Chris Bell Quotes

I don't claim any moral or ethical high ground, but I also have chosen not to run for public office. Shouldn't there be a higher standard of conduct for public officials?

For years now I have been talking about personal responsibility and accountability, both in our private lives and in the halls of government. Those are important principles here in Idaho, and they will form the basis of this administration.

I am committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct for government officials.

When you decide you're going to be a public servant, you should not be able to take on interests that conflict with the city.

I just want people to know that whatever decisions are made on any issue, I'll make them according to what I believe is in the public interest and my own conscience.

I'm not a politician. I don't want to be a politician, because politicians do what is politically expedient. I want to do what's right.

Having been given that public trust, we have a responsibility to share with the public.

Administrators are there because of the fans and the cricketers to run this game, so credibility of a game, or a board, or even a government for that matter, is important irrespective of what you do. If you are in public life, it is important.

The citizens of New Hampshire expect and deserve a government as clean as our mountain streams and as open as our blue skies. Today let us pledge together to make this government - the people's government - clean, open and honest.

The vast majority of politicians think they are functioning on high principle.

Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and trustees are created for the benefit of the public.

When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.

Most people who serve in Congress just want to do the right thing.

Elected officials have always been held to a higher standard, as we should be.

Politicians should be judged on their actions, rather than necessarily their views on scripture.

The phrase public office is a public trust, has of last become common property.

Dishonesty in government is the business of every citizen. It is not enough to do your own job. There's no particular virtue in that. Democracy isn't a gift. It's a responsibility.

It's my father's legacy. My father's view was that the public is the employer of these government employees and has the right to know what they're up to.

We have the incredible privilege of serving in the highest offices in the state. We must prove ourselves worthy of our fellow citizens' faith. We must be trusted to always place the public's good above our own and to always choose fairness over favoritism.

It is only when there is the supervision and critical oversight from the people that the government will be in a position to do an even better job, and employees of government departments will be the true public servants of the people.

There can be no faith in government if our highest offices are excused from scrutiny - they should be setting the example of transparency.

I am committed to working towards a more transparent, accountable, and ethical federal government worthy of the public's trust.

And one of the things I've tried to do in my first months in office is to give more Georgians - reporters and members of the general public alike - a closer look at how their government works.

You have to trust your government. Don't let every scar, every wart, every hiccup condemn the whole body.

After all, I have spent the better part of my adult life insisting that government be open... that government be accessible... and that government be held accountable to people who voted us into office.