Tom A. Watson Quotes

There is something about inside information which seems to paralyse a man's reasoning powers.

It is unsound for an independent editor to be a financial contributor to any cause which would cause any type of special pleading.

Corruption is not a problem just for some countries; this is a global issue.

Many of the critics today get airline tickets, hotel accommodation, bags, beautiful photographs, gifts and other expenses paid by the distributors, and then are supposed to write serious articles about the movie.

The money is given in these state judges elections by the very people who will appear before these judges. Now that can’t be a good system.

Deciding whether a contribution is corrupt is difficult without knowing the motives of the donor.

We did not pay for favors.

Reporters may be friendly-but if you get through life without having a reporter as a friend, that may be an advantage. If you insist on having one as a friend, don't do interviews with him.

The White House again refused to turn over discussions Vice President Cheney had with Enron officials over energy policy. Cheney said if he had to disclose every time some business donated a ton of money then came in to write its own policy to govern itself, he wouldn't get any work done.

Government ought to be all outside and no inside [for] corruption thrives in secret places [and] it [is] a fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety.

When a public official accepts a gift he dissolves the pearl of independence in the vinegar of obligation.

Toshiba was able to purchase access to those who were writing the legislation. They won, but what they did was very offensive.

Honorariums are really dishonorariums. So long as they continue, public trust in Congress will sink even below its minimal level today.... Public officials should have only one paymaster: the Government. When the Government pays too little, the temptation to find other paymasters becomes far harder to resist.

There's no way you can depend on the Attorney General of the United States to investigate high government officials.

We must rid the country of corruption, cronyism and nepotism.

I have never seen such lobbying before as we have had in the last few weeks and such crookedness and complicity among members [of congress].

Some members of congress have dealt so long with the military and with the defense contractors that they begin to think they are without faults.

Bribes and special deals were offered to members to say yes.

Unfortunately, public officials are largely controlled by the very corporations against which they should proceed.

Sometimes I think that before we set up war crimes tribunals we should set up Corruption Inquiries and Commissions as corruption always is present in these states.

Abramoff did not own me, but we did engage in the culture of corruption together.

The endless money chase has given the appearance of corrupting government.

And when the guy [politician] says “Yes, I took money, but it didn’t influence my vote”? Oh, come on. The company that’s giving you the money thinks it is going to influence the vote. Why else would they give you the money?

Let’s not forget that expert opinion is for sale.

Tolerance of corruption, explicit and implicit, has made it impossible to govern…. We need absolute transparency of all the assets of government officials.