Friend, corruption comes in all shapes and sizes, and it could be closer to home than you think.
Across the country, local elected officials like governors, city council members, and mayors are engaging in back door deals, giving large sums of money to corporations without input from local communities, who often don’t find out about said deals until it's too late. In some cases, elected officials are prevented from knowing who the recipient is because of non-disclosure agreements and prevented from sharing details about the deal with the public. Politicians claim that NDAs protect sensitive negotiations, but what they really do is ensure that these deals aren’t tanked by unwanted publicity. In 2017, a Google employee admitted that NDAs “discourage” public relations problems.
Ban Secret Deals, an advocacy coalition focused on preventing such deals writes, “Providing taxpayer funds to individual companies is a failed economic development strategy : Communities do not see the promised job or income growth. It also disadvantages local businesses that are trying to compete with the larger, national firms that receive the bulk of state and local subsidies. It also fosters corruption, as politically connected businesses receive more funds due to their ability to lobby, not the superiority of their products or services.”
Taxpayers who fund these deals and feel the impacts in their local communities deserve transparency on how politicians spend their money or exempt corporations from paying taxes. It all starts by banning NDAs for public officials. Several legislatures have already introduced legislation to prevent such deals from taking place. Constituents deserve to know that their local elected officials are working in good faith to serve them, not corporations. Keep fighting,
Jayleen Alvarado, Daily Kos. |
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