Policy

POLICY

Public Corruption

Congress, Corruption, Supreme Court, House Members, Randy "Duke" Cunningham, Rick Renzi, Governors, Rod Blagojevich, Jack Abramoff, Senate Members, Ted Stevens, Public Corruption

Reforming Our Criminal Law to Enable Effective Prosecution of Public Corruption

The scandals that continue to plague both federal and state governments have eroded public confidence in our country's political leadership. Yet while public anxiety has increased, the courts have been stripping away the tools prosecutors have successfully employed to target public corruption, and are putting at risk the ability to effectively combat this malfeasance.

Former Representatives William J. Jefferson (D-LA), Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA), and Rick Renzi (R-AZ), former Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D), and disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff are just a few of those charged and/or convicted under public corruption laws.

Corruption takes various forms, from classic quid pro quo bribery to gifts given to curry favor. Consequently, the law must be expansive and flexible to root out malfeasance no matter the form. Yet over the past several years, courts have handed down a number of decisions hampering the ability of prosecutors to root out corruption. Without legislative action by Congress, public corruption will further victimize the public by chipping away at good governance and the foundations of our democracy.

The need to shore up prosecutorial tools has been made all the more urgent as a result of a recent Supreme Court decision eviscerating the "honest services" fraud statute (see below).

Congress can and must act quickly to ensure the Department of Justice has all of the tools it needs to aggressively tamp down on corruption and restore public confidence that politicians are not above the law.