Managing Conflict of Interest - Organisation for Economic Co ...

Implementation and Enforcement Tools 129In the process, he vastly out-raised and outspent his Republicanopponents who had taken the federal funds and lived within thespending limits. Overall, in the 2000 presidential campaign, Bushspent USD193 million, while Al Gore spent USD133 million. In 2004,Bush again declined federal matching funds for the primaries, asdid the top Democratic candidate, John Kerry. In that election, Bushspent USD367 million and Kerry spent USD329 million. In 2008, itis quite possible that both the Democratic and Republican nomineeswill decline federal funds not only for the primaries but for thegeneral election as well—something that no major party candidatehas ever done since the current federal funding system was createdin 1976. This could raise the cost of a successful run for the WhiteHouse in 2008 to USD500 million or more—all of it raised from privatesources.In order to raise the vast amounts of money required to runfor office, every candidate must conduct two campaigns—a publiccampaign aimed at voters and a “phantom campaign” outsidepublic view aimed at potential contributors. When they takeoffice, politicians must then represent two sets of constituents: the“real” constituents and the “cash” constituents. Thus, transparencyis crucial, and thanks to the Watergate scandal, 1 the US systemis very transparent. Every contribution over USD200 to federalcandidates and political parties must be itemized and reported,declaring each donor’s name, address, occupation, and employer.1“Watergate” is a general term for a series of political scandals that beganwith the arrest of five men who broke into the Democratic National Committeeheadquarters at the Washington, DC, office/apartment complex andhotel called the Watergate on 17 June 1972. The attempted cover-up ofthe break-in ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.Investigations conducted by the FBI, the Senate Watergate Committee,the House Judiciary Committee, and the press revealed that this burglarywas just one of many illegal activities authorized and carried out by Nixon’sstaff. They also revealed the immense scope of crimes and abuses, whichincluded campaign fraud, political espionage and sabotage, illegal breakins,wiretapping on a massive scale, including the wiretapping of the pressand regular citizens, and a secret slush fund laundered in Mexico to paythose who conducted these operations. (Source: Wikipedia.org; Dickinson,William B., Mercer Cross, and Barry Polsky. 1973. Watergate: Chronologyof a Crisis. Washington, DC; Congressional Quarterly 8 133 140 180 188.ISBN 0871870592. OCLC 20974031)ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific