We need a clear, plain language, simple piece of “REFORM LEGISLATION”. It could easily be titled:

 EXECUTIVE BRANCH

 Covered entities shall include the President of the United States, their executive staff, appointed Cabinet Members and their executive staff. Each covered entity as defined herein shall be responsible and accountable for undisclosed conflicts of interest by those person(s) or entities which from time to time may be retained, selected or appointed to represent a specific issue on behalf of the covered entity.

 LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

 Covered entities shall include elected members of the House of Representatives, elected members of the Senate, and their respective individual staffs. Each covered entity as defined herein shall be responsible and accountable for undisclosed conflicts of interest by those person(s) or entities which from time to time may be retained, selected or appointed to represent a specific issue on behalf of the covered entity.

 FEDERAL COURT SYSTEM

 Covered entities shall include all retained, selected or appointed Federal Judges, U.S Attorneys, Assistant U.S. Attorneys and their respective staffs. Each covered entity as defined herein shall be responsible and accountable for undisclosed conflicts of interest by those person(s) or entities which from time to time may be retained, selected or appointed to represent a specific issue on behalf of the covered entity.

 EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS

 1.  There shall exist no Conflict of Interest due solely to a covered entities particular political party.

 2. Nothing contained herein shall alter or affect in any way existing law, policies, procedures or rules governing the Federal Election Commission or the Federal Campaign Finance Commission rules of Disclosure.

 DISCLOSURE

 Disclosure of direct or indirect conflicts of interest shall be a matter of public record and shall include any mitigation noted by third party verification. The public record shall be kept current and updated not less than quarterly and distributed in such a manner as to be readily available to any citizen of the United States. Complete and full disclosure of any disciplinary actions taken shall be a matter of public record.

 DISCIPLINARY ACTION

 Publicly Elected Officials that fail to comply with this act shall be censured and a review of any official acts associated with the conflict of interest shall be examined. Additional censure and or recourse under law as applicable shall be applied.

 Appointed Officials that fail to comply with this act shall be censured and a review of any official acts associated with the conflict of interest shall be examined. Additional censure and or recourse under law as applicable shall be applied.

 The staff of any entity covered herein as well as any entity retained, selected or appointed that fail to comply with this act shall be censured and a review of any official acts associated with the conflict of interest shall be examined. Additional censure and or recourse under law as applicable shall be applied.

 Conflict of Interest Defined

    n.   pl. conflicts of interest

  A conflict between a person's private interests and public obligations.

 A conflict of interest is a situation in which any covered entity within a position of trust has competing professional or personal interests. Such competing interests can make it difficult to fulfill his or her duties impartially. A conflict of interest exists even if no unethical or improper act results from it. A conflict of interest can create an appearance of impropriety that can undermine confidence in the person, the Executive Branch, the Senate, the House of Representatives, or the Federal Court System. A conflict can be mitigated by third party verification or third party evaluation — but it still exists.

 Codes of ethics Defined

 Generally, codes of ethics forbid conflicts of interests. Codes of ethics help to minimize problems with conflicts of interests because they can spell out the extent to which such conflicts should be avoided, and what the parties should do where such conflicts are permitted by a code of ethics (disclosure, recusal, etc.). Thus, entities covered herein cannot claim that they were unaware that their improper behavior was unethical. As importantly, the threat of disciplinary action helps to minimize unacceptable conflicts or improper acts when a conflict is unavoidable.

                                      Democratic Party History Test

BLACK POLITICAL HISTORY:  THE UNTOLD STORY
NOTE:  All answers are "b."

1.  What Party was founded as the anti-slavery Party and fought to free blacks from slavery?
 [  ]  a.  Democratic Party
 [  ]  b.  Republican Party

2.  What was the Party of Abraham Lincoln who signed the emancipation proclamation that resulted in the Juneteenth celebrations that occur in black communities today?
 [  ]  a.  Democratic Party
 [  ]  b.  Republican Party

3.  What Party passed the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution granting blacks freedom, citizenship, and the right to vote?
 [  ]  a.  Democratic Party
 [  ]  b.  Republican Party

4.  What Party passed the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1875 granting blacks protection from the Black Codes and prohibiting racial discrimination in public accommodations, and was the Party of most blacks prior to the 1960’s, including Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Booker T. Washington, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?
 [  ]  a.  Democratic Party
 [  ]  b.  Republican Party

5.  What was the Party of the founding fathers of the NAACP who were themselves white?
 [  ]  a.  Democratic Party
 [  ]  b.  Republican Party

6.  What was the Party of President  Dwight Eisenhower who sent U.S. troops to Arkansas to desegregate schools, established the Civil Rights Commission in 1958, and appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren to the U.S. Supreme Court which resulted in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision ending school segregation?
 [  ]  a.  Democratic Party
 [  ]  b.  Republican Party

7.   What Party, by the greatest percentage, passed the1957 Civil Rights Act and the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960’s?
 [  ]  a.  Democratic Party
 [  ]  b.  Republican Party

8.  What was the Party of President Richard Nixon who instituted the first Affirmative Action program in 1969 with the Philadelphia Plan that established goals and timetables?
 [  ]  a.  Democratic Party
 [  ]  b.  Republican Party

9.  What is the Party of President George W. Bush who supports the U.S. Supreme Court’s University of Michigan Affirmative Action decision, and is spending over $200 billion to fight AIDS in Africa and on programs to help black Americans prosper, including school vouchers, the faith-based initiative, home ownership, and small business ownership?
 [  ]  a.  Democratic Party
 [  ]  b.  Republican Party

____________________________________

11.  What Party from 1870 to 1930 used fraud, whippings, lynching, murder, intimidation, and mutilation to get the black vote, and passed the Black Codes and Jim Crow laws which legalized racial discrimination and denied blacks their rights as citizens?
 [  ]  a.  Republican Party
 [  ]  b.  Democratic Party

12.  What was the Party of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and President Harry Truman who rejected anti-lynching laws and efforts to establish a permanent Civil Rights Commission?
 [  ]  a.  Republican Party
 [  ]  b.  Democratic Party

13.  What was the Party of President John F. Kennedy who voted against the 1957 Civil Rights law as a Senator, then opposed the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. after becoming president, and later had the FBI (supervised by his brother, Attorney General  Robert Kennedy) investigate Dr. King on suspicion of being a communist?
 [  ]  a.  Republican Party
 [  ]  b.  Democratic Party

14.  What is the Party of current Senator Robert Byrd who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, Senator Fritz Hollings who hoisted the Confederate flag over the state capitol in South Carolina when he was the governor, and Senator Ted Kennedy who recently insulted black judicial nominees by calling them “Neanderthals” while blocking their appointments?
 [  ]  a.  Republican Party
 [  ]  b.  Democratic Party

15.  What was the Party of President Bill Clinton who failed to fight the terrorists after the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, sent troops to war in Bosnia and Kosovo without Congressional approval, vetoed the Welfare Reform law twice before signing it, and refused to comply with a court order to have shipping companies develop an Affirmative Action Plan?
 [  ]  a.  Republican Party
 [  ]  b.  Democratic Party

16.  What is the Party of Vice President Al Gore whose father voted against the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960’s, and who lost the 2000 election as confirmed by a second recount of Florida votes by the “Miami Herald” and a consortium of major news organizations and the ruling by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission that blacks were not denied the right to vote?
 [  ]  a.  Republican Party
 [  ]  b.  Democratic Party