Conrad Burns Won't Apologize for Lying

Apparently, Apologizing Is Unethical

July 14, 2006

After Senator Conrad Burns stated that nobody had ever expressed concerns that the Patriot Act might pose risks to personal liberties and freedoms of American citizens (an indication that neither Senator Burns nor any member of his staff gave the measure more than a cursory glance) in the first Montana Senatorial debate in 2006, I sent several complaints to his office in Washington, as well as to his campaign headquarters in Montana. I was offended that he would call me a nobody on public television here in Montana. You see, I had written to Mr. Burns about this very issue. Apparently, the opinions of Montanans are unimportant to Mr. Burns.

Though I was assured I would hear from his campaign office right away, they never got back to me. At all. Not even a "we have no record of that because we destroyed it so it can't be used against us."

Eventually, I did receive an email from a member of Mr. Burn's staff in Washington. He informed me that the Senate Ethics Committee prohibits Mr. Burns from apologizing. However, he could not explain why it is considered unethical to apologize.

Again, I tried contacting Mr. Burns' campaign office in Montana to try to get an answer from them on why Mr. Burns seemed to think that apologizing was unethical. Again, I was told that I would get a call back. Again, the call back never came.

So, I sent an email to the chair and vice chair of the Senate Ethics Committee...

Thank you for taking a moment to read my request. I am curious to why a senator would tell me that the Select Committee on Ethics would prohibit the senator from apologizing for insulting a member of his constituency and would prohibit the senator from apologizing for lying to his constituency or correcting such a lie.

If you could please explain why the Select Committee on Ethics prohibits apologizing and correcting errors, or encourages lying and insulting constituents, I would appreciate it.

It would be nice if the Senators would reply, but I am left having to guess that replying to the questions of Americans has probably been determined to be unethical, as that is the only reason I can come up with for them not responding.