Open, Honest and Accountable Government

We will end the Republican culture of corruption and restore a government as good as the people it serves, starting with real ethics reform.

The Democratic Party is committed to real ethics reform and meaningful campaign finance reform that protects our rights and ensures that elected officials act ethically -- not just within the law, but within the spirit of the law. Democrats offer an aggressive reform package to reverse Republican excesses and restore the public trust.

We are committed to immediate change to lead our country in a new direction, to put an end to Republican business as usual, and to make certain our nation's leaders serve the people's interests, not special interests. For us, this commitment spans our lifetime, as we were elected to represent the people, not the powerful.

Our goal is to restore accountability, honesty and openness at all levels of government. To do so, we will create and enforce rules that demand the highest ethics from every public servant, sever unethical ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, and establish clear standards that prevent the trading of official business for gifts.

The Latest »

Your Seat at the Table

December 5, 2008

Pull up a chair for Your Seat at the Table -- another step forward for openness in government.

Obama-Biden Transition Project Co-chair John D. Podesta announced that all policy documents from official meetings with outside organizations will be publicly available for review and discussion on Change.gov.

Check out this video of Director of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Transition Michael Strautmanis give a behind-the-scenes look at the program.

Stevens Disputes Conviction, Claims ''No Black Mark'' on Name

October 31, 2008

Stunning news out of Alaska last night as Ted Stevens disputed the fact that he was convicted on all seven felony charges relating to gifts he received while serving as the state's senior senator.

Stevens, a lawyer who once served in the Justice Department, argued an interesting legal theory: it is not a conviction until the appeals process is over.

"I've not been convicted yet," Stevens said Thursday in a meeting with the editorial board of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. "There's not a black mark by my name yet, until the appeal is over and I am finally convicted, if that happens. If that happens, of course I'll do what's right for Alaska and for the Senate. ... I don't anticipate it happening, and until it happens I do not have a black mark."

Call it the "Black Mark Theory" -- one he reiterated in his debate last night with Democratic candidate for Senate, Mark Begich:

Stevens reiterated that position during a televised debate late Thursday night, declaring early in the give-and-take with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, "I have not been convicted of anything."

To top it off, Stevens essentially called John McCain and Sarah Palin political opportunists who were insincere in their calls for him to resign.

The senator said Gov. Sarah Palin and the other Republicans who have called on him to resign are only doing so for political gain, not because they are sincere. "I wouldn't hold it against them, I understand what they're doing, trying to get elected."

McCain Pushed Regulators on Land Swap

October 28, 2008

McClatchy reports that John McCain pushed regulators to support a land swap deal despite a pledge to never again intervene with regulators after his brush with corruption in the Savings & Loan scandal. The deal would have benefited owners of the Spur Cross Ranch, including a company ran by a former associate of Charles Keating, the S&L head at the center of the scandal.

Years after he resurrected his political fortunes from the Keating Five savings and loan investigation, John McCain promoted an Arizona land swap that would've benefited a former mentor and partner of the scandal's central figure.

The owners of the Spur Cross Ranch, a dramatic 2,154-acre tract of Sonoran desert just north of Phoenix, in the late 1990s sought to sell it to a developer who planned to build a premier golf course surrounded by 390 luxury homes.

Nearby residents and environmentalists, however, wanted to preserve the area's unusual cacti, stone formations and hundreds of Hopi Indian tribal artifacts.

After opposition surfaced, the developer sought McCain's help in forging a land swap with the U.S. Forest Service — a deal that also would benefit the owners of the ranch, including a company controlled by billionaire Carl H. Lindner Jr., an associate of S&L chief Charles H. Keating.

McCain and an aide pushed for the exchange in more than a half dozen sometimes-testy letters and phone calls up and down the Forest Service's hierarchy, according to former agency officials and correspondence. McCain's office even circulated draft legislation that would have overridden the agency's objection to surrendering national forest land. Ultimately, the deal fell apart.

McCain's behind-the-scenes maneuvering on Spur Cross contrasts with his image as a congressional ethics champion and his pledge — made after the Keating scandal in 1991 sullied his reputation — never to intervene with regulators again.

John McCain's broken promise on intervention with regulators should not come as any surprise. McCain's lawyer during the scandal, John Dowd, claimed that McCain didn't do anything wrong in the Keating Five -- reversing nearly 20 years of self-recriminations and repentance.

Just more evidence that John McCain is more of the same last eight years.

Ted Stevens Found Guilty on All Seven Charges

October 27, 2008

A jury in Alaska found Senator Ted Stevens (R) guilty of all seven felony charges of making false statements about gifts he received from close friend, Bill Allen, CEO of VECO Corp.

Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Senate Republican in history and patriarch of Alaska politics, was found guilty of felony charges for making false statements.

The verdict could spell the end of a 40-year Senate career for a man who rose to be one of the most dominant figures in the upper chamber and who helped transform Alaska in its 50 years of statehood. The verdict was reached after the jury deliberated since Wednesday and found the 84-year-old senator guilty of failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts from Bill Allen, the former head of Veco Corp., and other friends.

The jury did not seem to buy the explanation from Stevens that Allen showered him with gifts he didn't want and was unaware of, and that he believed the $160,000 he gave to another contractor covered all costs for the home renovations.

DNC Files FEC Complaint Over McCain Campaign's Missing, Excessive and Anonymous Donors

October 25, 2008

The Democratic National Committee today announced that it will file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Monday morning to request a thorough investigation of the McCain campaign's most recent attempt to skirt campaign finance laws. According to the complaint, an analysis of the information provided by the McCain Campaign on its website shows that the campaign received 6,653 contributions that were at least $1,000 in excess of legal limit of $2,300--including one donor who contributed $56,047. The McCain Campaign website also lists 23 anonymous contributions in excess of fifty dollars, despite the legal requirement to maintain the name and address of each contributor any amount in excess of $50, and dozens of additional donors who provided incomplete information.

The complaint also cites the McCain campaign's pattern of ignoring federal election laws including violating the Presidential Matching Payment Account Act, the campaign's refund of approximately $50,000 in donations solicited by a foreign national, its continuing pattern of soliciting foreign nationals including the Russian Ambassador to the U.N and the FEC's September 30 request for additional information on numerous excessive contributions.

"The McCain campaign's lack of disclosure and disregard for the law he helped write raises serious questions about John McCain's commitment to the openness and transparency the voters expect from their leaders," said DNC General Counsel Joe Sandler. "In view of the McCain campaign's clear history of violating campaign finance laws, it is imperative that the Commission promptly conduct a thorough investigation of these violations; and a full audit of all of the McCain Campaign's contributions."

McCain Claims He Hasn't Flipped on Anything from 2000

October 23, 2008

John McCain told the local CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C. that "I'm the same guy" from 2000, claiming that he hasn't flipped on any issue since his last run for the presidency.

MCCAIN: You’ll have to tell me what’s changed. I love it when they say, “Oh McCain has changed.” And I say, “What have I changed on?” They can’t name a single issue or they’ll name an issue and its false. I’m the same guy. I’m proud of our campaign.

It is not exactly a winning message but the interview presented itself with a rather easy challenge: name McCain's flip-flops.

McCain Employing GOP Operative Accused of Voter Registration Fraud

October 20, 2008

John McCain's hyperbolic claims about "the fabric of democracy" ring incredibly hollow when, at the same time, he pays dirty tricksters like Nathan Sproul almost $200,000 to "register voters."

John McCain's campaign has directed $175,000 to the firm of a Republican operative accused of massive voter registration fraud in several states.

According to campaign finance records, a joint committee of the McCain-Palin campaign, the RNC and the the California Republican Party, made a $175,000 payment to the group Lincoln Strategy in June for purposes of "registering voters." The managing partner of that firm is Nathan Sproul, a renowned GOP operative who has been investigated on multiple occasions for suppressing Democratic voter turnout, throwing away registration forms and even, once, spearheading efforts to get Ralph Nader on ballots so as to hinder the Democratic ticket.

More from the Sproul file:

Indeed, Sproul's history is filled with allegations of political misdeeds. During the 2004 election, Sproul & Associates (the former name of Lincoln Strategy) was accused of attempting to destroy forms collected by Democratic voters in Nevada. That same year in Oregon, Sproul & Associates allegedly instructed canvassers to only accept Republican registration forms in addition to destroying those turned in by Democrats.

In Minnesota, meanwhile, Sproul's firm was accused of actually firing workers who brought back Democratic registration forms, while other canvassers were allegedly paid "$13 an hour, with the $3 bonus for every Bush, undecided or Ralph Nader voter registration." Similar problems related to Sproul & Associates popped up in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

McCain Hits Up Russian Envoy for Donation

October 20, 2008

According to a letter released by the Russian envoy to the United Nations, John McCain contacted Vitaly Churkin seeking a campaign donation.

Ben Smith picked up the story from Russian news agency, RIA-Novosti:

Russia's permanent mission to the UN has received a letter from U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain asking for financial support of his election campaign, the mission said in a statement on Monday.

"We have received a letter from Senator John McCain with a request for a financial donation to his presidential election campaign. In this respect we have to reiterate that neither Russia's permanent mission to the UN nor the Russian government or its officials finance political activities in foreign countries," the statement said.

According to Ruslan Bakhtin, press secretary of the Russian mission, the letter dated September 29 and signed by McCain, was addressed to Vitaly Churkin, Russia's envoy to the UN, and arrived on October 16.

It is illegal to accept money from foreign nationals.

The story had impeccable timing as the McCain campaign attacks Senator Barack Obama's massive small-dollar donor base that helped the Democratic presidential nominee shatter the single-month fundraising total with more than $150 million in September.

Interestingly enough, McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis has several ties to Russia. Last January, the Washington Post reported that Davis set up a meeting between McCain and a controversial Russian billionaire with some unsavory ties back in 2006:

A top political adviser in Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign helped arrange an introduction in 2006 between McCain and a Russian billionaire whose suspected links to anti-democratic and organized-crime figures are so controversial that the U.S. government revoked his visa.

Rick Davis, who is now McCain's campaign manager, helped set up the encounter between McCain and Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska in Switzerland during an international economic conference. At the time, Davis was working for a lobbying firm and seeking to do business with the billionaire.

Earlier this month, Ari Berman and Mark Ames wrote about Davis' ties in Russia for The Nation.

Freddie Mac Paid GOP Firm to Kill Regulatory Bill

October 20, 2008

In the New York Post, Freddie Mac paid a Republican consulting firm, DCI, whose chief executive was Doug Goodyear, the lobbyist that was tapped to run the Republican National Convention but later resigned when his connections to the brutal regime in Myanmar were unearthed.

Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm $2 million in a bid to kill legislation three years ago that would have regulated and trimmed the mortgage finance giant and its sister company, Fannie Mae.

Freddie - which along with Fannie this year has required a taxpayer-back rescue plan to avoid collapse - hired the Washington consulting firm DCI to target a regulatory overhaul bill sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. In a yearlong effort, the firm lobbied 17 Republican senators in 13 states, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press. The bill died January 2007.

DCI's chief executive is Doug Goodyear, whom John McCain's campaign hired to manage the GOP convention in September.