Soft Corruption

How Unethical Conduct Undermines Good Government and What to Do About It

William E. Schluter (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

277 Seiten

2017
Rutgers University Press (Verlag)
9780813586175 (ISBN)

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Addresses five areas of soft corruption: campaign financing, lobbying, conflict of interest, patronage, and the electoral process. Throughout the book, we see the serious consequences of soft corruption, such as higher cost of government and reduced public faith in its operations. With impressive detail, Schluter concludes by outlining a platform for reform.

New Jersey has long been a breeding ground for political corruption, and most of it is perfectly legal. Public officials accept favors from lobbyists, give paid positions to relatives, and rig the electoral process to favor their cronies in a system where campaign money is used to buy government results. Such unethical behavior is known as “soft corruption,” and former New Jersey legislator William E. Schluter has been fighting it for the past fifty years.

In this searing personal narrative, the former state senator recounts his fight to expose and reform these acts of government misconduct. Not afraid to cite specific cases of soft corruption in New Jersey politics, he paints a vivid portrait of public servants who care more about political power and personal gain than the public good. By recounting events that he witnessed firsthand in the Garden State, he provides dramatic illustrations of ills that afflict American politics nationwide.

As he identifies five main forms of soft corruption, Schluter diagnoses the state government’s ethical malaise, and offers concrete policy suggestions for how it might be cured. Not simply a dive through the muck of New Jersey politics, Soft Corruption is an important first step to reforming our nation’s political system, a book that will inspire readers to demand that our elected officials can and must do better.

Visit: www.softcorruption.com (http://www.softcorruption.com)

WILLIAM E. SCHLUTER is a Republican lawmaker who served in both houses of the New Jersey legislature, and authored two pioneering laws regulating lobbying and campaign finance. Subsequently, he served as chair of the Citizens Clean Elections Commission and vice-chair of the State Ethics Commission.

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Soft Corruption-The Problem

2. Campaign Financing: How It Works

3. Campaign Financing: The New Jersey Version

4. Lobbying

5. Conflict of Interest

6. Patronage: Jobs, Contracts, Perks

7. The Electoral Process

8. Agenda for Reform

9. How to Achieve Reform

Notes

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	01.03.2017
Reihe/Serie	Rivergate Regionals Collection
Zusatzinfo	5 figures, 3 tables
Verlagsort	New Brunswick NJ
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Allgemeines / Lexika
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Recht / Steuern ► Strafrecht ► Kriminologie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
	Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management
ISBN-13	9780813586175 / 9780813586175
Zustand	Neuware