Quid pro quo is everywhere | Letters
We’ve all heard the term “quid pro quo” ad nauseam for the past few months during President Donald Trump’s pre-impeachment hearings. I started to wonder about the term and how it is used every day in the American justice system. Prosecutors and defenders use the term, “plea bargain,” where a charge is reduced to attain a guilty plea to a lesser crime to avoid the cost of a trial.
We’ve all heard statements that a prisoner’s sentence was reduced due to good behavior, or a corporation agreed to pay a financial penalty if it could avoid admitting guilt. This has been true in sexual charges when money is paid to silence an aggrieved party in lieu of pressing charges. I believe it’s appropriate to believe “quid pro quo” is deplorable, but how can it be illegal when exercised regularly in the U.S. judicial system?
As I’ve thought about this, I wonder if it’s not a simple case of quid pro quo when parents threaten children with telling Santa they are bad. Have you ever heard the following: “If you don’t straighten up right now, I’ll tell daddy you were bad and you’ll be sorry”? It sure sounds like quid pro quo to me.
Jim Dove
Bluffton
Evidence against Trump looks solid
A recent letter maintains that U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham performed a disservice to his Lowcountry constituents and the country at-large by voting to impeach President Donald Trump.
It also maintains that “the hearings in the House (of Representatives) produced no evidence supporting either of the two impeachments grounds.”
Notably, the writer does not describe his legal credentials, if any, to pass judgment on the quality of the facts presented in support of the two articles of impeachment. By point of fact, several highly credible, experienced, nonpartisan career civil servants testified under oath that Trump asked a “favor” of the Ukranian president to investigate a political opponent.
Then, to reinforce his “request” for a favor, it’s been recently disclosed that Trump only two hours later ordered his staff to place a hold on $400 million of badly-needed military aid to Ukraine.
Do these two facts of president Trump’s malfeasance in office not satisfy the writer’s non-credentialed opinion of the standard of evidence necessary to impeach the president for high crimes and misdemeanors? My own non-credentialed opinion is this: Yes, they do.
Roger Elmore
Beaufort
Senate: Uphold the Constitution and the separation of powers
By impeaching President Donald Trump, the House of Representatives did the right thing for our democracy. Now the GOP must do the right thing.
If GOP Senators force a trial without key witnesses to the two charges against Trump, they will expose that they reject the rule of law. Precedent, good judgment and plain common sense dictate the Senate can’t acquit without seeing subpoenaed documents withheld by Trump, or hearing the witnesses closest to his decision-making on Ukraine.
What truly innocent man would block testimony that could help his case?
If the Republicans take their impeachment orders from the White House, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said, then they will null the Constitution’s separation of powers. They will violate their oath of office. They will put their self-interest above the nation’s interest. They will shame themselves.
Wes Dvorak
Bluffton
Kudos to Skip Hoagland
Here we go again!
Almost every week The Island Packet informs us about something: the mayor’s spending, consultants’ work, County Council chair manipulation, Pope Avenue roadwork. Kudos to Skip Hoagland. Congratulations to Sheriff P.J. Tanner, the best sheriff in South Carolina.
John Lazovic
Hilton Head Island
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This story was originally published January 3, 2020 at 2:59 PM with the headline "Quid pro quo is everywhere | Letters."