With the Trump family you have the kids getting lots of business favors due to who their father is.
Hunter Biden got a good job because of who his father is.
Joe Manchin’s daughter is a high ranking pharma exec.
Mitch Mcconnells wife Elaine Chao keeps getting high ranking jobs, probably to placate her husband.
So what other examples are there of politicians family members getting high paying jobs which they probably only get as a way to curry favor with the politicians or to make sure that politician never takes on their industry? Irrelevant of party I mean, because it seems to be an issue for both sides.
Feinstein’s husband is another one. If you look around it happens with regularity on both sides of the aisle. Bunch of goddamn crooks, who amazingly have these net worth away and above their government salaries.
To be fair, Chao was a right wing insider before she met McConnell. Chao isn’t the recipient of political favoritism; the corruption flows the other way. Her family has benefited financially from her political connections.
Elaine Chao graduated Harvard Business School with her MBA in 1979 and she moved to banking in the private sector. She was granted a White House Fellowship in 1983.
McConnell’s highest position before meeting Chao was as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Ford administration. He was first elected in 1984. Chao and McConnell met in “the early 1990’s” and married in 1993.
Chao was from a prominent family who were quite wealthy. She had already achieved quite high positions before she met McConnell. It is not as clear cut as some of the other examples in the OP that it was Mitch’s connections and not her family’s that led her to prominent positions.
As to a nomination for someone getting a high profile job from political nepotism how about JFK’s nomination of his 35 year old brother Robert F.Kennedy as Attorney General? RFK had no prior courtroom experience. At least he had worked as a lawyer. And, admittedly, few have ever described such government jobs as high paying.
Lol! Yup, nothing to do with his accident and age. Plus, the realistic probability of being in the minority for the foreseeable future and putting up with McConnell’s bullshit.
Jimmy Carter’s brother got a $220,000 loan from Libyans and had to register as a foreign agent. Carter had to publicly announce that the two of them would never discuss Libya.
Two of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s brothers got mixed up in a very large deal to import hazelnuts from the Republic of Georgia. One of them, Hugh Rodham, received $400,000 for legal services for a businessman pardoned by Bill Clinton.
Neil Bush - son of George H.W., brother of George W. - raised millions of dollars from investors in multiple countries for a software venture while George H.W. was in the White House. He had business dealings with a Russian political opponent of Vladimir Putin and ties to the Rev. Sun Myung Moon while George W. Bush was President.
I hadn’t heard of Harry Reid being scrutinized over “swampy behavior involving family members”, but it isn’t hard to find corroboration.
One well-known example is former Senator Orrin Hatch and his devotion to protecting sleazy dietary supplement industry practices. Hatch’s son has been a long-time industry lobbyist, and the New York Times reported on those close to Hatch (i.e. family and aides) who have benefited from his being a stalwart ally of Big Supplement.
I think I’d draw a distinction between the spouses/offspring of wealthy and powerful people being given jobs by virtue of family connections versus the spouses/offspring being given jobs through the nepotistic scheming of the wealthy and powerful.
I mean, it’s one thing if say, hypothetically Sasha Obama eventually decides she wants to be a TV journalist and ends up having the career skids greased for her by other powerful people who are aware who her father is because they know that she’ll draw eyes to their channel/network, and another entirely if Barack was calling in favors to get her those jobs.
The first is just an exaggerated version of how the world works- connections and networking are how stuff gets done. In general, the more wealthy and powerful you are, the more that networking does for you- people are actively interested in being part of your network.
What courtroom experience is necessary for the US Attorney General? Do they ever appear in court? Are you confusing that position with that of Solicitor General (who does appear in court)?
It’s a hard distinction to draw, when otherwise unqualified spouses/children/relatives of powerful politicians are hired in the expectation that the connection will be profitable in some way to the organization doing the hiring.
In that case the “scheming” is basically on the part of the organization, while the politicians are fair game for criticism if there’s any overlap between their work/interests and the organization in question.