Steve King Ethics Probe

My Colorado State House Representative Steve King (R) is being investigated for "double dipping" or taking money from both the State and his own campaign.
In his defense Mr. King sent a letter to the ethics committee that said that his car was broken down, he had no cash, and borrowed the money from his campaign to rent a car to get to Denver (to work). Then he repaid the campaign.

I don't know how true the story is, I usually consider politicians guilty until proven innocent, but it does bring some interesting things to light. For the sake of this blog let's say that Mr. King's story is true. What is he supposed to do? He did what he thought was right to make it to Denver to serve his constituents (me) in the 54th District. Then he fixed the money thing by repaying his campaign. Was it ethical? I think that is a fine line. Borrowing without telling anybody, probably not ethical, but serving his constituents is ethical, repaying the money is also ethical.

I never read anything in the Colorado Constitution that says you have to have money to be a Representative in the State of Colorado. Some detractors will say "Why doesn't he put it on his own credit card and pay interest like everybody else." What if he doesn't have a credit card? Not everybody has a credit card. Me for instance, I don't have a credit card. In my thinking if I can't afford it, I don't need it, with no credit card the temptation is not there to buy something I haven't worked for yet.

That brings me back to the question, What was he supposed to do? Who was he going to tell? Maybe we (people of the State of Colorado) could set up an emergency fund for instances like this, where a lawmaker could borrow the cash to rent a car so they could go to work, then repay the borrowed cash when they get reimbursed. Maybe the State of Colorado could set-up a direct bill account with a rental car place so all the legislator needs to do is sign his name and the car company bills the State. How about a State issued credit card? If I have a broken pipe at the motel on a weekend, I don't have to call the owner to get a check issued to buy the parts, I have a company credit card for the hardware store.

Maybe we could make an incentive for legislators to carpool to Denver, like pay them an extra 10 cents a mile for carpooling. Then the legislators could even chat along the way, fixing Colorado's problems, one mile at a time.

I can see the ethical problems both for and against Mr. King, but I'm not ready to throw him under the bus. I just think we need to help our legislators get to Denver so they could do what we hired them to do create legislation.