Tom Price: Ethics rules? Who needs ethics rules?

Immediately upon popular vote loser Donald Trump's decision to nominate Georgia Rep. Tom Price to be his health and human services secretary, Democrats pointed out there was a big ol' ethics problem there. Namely, he was making a lot of money off of shares in companies in the medical arena while legislating on issues affecting those companies. That concern escalated into calls for an SEC investigation to determine whether he's been dabbling in insider trading. That investigation now looks inevitable:

Rep. Tom Price last year purchased shares in a medical device manufacturer days before introducing legislation that would have directly benefited the company, raising new ethics concerns for President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Health and Human Services secretary. Price bought between $1,001 to $15,000 worth of shares last March in Zimmer Biomet, according to House records reviewed by CNN. Less than a week after the transaction, the Georgia Republican congressman introduced the HIP Act, legislation that would have delayed until 2018 a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services regulation that industry analysts warned would significantly hurt Zimmer Biomet financially once fully implemented. […] After Price offered his bill to provide Zimmer Biomet and other companies relief from the CMS regulation, the company's political action committee donated to the congressman's reelection campaign, records show.

It's a twofer for Price—personal enrichment through the shares, and campaign coffer enrichments from a grateful company. Price didn't even pretend to make this one not appear horrendously unethical. Because of the previous concerns about Price's insider-trading—before this story broke—to "avoid the appearance of conflicts-of-interest, Price announced last week that he would divest from 43 companies—including Zimmer Biomet—within 90 days of Senate confirmation."

Which is kind of entirely missing the point. The point being: he's an unethical asshole, willing to enrich himself through his position of power, potentially illegally. That makes him perfect for the Trump administration, but dangerous for the American people.