Patrick Leahy Quotes

As Members of Congress, we should not be using public office for private gain.

When it comes to governments and corporations, we should demand that less is secret. That's where corruption flowers.

I came to office promising major ethics reform to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is a law. While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over-the-top. I put it on eBay.

Most of all, be honest with yourself and make sure those in political office, our so called public servants, are being honest, holding them accountable for their actions!

I ask the vice president to stop dodging the issue with legalese, and acknowledge his continued ties with Halliburton to the American people.

In Minnesota, we hold our leaders to a higher standard. We demand that the men and women we send to Washington stand above reproach and steer clear of the web of corruption, kickbacks and special favors.

When we have a Deputy Prime Minister who tells people not to drive cars but has two Jags himself, and where the Minister who tells people not to have two homes turns out to have nine himself no wonder the public believe politicians are hypocrites.

Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad.

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.

I am the only public servant and the only Mexican President ever who has made his finances public from before, during, and after public service.

If it can be thought that a Supreme Court Justice can be bought so cheap then the nation is really in trouble.

Louisiana showed up at the top of a study of political corruption that calculated the number of convictions per capita. Georgia came out as worst on a corruption risk report from the State Integrity Investigation, which measured factors like accountability, transparency and ethics enforcement.

To safeguard the people's money what we call red tape is tied around all government activity until the really efficient honest public servant has a somewhat difficult time, but we are still laboring under the theory that the majority of the world is dishonest.

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

Anti-corruption is a core constitutional value. It always has been.

I think anytime that somebody that works for the government lies, yes, they should be removed.

When we see the corrupting influence of political decision making in our public health professionals, we should ask questions.

Whoever is running the country should not be in the pay of a foreign interest. The best way is to see tax returns.

Perjury before Congress is perjury to the American people and an affront to the fundamental principles of our republic and the rule of law. Such behavior cannot be tolerated.

The emoluments clause is in the Constitution for a reason: We, as Americans, need to know that the president acts in our best interests, not his own self-interest.

If people can't expect their government to be honest and clean, they can't expect anything from it.

Corruption is everywhere. It's not just in the Congress. Corruption is not just your prerogative or mine.

When public officials turn to financial gain for official acts, we have no choice but to prosecute.

I will keep repeating, that if you find me guilty of corruption then take the strictest action against me.

And because it may be too great a temptation to human frailty, apt to grasp at power, for the same persons, who have the power of making laws, to have also in their hands the power to execute them, whereby they may exempt themselves from obedience to the laws they make, and suit the law, both in its making, and execution, to their own private advantage.