When many of us were younger, we were taught the familiar tale that when George Washington’s father confronted him about a felled cherry tree, the future Father of Our Country responded: “I cannot tell a lie.” While historians agree that this story was quite fictional and was part of the folklore surrounding our first president, it shows the significance of honesty in American life and American government.

Unfortunately, when I come back home to Missouri, I am dismayed by the number of folks who no longer trust their government and I cannot say that I blame them. From what I hear daily, the root of the problem begins at the top.

More than once over the last six years, the American people were promised that the current administration in the White House would be the most transparent in history. There are a lot of examples I could cite showing this to be false, including but not limited to the Benghazi scandal in which a terrorist attack that lead to the death of four Americans was first portrayed as being a reaction to a videotape. Recently declassified White House emails revealed that the Obama administration coordinated with National Security Adviser Susan Rice to refuse to acknowledge that the attack was the result of a policy failure with regard to terrorism.

While I do not have a direct role in the House Select Committee now investigating Benghazi, my role on the Financial Services Committee and my background as a small businessman and community banker has me very concerned about recent admissions made by Timothy Geithner, the former secretary of the Treasury Department.

In his soon-to-be-released memoir, “Stress Test,” Geithner says point blank that the White House wanted him to lie in scheduled press appearances about the economy. Specifically, Geithner said he was told to deny that Social Security contributed to the deficit. While Geithner said he objected to the suggestion by senior White House advisor Dan Pfeiffer that he  avoid saying that Social Security contributed in any way to the deficit, it serves as just another example of how things operate in the White House and why people like you distrust what the government tells you.

As someone who has questioned Geithner in hearings while he headed Treasury, I have to wonder what other facts were perhaps misrepresented on request of the White House. At a time when our deficit is soaring and government spending is out of control, the American people deserve to have the facts presented to them honestly so that Congress can make informed decisions on how to fix these problems. It is truly troubling that in many instances the truth was put aside in the name of political convenience.

In light of Benghazi and the statements made by Geithner, I am reminded of another quote from one of our Founding Fathers and future president, Thomas Jefferson: “The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.”

Given the lack of transparency we’ve seen from the same Administration who once promised to be historic in its openness, it appears to me that honesty is quickly becoming, in Jeffersonian terms, a lost art. I do not accept that notion and will fight to ensure that the American people and the people of the 3^rd District get the honest answers they deserve to every question that they have.

CONTACT US: As always, for those of you with Internet access, I encourage you to visit my official website. For those without access to the Internet, I encourage you to call my offices in Jefferson City (573-635-7232) Washington, Mo. (636-239-2276), or Wentzville (636-327-7055) with your questions and concerns. If you want even greater access to what I am working on, please visit my YouTube site, Facebook page, and keep up-to-date with Twitter.