Public Oversight Quotes

If something is being done on a secret basis in national security, that's a great reason for elected officials to not talk about it. And that's a great way to shirk accountability for it with the public.

Our constitutional system is defined by a balance between the public's need for transparency and the government's need to have a zone of secrecy around decision making. Both are important, yet they are mutually exclusive.

Independence sounds good in theory, but in practice, it is mutually exclusive with accountability. The more independence you give a prosecutor, the less you make that prosecutor accountable to the public and regular checks and balances.

This role is designed to question the behavior of government officials on behalf of the public. I think people who have done this and all jobs in journalism have believed that.

The threat is that the public will know what the government is up to. Any system of power is going to want to keep free from public surveillance, that's natural. Its shouldn't be but, its very natural.

It's been vindicating to see the reaction from lawmakers, judges, public bodies around the world, civil liberties activists who have said it's true that we have a right to at least know the broad outlines of what our government's doing in our name and what it's doing against us.

Access to government-held information allows citizens to hold their government accountable for policy decisions and public expenditures…. Access to information bridges the gap between state and society ….

We as citizens should hold our government accountable for word and deed.

It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error.

In the administration of justice all proceedings shall be public and oral to the widest possible extent.

I think whenever something is - whenever there's something that affects the public good, then there does need to be some form of public oversight.

I had always believed government was not a fungus: It could survive in sunshine.

I'd rather report to four million people as the elected Sheriff than some governor or president, so I like reporting to the people.

The media helps keep government honest.

The people of Zimbabwe have a responsibility to ensure that the government that they elected behaves properly.

I am pleased to report that Texas is known for having one of the strongest set of open government laws in our Nation. And ever since that experience, I have long believed that our federal government could use 'a little Texas sunshine.'

The identity of political donors should be disclosed and bureaucratic rules should not circumvent the original intent of federal law or interfere with the public's ability to hold these organizations accountable.

Transparency in government leads to reduced corruption.

This is a country for, of, and by the people not for, of, and by the government. If we turn it over to them we cannot complain about what they're doing because this is a natural course of men and we have to hold their feet to the fire.

But since there is but one aim for the entire state, it follows that education must be one and the same for all, and that the responsibility for it must be a public one, not the private affair which it now is, each man looking after his own children and teaching them privately whatever private curriculum he thinks they ought to study.

Government is too big and too important to be left to the politicians.

While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short space of four years.

While the intelligence profession oftentimes demands secrecy, it is critically important that there be a full and open discourse on intelligence matters with the appropriate elected representatives of the American people.

Any spending should be debated openly on the floor of the House and voted on in open session, with the American people having a chance to watch and listen.

I believe executive privilege should protect the President's conversations with key aides ... but on substantive matters of concern I do not believe executive privilege ought to exist.