Shadow Secretary of Attorney General Justice

Elections: D.O.J. must insure for all voters and prospective voters that the integrity of the U.S. election process will be protected from any and all foreign and domestic illegal interference. Any attempts by a foreign entity to interfere with the U.S. elections will be fully investigated and any wrongdoing will be prosecuted to the full extent allowed under the law.

Public Integrity: Vigorously pursue criminal prosecutions involving elected officials who are misusing their office in violation of the law. Also, pursue criminal prosecution of their accomplices in crime: those who are offering illegal bribes and other illicit favors. This should extend into the judicial realm. We must revise the special counsel law. It has become increasingly evident that when both Houses of Congress are controlled by the same party there is a strong resistance toward having a thorough and transparent investigation into wrongful and potentially illegal activities on the part of the Executive. In order to insure public confidence in the electoral process, the public needs to see significant reforms. It is recommended that the men and women serving in the Administration should have a 10-year prohibition from engaging in business with entities with which they had been officially engaged.

Civil Rights: Create a task force to coordinate a nationwide monitoring of police departments to ensure that citizens’ civil rights are not being abused with respect to the numerous accusations of excessive use of force. Insure that the prison systems are being monitored carefully to ward off the mistreatment of prisoners. Guards and all prison employees must be assured of their safety as well. Solitary confinement should be a last resort. We should seek to reduce our overall prison population with respect to non-violent low level crimes.

Corporate Criminality: Following the 2008 U.S. banking and financial service collapse—While a great deal of fraudulent behavior on the part of bankers and their employees was well documented, there was a surprising unwillingness on the part of the D.O.J. to criminally prosecute blatant perpetrators of criminal acts. This pattern must change. This, too, must extend into the area of environmental criminal violators. Civil penalties alone have proven to be an inadequate disincentive in fighting corporate criminal abuses.