Gail Collins Quotes

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

The hanky-panky in public service that really matters is about money and not sex.

New York is having awful corruption scandals. The charges involve politicians acting in such an insanely stupid way, it shatters our longstanding confidence that taking money was the one thing they know how to do well.

Corruption is when a politician uses public funds to deliver pistachio ice cream to his home and transfer garden furniture to his Caesarea villa, then requesting that the expenses be covered for the water in his pool and fights to get a private jet.

The real cost of corruption in government, whether it is local, state, or federal, is a loss of the public trust.

I come from a state where four governors have gone to jail since I've been alive. Two of my last four predecessors in this seat went to jail or are going to jail.

My job is to not take for granted when somebody says, 'Oh, this is all just a made-up, phony scandal,' or, 'What this person did put the U.S. government at risk.'

Corruption exists everywhere.

Public office is supposed to be a public trust. This is a clear sign of the rampant corruption at the highest levels of the Republican leadership.

It seems proper, at all events, that by an early enactment similar to that of other countries the application of public money by an officer of Government to private uses should be made a felony and visited with severe and ignominious punishment.

Sure there are dishonest men in local government. But there are dishonest men in national government too.

Corruption never has been compulsory.

Public corruption is the FBI's top criminal priority. The threat - which involves the corruption of local, state, and federally elected, appointed, or contracted officials - strikes at the heart of government, eroding public confidence and undermining the strength of our democracy.

Whether I'm reading a national publication or one of my local Chicago newspapers, I don't need to turn too many pages before I stumble upon another scandal. Not only do ethics violations deteriorate the public trust, but they also disrupt and undermine legitimate debate and policy.

I've been not only articulating the dissatisfaction with Albany, I've been acting on it. I've been very aggressive in bringing public integrity cases and public corruption cases and bringing cases against sitting legislators.

A thief is more moral than a congressman; when a thief steals your money, he doesn't demand you thank him.

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

We have a lot of poverty and a great deal of money coming into the country. This is a recipe for corruption. We have just prosecuted high government officials for corruption for the first time in Afghan history.

Corruption is the exchange of public benefits for private gain.

We are afraid that the Forestry Ministry will become another cash cow – for politicians

My choice early in life was either to be a piano-player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth there's hardly any difference.

As a matter of general sound public policy, I am very certain that there is a requirement that where a public official is under inquiry or investigation, especially an elected official, and it appears that his scale of living or the total of his bank deposits far exceeds the public salary which he is known to receive, he, the elected public official, owes a positive public duty to the community to give a reasonable or credible explanation of the sources of the deposits, or the source which enables him to maintain a scale of living beyond the amount of his salary.

PUBLIC SERVANT: Persons chosen by the people to distribute the graft.

Many government officials have very high moral standards at the beginning of their duties, but after a while some officials sway from the right path and easily fall into the temptation of bribery and fraud.

Ukraine gives corruption a bad name…. The Ukrainian politicians have ripped off everything in the country that was not nailed down, and then they turned to the stuff that was nailed down.