Zephyr Teachout Quotes
Corruption is when people in public office use that public office for private or selfish ends. This is one of the most central debates in the last 40 years in law, what is corruption.
Teachout, Zephyr. Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin's Snuff Box to Citizens United. Harvard University Press, 2014.
Ideally, public officials would be honest and work for average societal wages, but historically that has rarely occurred in history after revolutions or major changes where idealism was the major driver for public service. But this, when it exists, tends to fade.
The House Majority Leader Tom Delay, with a history of ethics violations, got caught in some very serious ones and convinced the House majority leadership to change the rules of the Ethics Committee to prevent the minority from initiating any investigations or inquiries. The Ethics Committee was the only House committee that has an equal number of majority and minority members and before this change, either side would initiate an inquiry.
She and her husband had been flown across the country for a campaign fundraiser by a private businessman in his corporate jet. Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was also on the flight. Her husband was censured for an ethical violation but Hastert was not.
Zephyr Rain Teachout is an American attorney, author, political candidate, and associate professor of law at Fordham University.
