When spending time in the political field, we find ourselves, living, breathing, eating and sleeping in politics. The majority of our friends work in the political field and one can find him or herself finding events and rallies to be the only time one has a social life. As busy as many of us are, background checks are rarely done. This is an issue that is growing as we find ourselves running into scams, cons and scandals. By not running a background check it can also become a problem for a candidate or current political leader. Our candidates work hard to ensure that he or she has a clean record and to be associated with someone with a criminal background can have consequences during the next election cycle or can make people question their current judgement and leadership abilities.

One individual in the Iowa political circle is Andrew “Andy” Foster. At a first glance he comes across as a well-groomed professional. He lets people know that he is an Iraq War Veteran and that he has strong political ties across the state. Once a background check has been run, we find out that he has never served in Iraq and in fact has used his military service to try and obtain respect within the Iowa political circle. As sourced in Stripes.com, “Pvt. Andrew Foster is charged with 10 specifications of larceny or wrongful appropriation, eight specifications of disobeying a lawful order, two specifications of failure to pay a just debt and a charge of perjury.” During his trial the prosecution argued that Foster was “a “con man” who preyed on his friends’ generosity with no plans to make good on his debts.”

If one had taken the time to do a background check, one would find this is an individual that could cause future problems when handling finances and with credibility. One would be cautious hiring this individual to run his or her campaign due to the sensitivity of funds paid to a campaign.

In 2014, Mr. Foster worked as a campaign manager for one of the candidates who ran and won his race for the House of Representatives. Even tho his candidate won, one could look into the background of Mr. Foster and question if this was done ethically and if the money he used for the campaign was actually utilized for the correct purposes.

Whether or not you are a republican or a democrat it is important that one is aware of the people he or she hires as it can hurt them in the long run. Republican across Iowa remember state convention of 2014 for the moment where John Thompson announced his run for Treasure for the State of Iowa and conceded to Iowa Republican Samuel Clovis. Thompson announced his run days before state convention only to have the press release multiple articles about Thompson’s background. The Des Moines Register reviled that Thompson was “a captain in the US Army who was arrested Wednesday for allegedly trying to bring a gun and ammunition through an airport security checkpoint in Des Moines.”  Many Iowan’s started to question his background and believed Clovis was the better candidate to represent the Republican Party.

The next time one goes to run for office, or begins to select staff, he or she should consider running a background check on their staff. It doesn’t even need to be an expensive background check, as both Mr. Foster and Mr. Thompson’s backgrounds were easily found in a search engine search. Be aware, be cautious and be safe when it comes to protecting ones reputation and when stepping up to represent your state. You don’t want to become known as the person who ran unethically because you chose to hire someone with a shady background.

Sites for cited for Stripes.com and the Des Moines Register

http://www.stripes.com/news/yo…

http://www.stripes.com/news/yo…

http://www.stripes.com/news/so…

http://blogs.desmoinesregister…

http://www.stripes.com/news/ga…