The Original Sins

What is the connection between: the court-martial of a Union Army Colonel and the ABSCAM scandal; President Garfield's assassin Charles Guiteau and former Vice President Al Gore; the conviction of New York "sawdust swindler" Sam Hayes and lobbyist Jack Abramoff; and President Theodore Roosevelt and former New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner III? If you answered "corruption," you are right, but only partly so. The Original Sins: America's Fight Against Corruption in the Era of Manifest Destiny tells the stories behind America's efforts to define and prevent corruption in our national government. These are the backstories during the nation's formative years that forced Congress to do something it does not like to do-craft anti-corruption laws. The Original Sins also tells how those early laws-laws still on the books-played a role, often unexpectedly, in modern-era corruption and ethics scandals. Whatever the reader's interest in the subject-history, public administration, law, or general reading-they will find something in this book to provoke both thought and laughter. Raymond J. Sheehan devoted most of his 30-year Federal legal career to government ethics and anti-corruption efforts. He ran the government ethics program at a major Federal department and served within the White House Counsel's office. He began his legal career as a U. S. Navy Judge Advocate serving in Iceland and Japan. Retired now from government work, he consults on ethics issues, writes and speaks on public sector corruption and ethics, plays more music than a hack-guitarist should ever hope to do, and attempts to be proficient at something roughly akin to golf.