"Trust, but verify"

In an OpEd piece in today's Asbury Park Press, Spin Mister in Chief Adam Puharic presents a compelling argument for the need for background checks for Republican candidates for public office. Operation Bid Rig, Republicans in handcuffs, Marlboro development and Keyport plaques.

Adam is right. We shouldn't be nominating criminals or dead beats to public office and entrusting them with millions or billions tax payers dollars. A public records search of candidates for public office in not an unreasonable thing to require. If problems are revealed they should be handled privately and with dignity.

The problem is, the process that Puharic is requiring of Republican candidates is far more invasive than the type of background reviews provided for "bank tellers, day care workers and police officers." Some of the information demanded by Puharic is illegal for prospective employers to ask of applicants before and after the granting of employment.

Puharic said that when he became chairman he found himself "faced with the difficult task of helping to restore confidence in the political process and in elected officials." If Puharic really wants to do that he could start by not lying to the public himself.

Puharic lied when he said that the process is confidential, "between the researcher and the candidate." The truth is that candidates are required to sign a contract that allows the results of the background checks to be shared with party "officers, members, employees, contractors and third party vendors." And the candidates must waive any and all claims they may have arising from such disclosure by the GOP organization or any of those third parties they give it to.

Only a fool would sign such a contract, and more than one of the GOP candidates has refused to do so.

Don't believe me? Who could blame you for that? This whole mess is unbelievable. Send me an email to billsewardnj@aol.com and I'll reply with a copy of the contract candidates "must submit."