Take a look at what made the list on CLC's Best and Worst Moments of 2015...

Last month, as politicos and policy wonks awaited the outcome of Congress' back room budget negotiations, rumors swirled around Washington over which last minute riders would make it into the final omnibus bill. Particularly troubling to many was a provision pushed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch...

The public deserves to know, now more than ever, why we can trust these candidates to address the outsized role of money in our political system. What, specifically, are Clinton and Trump going to do to fix the broken campaign finance system they are currently exploiting? 

In a panel discussion at Georgetown University Law Center last night hosted by DC Attorney General Karl Racine, Catie Kelley, State & Local Reform Program Director at the Campaign Legal Center, spoke about successful campaign finance models the District of Columbia can use to strengthen civic...

Both candidates say they will impose tighter restrictions on lobbyists, a central piece of democracy form.

Last night Jack Abramoff was the focus of a "60 Minutes" piece on CBS. After serving his time in a federal prison, the infamous lobbyist offers his take on the influence game in Washington which, he assures correspondent Lesley Stahl, "hasn't been cleaned up at all." 

The abuses of the earmark system has become so egregious that Congress is left with virtually no alternative but an outright ban on the unending stream of handouts to favored lobbyists and contributors.  But it didn’t have to be this way.

Several years ago, it appeared that a number of trials were on the horizon for Members of Congress.  But outside of those caught literally and figuratively with cold hard cash, only congressional staffers and lobbyists have been held accountable, and even many of them appear to have gotten off scot...

Usually the news that a Member of Congress is seeking $30 contributions would be received as good news – evidence that there is a role for average Americans in the multi-million dollar campaign game.  But the recent debacle involving Members skipping their own swearing in and fundraising in the...

The Office of Congressional Ethics is under fire and certainly there is no shortage of Members calling for closing the office altogether or at least stripping it of powers in an attempt to bring it to heel.  Either action would be a grave mistake if Congress is to have any hope of rehabilitating...

Given the multiple violations which Rep. Charles Rangel has publicly admitted to committing, a simple reprimand is an insufficient penalty. At the same time, expulsion is not on the table, and appropriately so. There was no evidence of egregious self-enrichment or specific corruption.

In South Dakota, legislators are attempting to gut the state’s entire ethics law, contrary to the expressed wish of the voters.

A combination of Supreme Court decisions and lax enforcement from the Federal Election Commission and the Internal Revenue Service has allowed groups like the Senate Leadership Fund – which is closely linked to McConnell - to use nonprofits like One Nation as a conduit for secret campaign cash.

In a closed-door meeting held on a national holiday, yesterday U.S. House Republicans voted for a proposal that will gut the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), an independent body created in 2008 as a response to ethics and lobbying scandals.

The scandal surrounding President Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn  is indicative of why the Constitution bars U.S. officials from accepting anything of value from a foreign government: to prevent even the possibility of influence by foreign powers. 

New documents obtained by CLC under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show how lawyers for the White House and the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) scrambled to respond to President Trump and a top aide who used their official positions to promote First Daughter Ivanka Trump’s fashion line.

At a Kentucky campaign rally on Monday, President Donald Trump appeared to take credit for “keeping former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick out of a job,” as CNN put it. That could spell trouble for President Trump. Although the president is exempt from many ethics laws and...

Seventy percent of Missouri voters in last November’s general election approved the Missouri Campaign Contribution Reform Initiative, a state constitutional amendment now being challenged in district court.