John Kerry Quotes

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

We shouldn’t be lending money to corrupt officials. We should be guarded in our generosity.

The Capitol Building should have a sign saying, “Warning!! You are now Entering an Ethics-Free Zone!”

How can it be illegal or unethical if the most important man in Congress is doing it?

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?

With money we will get partisans, with partisans votes, and with votes money, is the maxim of our political pilferers.

It is too early to tell where Mobutu will draw the line between corruption and the ‘normal’ use of payments and patronage to facilitate operations.

In the year since we brought things into the open with a clean breath of fresh air at City Hall, we have learned about corrupt spending practices and unethical conflicts of interest that waste your money... and keep Dallas from being the great city of our dreams.

Well, I thought the deal was, when you went to work for the government you weren't supposed to make money!

One must beware of ministers who can do nothing without money, and those who want to do everything with money.

The time has come to tell the truth about the corruption of the government employee unions in this country.

America has the best congress money can buy.

Those guys [congressmen] lived on the basis of getting their little tidbits and their perks.

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].

All governments are more or less corrupt.

When a member of Congress has a leadership PAC, he can be legally bribed by making donations to the PAC because when the member of Congress retires or is voted out of office, he is allowed to use the leadership PAC money that remains for his and his family’s personal expenses.

Our government is for sale.

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.

The Solyndra scandal occurred because of people with money who have influence and power.

In some of the countries where we operate, there is a tradition of corruption, in which the political elites work with business in the framework of unsavory relationships.

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

Because government has tremendous power, it attracts people who are eager to game the system, obtaining by force of law what they could never achieve through consensus.

There is no distinctly American criminal class - except Congress.

Bank of America is to sweetheart loans and Democratic Party payoffs as Paula Deen is to sugar and bacon grease.

We do many things at the federal level that would be considered dishonest and illegal if done in the private sector.