Richard Burr is cashing out

Richard Burr is in his final term as a US Senator and  he’s cashing out. Weeks after getting slammed for selling off stocks just before the Wall Street crash, Richard Burr is back in the spotlight for profiting from being a Senator. This time, Pro-publica announces that Burr sold a Capitol Hill townhouse above market value to a group that included a lobbyist with business before the Senate. Without an election before him, Burr is subject to little accountability. 

He is an insider’s insider. He’s been in Washington for more than 25 years, serving in the House of Representatives before getting elected to the US Senate in 2004. He’s built a cozy niche, not building much of a legacy but not getting in too much trouble, either. He seems to be a go-along-to-get-along of type guy without a lot of original thoughts or bright ideas. Now, he’s going to use the connections he’s made and the information he gets to leave Washington in sound financial shape. 

In his stock deal, Burr claims he did nothing wrong. He sold his stock based on information that was publicly available. The briefing he received on the impact of the coronavirus as a member of the Senate intelligence committee had nothing to do with it. The problem with his story is that he was telling Americans the virus was under control and that the government was prepared to deal with it. If he’s telling the truth about the stock deal, then he was lying to the American people. 

 The townhouse episode may turn out to be legal, too. That doesn’t mean it’s okay. Burr has been in Washington since 1994. If he hasn’t learned that making money off of a lobbyist with business before Congress undermines faith in the system, then he’s truly politically tone deaf. I suspect that it’s more that he just doesn’t care anymore. He’s not running again so now he needs to make as much money as possible while he’s still in office. 

Burr reflects what Americans hate about Washington. They believe people go to Congress to benefit themselves, not the people they’re supposed to represent. It’s led to a lack of faith in our institutions and a cynicism about our politics. Republicans don’t seem to care as much as Democrats. They’ve bought into the Randian philosophy of rabid self-interest that now permeates the party. They believe that as long as everybody is in it for themselves, we’ll all be better off. That’s how to justify grifters in the White House, rigging the political system, and destroying the institutions that provide oversight, restraint and good government. Richard Burr is just a symptom of a much larger problem within the GOP.