“Pay to play” - the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.

Americans have expressed their frustration with Washington and its elected officials in myriad ways, Yet, rather than feeling better about progress in the fight against corruption over the past year, a clear majority of people in America now say that things have become worse.

Fortunately Things  can be done to ensure  that taxpayer dollars are spent in alignment with the public's concerns and not just with special corporate and elite interests.

1.  TRANSPARENCY IN POLITICAL SPENDING:

Make all spending on politics genuinely transparent, with:

- real-time information accessible in online, machine-readable form to the public
- transparency on political spending by publicly traded companies
- transparency to the public on every level of influence, from political ad campaigns, to lobbying, to bundled campaign contributions.

2. PREVENTION OF REVOLVING DOORS:

Stop the unchecked exchange of personnel among corporations, lobbyists and our elected and high-level government officials.

3. ESTABLISHING WHO OWNS WHAT:

End the use of anonymous shell companies, which can be a source of conflict of interest and/or vehicles for illicit activity.

4. STRENGTHENING THE ETHICS INFRASTRUCTURE:

Reinforce the independence and oversight capabilities of the Office of Government Ethics.

5. PROTECTION OF WHISTLEBLOWERS:

Improve and implement laws and regulations to protect the whistleblowers who expose corruption and other misconduct by the government and its contractors.

6. PROVIDING BASIC ACCESS TO INFORMATION:

Increase access to information about the government, as a means to empower the public to fight corruption.