Acceso usuarios
Sheila Krumholz
Money's ability to exert disproportionate and undue influence over US politics and policy is an open secret in Washington and far, far beyond the DC beltway. Countless examples of influence peddling can be found in American history books, but perhaps more important than documenting and uncovering cases of illegal influence is monitoring the day-to-day machinations of the federal political system. The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), through the web site OpenSecrets.org, has been doing this for 30 years, and in doing so has become one of the most credible and authoritative sources on money in US politics. The connection to corruption is clear: when conflicts of interest abound, as they do when private money fills the coffers of public servants, the opportunities for rent-seeking and quid quo pro corruption and bribery are plentiful. When the public is unaware of or unable to effectively monitor these relationships, the appetite for risking legal or political liabilities grows.
