasty things I’ve drawn, written and thought about our various legislators. I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church, so guilt comes naturally. But this past year, I’ve had ample confirmation that Sister Agnes-Anne was right; we are all born miserable sinners. In fact, she said that if Eve hadn’t eaten that apple, we wouldn’t have to be sitting in her second-grade classroom. I don’t think I’ve ever been so upset at a woman wearing nothing but a fig leaf. Of course, that brought on more feelings of guilt, and on it goes.

It’s time to step back from the Catholic schoolboy imaginings and focus on the topic, guilt.

Take U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens. Uncle Ted. Alaska’s second-largest industry. This guy doesn’t just bring home the bacon, he drags the whole stinking pig into the living room. The senator is responsible for pouring billions of other people’s dollars into Alaska’s economy. How can anyone dislike this guy? When you read that there may have allegedly been some less-than-legal shenanigans between Uncle Ted and the former CEO of VECO Bill Allen, you tend to look the other way. So what if Stevens has an old friend do an occasional favor for him. So what if the senator used his position to return those favors — allegedly. That’s how things are done in Ted’s world. I’m sure he has the best of intentions for Alaska.

Recently convicted Vic Kohring probably had good intentions too. The greenbacks he received from Allen were just gifts. They were favors from one friend to another, Kohring said. When he’s caught on tape with a fist full of recently accepted wherewithal saying, “What can I do for you,” well, that’s just what friends do to, uh, I mean for, one another. Isn’t it? That’s how things are done in Vic’s world, and with the best of intentions too.

Kohring, Stevens and the like come from a culture of give and take. They live in a world of favors given and received. The object in this world is to get more than you give. Well, at least in Ted’s world it is. I’ll vote for your bill if you co-sponsor mine. I’ll move to appropriate money for your project if you add this rider. Kohring’s world is a little different. I’ll lobby my colleagues, vote the way you want me to and generally grovel at your feet for Easter egg money.

This is how things get done. You do something for me, and I’ll do something for you. And we all participate. We vote for Stevens because he keeps the money coming. We keep sending him back to D.C., along with U.S. Rep. Don Young, because we want a couple of bridges. You’re our guy, Vic, because you keep taxes low. If there’s a little hanky-panky along the way, big deal.

Just thinking ill of these folks makes me feel like an ingrate. Even considering voting for someone other than Uncle Ted can illicit guilt that stings harder and faster than Sister Agnes-Anne’s ruler. He’s done a lot for us. The least we can do is vote for him. If we don’t, he may not like us, and it’s just human nature to want to be liked.

That’s how this whole thing works. A favor received equals a favor to be given. Politicians rely on gratitude and its ugly reflection, guilt. It’s the murky water they swim in, and the longer they are in the pool the more clouded their vision becomes. All right, I really stretched that metaphor, but you get the point. It must get harder and harder for the people’s representatives to remember why they are there. I’m not advocating term limits. You should be able to vote for whomever you like. What I am saying is we should take the time to see just who these people are indebted to before we vote for them. When your whole modus operandi is “I’ll vote for yours if you vote for mine,” it’s not a big leap to “I’ll take money and favors from you to vote the way I probably would have anyway.”

What’s the big deal?

I’d like to further illustrate my point by talking about something I’m actually familiar with. The people that publish this paper pay reporters and editors to present the news. Those reporters and editors, contrary to what some might think, do their level best to get their stories right. They may get paid by Wick Communications, but they work for the community. If an oil company, real estate agent or widget-maker pays them to write a story, the focus starts to shift and the paper loses credibility. It doesn’t matter if the story was going to be written anyway. The attention has moved from getting it right to pleasing the boss. Once you’re there, you have about as much integrity as a FEMA press conference.

Kohring accepted money and favors from VECO and did what VECO executives asked him to do. He can call the acts favors or gifts, but what they amount to are bribes. It doesn’t matter if he was going to vote a certain way or not. It doesn’t matter if Kohring is a nice guy or an evil mastermind. The latter isn’t very likely. Kohring took money, accepted favors and did VECO’s bidding. That’s what matters. His play for sympathy, his efforts to illicit guilt from his constituents and the jury didn’t work.

Webster’s also defines guilt as “the fact or state of having committed an offense.” Kohring seemed genuinely puzzled by the verdict and said he would have to think about it. Well, it looks like he’s going to have quite a while to think about it. As for Uncle Ted and those yet to be indicted, I hope they are paying attention.

Chuck Legge is a Mat-Su Valley resident, the Frontiersman’s political cartoonist and writes an occasional column. The opinions expressed in his cartoons and columns are his own.