Mitch McConnell has a whole new problem
Nepotism has always been a huge problem, especially in the business world. Incompetent or unqualified people are frequently hired and promoted because of who they know as opposed to what they know. This phenomenon has been even worse when it is brought into politics, like “President” Donald Trump making his woefully unqualified daughter and son-in-law “senior advisors” (to what, no one is sure). Politico has released an interesting piece regarding nepotism, and it is being done to try to re-elect one of the most evil demons to the Senate: Mitch McConnell.
According to a new report from Politico, McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, has been using her position as Transportation Secretary to help fund McConnell’s “pet projects” in his home state of Kentucky. These projects have totaled over $78 million and are all for the purpose of reelecting the biggest road blocker to legislation in history. One is a highway improvement project that has been denied grants not once but twice. Now that his wife is in office, she’s helping McConnell in any way she can. This reeks not only of nepotism but dirty politics. This type of thing should not be allowed just to give one of the worst senators in history an unfair advantage.
According to this story, Chao has been meeting with her aide Todd Inman annually since 2017 with some Owensboro people about two projects: upgrading road connections to a commercial river port and plans to expedite reclassification of a local parkway as an Interstate spur, with the belief that this will attract new business to Owensboro. Wow. Too bad the rest of us don’t have “friends in high places,” especially considering that Inman is an Owensboro resident and once ran for mayor. He’s getting everything his city needs (“wants” notwithstanding) by being buddies with Chao and McConnell. There is just something very wrong with this picture.
Chao is no stranger to conflicts of interest. The current Transportation Secretary comes from a shipping family. In 2017, according to the Boston Globe, Chao attempted to use her influence to generate governmental funding for travel, lodging, and meetings for her family with the Chinese government. Further, according to an unnamed informal advisor to the Trump administration, Chao has attempted to cut programs created to stabilize the U.S. maritime industry, cut new funding to small commercial shipyards, cut federal loan guarantees to domestic shipbuilders, and successfully cut spending in a grant program that helps to keep 60 American ships in service, as well as scaling back on plans to buy new ships. Wow again. Do these people work for us or themselves and their families?
These revelations are shameful and are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg concerning Chao’s obvious conflicts of interests, including helping her horrible husband to continue to pack our courts with backward-thinking justices. When is this all going to end? Sometimes, when I look around at everything that’s going on in our country right now, I think the world must be coming to an end. One thing is certain: We are overcome with evil people in our government for whom us and our wellbeing take a back seat.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years