Donald Trump Quotes

I've made it clear that I'm not taking special interest PAC money or accepting donations from lobbyists - ever. I want to represent the interests of the citizens.

Who is in charge? Is it taxpayers or is it the special interest groups?

It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors.

The quicker we get rid of the lobby system the better for all of us. I don't think in this day and age it is tenable to have these nods and winks, and on-the-record and off-the-record briefings.

I'm not going to take any special interest money or any PAC money... when I get to Washington I want to be the voice for the people of Connecticut and not owe special favors.

Mr. Bush has eliminated the middle man and simply allowed lobbyists to run our government.

Not all special interest groups are bad.

I get really, really concerned when I see somebody, taking $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs, will not release what they're actually saying. That's concerning.

We need to ban outside income for elected officials. Transparency alone is not enough; it doesn't solve the problem of creating outside dependencies.

Lobbying has become a term of reproach, as if it were improper to push for a particular belief. This has happened because of paid lobbyists whose opinions are for hire and the fear that decision-makers, whether politicians or officials, are susceptible to their charms and wiles. This has tarred entirely proper lobbying with the same brush.

I've been concerned about ethics in government for a long time. And the problems we've had under President Trump are only indicative of the longer-term problem of the erosion of public office and government.

Separate the true charities from the lobbying groups who wish to masquerade as charities.

The lobbyists have erected a brick wall around Washington DC—a wall that keeps them in and keeps you out.

Thomas Edison invented a voting machine for legislatures. Politicians hated it. They didn’t want people to know how they voted.

Ethics and Washington DC. Are they mutually exclusive?

There is a steady flow between corporate board rooms and government decision making centers.

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

Washington is rigged to favor people who have an army of lobbyists.

You can reform a political culture, but it’s a big lift. First, the voters would have to convince the legislators that they’re being watched by someone other than the lobbyists. Then they’d have to press for laws that would force a change of behavior, like nonpartisan redistricting and ethics reform. Then the voters would have to follow up, year after year, until the old guard was replaced by a whole new generation who went into politics with dreams of drafting serious legislation, rather than just bringing more stuff back into the district or, at worst, shaking down some landlord at the airport for a thousand bucks.

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.

Corporations write the legislation. They vote on the legislation. And they give advice on how to pass their bills.

Statements of honesty in Washington can only go so far when you are employed.

The real scandal in Washington is not what is against the law. It is what is not against the law.

I hope the true public servants learn from this that they should not be afraid and they will get incredible grass-roots support if they call out corruption.

Our elected representatives wisely enacted laws to protect our state and local governments from undue outside influence.