Combating the Culture of Corruption. Or Not.

Tom DeLay finally resigned, Jack Abramoff will soon be doing time, and more indictments are being filed against an ever-growing list of K Street fixers, Members of Congress and corrupt executive branch employees, fueling public perception that Washington’s “culture of corruption” is out of control. Yet all the skeletons and scandals have failed to galvanize enough public outrage to force Congress to pass even modest ethics and lobby reform legislation. MORE >>

Corruption Roll Call: The Most Corrupt Members of Congress

Connected to the Abramoff scandal and under indictment for improper use of corporate funds in a scheme to cement Republican control over Congress, the powerful House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay resigned from office in April.

But the departed DeLay is not the only Member of Congress whose behavior merits scrutiny. There are a significant number of other members who have engaged in similarly egregious conduct, some in connection with Abramoff, some in other contexts.

Here are profiles of some of the most unethical activities by Members of Congress, from both parties. The list is by no means complete, but it does provide a distressing overview of the moral morass in Congress. MORE >>

Oil and Violence in Sudan Drilling, Poverty and Death in Upper Nile State

The discovery of oil in a developing country can be a blessing or a curse. In Sudan’s case, oil exploration and development has helped fuel vicious warfare.

The 2005 Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which brokered an end to fighting between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), offers a framework to depart from that brutal legacy, but so far its promise has not been realized.

Sudan’s largest oil field is located in Western Upper Nile, southeast of the capital, Khartoum. Most of the international focus on the intersection of oil and violence in Sudan has been directed towards this area. But oil development is now proceeding rapidly in another oil field east of there, in the Melut Basin in Upper Nile State, with a disturbingly similar story line. MORE >>

Searching for Transparency: Corruption and the Global Economy

David Nussbaum is the chief executive of Transparency International (“TI”), based at the International Secretariat in Berlin. TI is the leading global anti-corruption organization, with national chapters in about 100 countries. Nussbaum is also a non-executive director of Shared Interest and was previously the chair of Traidcraft plc. Prior to joining TI, Nussbaum was a director of Oxfam, including six months on secondment in charge of Oxfam’s program in India. After qualifying as a chartered accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Nussbaum worked in venture capital with 3i plc, and then as finance director of a quoted European packaging group. MORE >>