Pete Sessions: “I do, however, feel that it is important to join with Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee, who spoke earlier this…”

“I do, however, feel that it is important to join with Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee, who spoke earlier this afternoon on his proposal to not waive applicable conflicts of interest laws with regard to individuals who sit on the IRS Oversight Board. I do not believe this is the appropriate thing to do. I believe we need to deal with this forthrightly. It should not be allowed to happen. Mr. President, I spent almost 15 years as a Federal prosecutor. I prosecuted criminal cases on a regular basis. I personally tried judges and public officials for fraud and corruption. My office did many of those cases. It was an insidious thing as it occurred. We have crafted over the years a series of laws that are designed in such a way that those laws protect the public from conflicts of interest and other types of unhealthy relationships that would put that person in office in a position in which his total fidelity is to anything other than the government which he represents. Somewhere in the Book of Ecclesiastes the preacher said 'A bribe corrupts the mind.' A conflict of interest corrupts the mind.”