Seeking a Better Job

Recently ESPN football analyst Craig James left his position at ESPN in order to pursue the Senate seat in Texas. Prior to the presidential primaries FOX News told their pundits that if they were going to run for president that they would have to resign their positions. Now the reason that they are all supposed to leave their positions is because their time on television would give them unfair exposure if they were to remain (although since Congress abolished the fair-time rule I'm not sure what difference it would make). But the long and the short, if they want to get a better job in politics then they have to quit their jobs.

Which brings me to the current pool of candidates. Why are they not required to leave their jobs in order to run? Why is Ron Paul allowed to continue as a sitting member of the House, when he is clearly not able to do his job, in order to pursue another job? Why is Rick Perry allowed to continue to be governor, and bill the state for many of his expenses, when he clearly cannot be doing his job, in order to pursue another job?

Of course it is not just them. President Obama did not leave his Senate seat to run for president, not did Hillary Clinton, or most other candidates. And it's governors running for Senate, and representatives running for Senate, and mayors running for governor. If you want to run for another position please do, but you should be required to quit your other position first.

Would any other employer allow this? Would you or I be allowed to go off for several months on end to seek a better job and still be able to collect a paycheck and benefits that come from our current position? Of course not, because our employers would recognize that while we might still be able to do some of our jobs, we could not do everything that we were being paid for. Plus, they might reason, why should they support us when we don't want to be there, why should they allow this to be our back-up position, our safety net. They would probably say "If you want another job, then quit this one and move on."

But, we are the employers of those who hold public office, who are not doing the jobs they were elected to, and yet are being paid to do those jobs while seeking another position. When are we going to step up and say that this is ridiculous? If you want to seek another job then you need to give up the job you currently have.

There should be laws against this, but the problem is except for states with referendums, it would have to be passed by the very same politicians it would hurt, so you can be sure it will never make it through.