Episode 36: Money, Corruption and Government, Oh My

<p>What role do ethics violations play in the degradation of our democracy? The Trump administration left behind a legacy of profound corruption, egregious conflicts of interest, and outrageous self-dealing. The Wall Street Journal has reported on over 130 judges who have violated conflicts of interest laws. And Congress evades accountability on the regular by exempting itself from the Freedom of Information Act. This week, Debra Perlin speaks with Donald Sherman and Virginia Canter from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) about these and other ethics issues in the news and about how we build more effective government ethics regimes to safeguard our democracy.</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">-----------------</span></p> <p><strong>Join the Progressive Legal Movement Today:</strong> <a href="https://www.acslaw.org/" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">ACSLaw.org</a></p> <p><strong>Today's</strong> <strong>Host:</strong> Debra Perlin, <a href="https://www.acslaw.org/person/debra-perlin/" target= "_blank" rel="noopener">ACS Director of Policy and Programs</a></p> <p><strong>Guest:</strong> Donald Sherman, <a href= "https://www.citizensforethics.org/about/our-team/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vice President and Chief Counsel of CREW</a></p> <p><strong>Guest:</strong> Virginia Canter, <a href= "https://www.citizensforethics.org/about/our-team/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chief Ethics Counsel at CREW</a></p> <p><strong>Link:</strong> <a href= "https://www.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/What-Democracy-Looks-Like.pdf%20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"What Democracy Looks Like: a blueprint for an accountable, inclusive and ethical government" by CREW</a></p> <p><strong>Link:</strong> <a href= "https://www.wsj.com/articles/131-federal-judges-broke-the-law-by-hearing-cases-where-they-had-a-financial-interest-11632834421" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"131 Federal Judges Broke the Law by Hearing Cases Where They Had a Financial Interest" by James V. Grimaldi, Coulter Jo