Jay Rockefeller Quotes

As both a career intelligence officer and as an American citizen, I am a strong believer in the importance of oversight. Simply put, experience has taught us that CIA cannot be effective without the people's trust, and we cannot hope to earn that trust without the accountability that comes with Congressional oversight.

Ever since I arrived in Washington in April 2009, I have been fighting for more transparency and accountability in government.

Government must be a transparent garment which tightly clings to the people's body.

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.

I think there's been a decline in the public's access to what's being done with their tax dollars, what's being done in their name. I hope that that will be repaired.

If something is being done on a secret basis in national security, that's a great reason for elected officials to not talk about it. And that's a great way to shirk accountability for it with the public.

The intelligence community, for the most part, has no accountability at all; to the Congress, to us the American people, and so they feel that they above the law.

Voters cannot hold officials responsible if they do not know what government is doing, or which parts of government are doing what.

The American people should not be footing the bill for federal employees who stonewall Congress or rewarding government officials' bad behavior.

The more government transparency, the better.

Politicians can and should be held accountable for their choices.

As the Director of the FBI, I am committed to ensuring that the Bureau is being transparent and responsive to legitimate congressional requests.

I am committed to making Georgia a model for open and honest government.

I promised to run the most open and transparent administration in Britain. That is why, with this brutally honest and unprecedented progress report, I am determined to level with Londoners.

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 should be able to go to our government and get clear answers.

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.

No one in government should ever think that the citizens they work for can't or won't scrutinize their actions.

We need to keep pressure on our own governments to force more and more transparency.

Certainly accountability of government is what people are clamoring for; they want to know that when lawmakers make a promise or a proposal, you can actually accomplish it.

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.

People want a grounded government. They want a government that's going to be responsible to them.

Remarkably, governments are beginning to embrace the idea that nothing enhances democracy more than giving voice and information to everybody in the country. Why not open their books if they have nothing to hide?

Lawmakers need to be held accountable and should feel the impact of a government shutdown just like many other Americans will.