CREW: Looking Out for You
OK, sure, I’m a little biased in support of CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Not only do they do great work throwing the bipartisan hammer down on ethically challenged Congress-critters, the organization recently hired Church Street Editorial* to edit its “Ethics in Your State” materials.
But here I give a shout out to the CREW staffers and affiliated researchers who painstakingly searched the Internet and other media sources for any information they could find on state and local watchdog organizations working in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The result is a state-by-state compilation of ethics organizations, such as The League of Women Voters and Common Cause, with (where possible) specific information on the issues they focus on, the number of local chapters in the state, and whether or not they are able to compensate their workers. Recent corruption stories are highlighted, along with links to blogs and news sources. And, according to CREW, it’s just a start:
Our hope is that this directory will provide state and local activists with the contact information they need to cooperate on projects, to seek out assistance from natural allies in their respective states, and to benefit from the experiences of other activists in their states and across state borders.
Click on your state or jurisdiction to find out where it fits in the national corruption rankings, which are based on a New York Times investigation. While our not-so-fair city of Washington, D.C., ranks Numero Uno in the number of guilty officials per capita, at least the District’s watchdogs can now see they are among a broad group of justice-seekers working each day to smoke out the ne’er-do-wells who, if unchecked, are allowed to violate the public trust, abuse their power, and squander taxpayer dollars. Way to go CREW!
*Special thanks to Michelle for her editing support!