Lying liars and the lies they tell

When I practiced law on the Eighth Judicial Circuit in Illinois, an unlicensed pettifogger who stood before a judge claiming a law degree he did not possess would be marched right out of the courtroom by the sheriff. Public trust, like a wooden bridge over the Sangamon River, cannot sustain the weight of fabricated credentials. When the voice of the executive branch steps up to the official podium in the West Wing, the American public deserves unvarnished honesty rather than performative prevarication.

Consider the recent spectacle at the White House press briefing room. Newly appointed White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia faced public scrutiny after acknowledging she failed the California bar exam in 2011 and never retook it, despite repeatedly presenting herself in media broadcasts and administration statements as a corporate attorney who practiced law in China. Distorting one's qualifications while speaking to the nation damages the moral authority of the entire administration, and I am thrilled she was given the boot after 5 hapless days on the job.

To repair this erosion of public faith, Congress must enact statutory transparency standards for high-level executive communicators and presidential appointees. First, any individual serving as an official spokesperson for the Executive Office of the President should be required to submit verified credential disclosures subject to public audit. Second, we must strengthen federal ethics laws to enforce civil penalties for misrepresenting professional licenses or state bar admissions when accepting executive appointments. Finally, the House and Senate should establish standard rules requiring presidential press secretaries to hold regular, open press briefings rather than brief, fourteen-minute appearances designed to evade public inquiry. Honesty in executive communication is not a political courtesy; it is a constitutional safeguard.

A government founded upon the consent of the governed cannot endure when those tasked with conveying truth to the nation misrepresent their own credentials. Establishing clear standards of accountability and insisting on truth from the White House podium are essential if we are to preserve the integrity of our republic for generations to come.