Let's Make Corruption History

Welcome to the MPC's Virtual Museum - an online museum designed to inform, engage and inspire!

To own our future, we must first own our past. Through compelling stories, pivotal moments, and the work of courageous reformers and investigative journalists, our virtual exhibits examine how corruption has shaped our political institutions—and how determined citizens have challenged it.

By learning from history, we equip ourselves to strengthen democracy, promote accountability, and help create the ethical, effective government we all deserve.

Thank you for being here and for taking the time to explore. Welcome—and enjoy your visit.

Highlights

CALLING ALL STUDENT WRITERS: THE "MAKING CORRUPTION HISTORY" ESSAY CONTEST

The Museum of Political Corruption proudly launches its 1st Annual “Making Corruption History” High School Essay Contest, inviting students across the United States to explore the importance of integrity, accountability, and civic responsibility.

Open to students in grades 9-12, the contest encourages young writers to examine historical examples of political corruption, individuals who have stood against abuse of power, or the broader impact of corruption on society and young people. Through thoughtful research and original analysis, participants are asked to reflect on why corruption matters and what can be done to combat it.

Winners will receive cash prizes recognizing outstanding work, and selected essays may be featured by the Museum to help advance public understanding of corruption and the importance of transparent, ethical governance.

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2025 Halls of Shame and Honor Inductees

The Museum of Political Corruption proudly announces its 2025 inductees into the Halls of Honor and Shame. This year’s inductees reflect the enduring struggle between ethical leadership and abuse of power.

Hall of Honor: Lincoln Steffens (1866–1936), Clarence Lexow (1852–1910), Patrick Fitzgerald (b. 1960), Daphne Caruana Galizia (1964–2017), and OpenSecrets.

Hall of Shame: Richard Connolly (1810–1880), Jack Abramoff (b. 1958), Harrison A. “Pete” Williams Jr. (1919–2001), William Jefferson (b. 1947), and the 1868 New York State Legislature.

In addition, Glenn Kessler, longtime fact-checker for The Washington Post, receives the Museum’s Nellie Bly Award for Investigative Reporting, and will be honored in the Nellie Bly Wing of the Hall of Honor.

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A Night to Remember: Celebrating the Nellie Bly Award

On October 16th, the Museum of Political Corruption proudly hosted the Nellie Bly Award event at the Hearst Media Center, generously provided by the Times Union. The evening was a great success, with a lively discussion and an especially engaging Q&A. Our distinguished panel featured honoree Glenn Kessler (formerly of The Washington Post), Sarah Gilbert (President & CEO of our local NPR affiliate), Karen DeWitt (veteran Upstate journalist), and Casey Seiler (Times Union Editor). We were also delighted to partner with the League of Women Voters of Albany County, who hosted an information table. Guests enjoyed the program and showed their support by picking up Museum merchandise—our caps were a particular hit! If you missed out, be sure to visit our online store to grab your own Museum gear.

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Asha rangappa: the mechanics of complicity

On April 16, 2025, the Museum of Political Corruption was delighted to partner with Albany Law School and the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy in bringing Asha Rangappa to Albany for a talk on “The Mechanics of Complicity.”

“The Mechanics of Complicity,” addressed today’s lack of accountability in leadership, those who enable corrupt or unethical actions, and what allows corruption or misconduct to flourish.  Her talk offered lessons for decision makers to develop norms, codes of conduct, and oversight mechanisms that can prevent corruption and misconduct from taking root and empower those in a position to stop it.

Rangappa is well known for her frequent appearances as a legal expert on ABC News, CNN, and MSNBC. She is a former FBI Special Agent and is an Assistant Dean at Yale’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.

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A SPECIAL GREETING from Preet Bharara

The Museum of Political Corruption opened its virtual doors to the public on December 9th, 2021.  During the “ribbon cutting” ceremony, we offered a virtual tour of the museum  and we were honored to have former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara deliver an address.  Mr. Bharara was one of five distinguished individuals that were inducted into the museum’s Hall of Honor in its first year.

Test Your Assumptions!

Take this short quiz to test your understanding of  political corruption and the factors that go into calling someone “corrupt.”    

A few things to note:

  • This quiz is only about government and political corruption. While corruption can happen in other areas—like schools, businesses, or charities—those are not included in this quiz.

  • A person doesn’t have to break a law or get caught to be corrupt. Someone can still act unethically even if they were never arrested or convicted.

  • This quiz shouldn’t be used to compare one person’s “corruption” to another.  Though some corruption may be worse than others, for this quiz, corruption is corruption.

Note: This quiz is for learning only. It is not meant to give legal advice.

Contemporary Quotes on Ethical Leadership

A collection of quotes on ethical leadership contributed to The Museum of Political Corruption.  

Reflections on Ethical Leadership
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"Ethical leadership is hard work performed with a selfless and soulful heart to lift up the downtrodden and, through them, all of humankind.”

Congressman Paul D. Tonko

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“Governing ethically means winning support from the governed, not just by winning votes, but for the actions taken in citizens’ names. When it comes to national security and surveillance, it means sources and methods can be secret, but the law itself must always be public. Cloaking the law in secrecy creates bad faith which corrodes Americans’ trust in the government and opens the door to ideologues and authoritarians.”

Senator Ron Wyden

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"An ethical public servant is free of conflicts of interest from personal assets, campaign contributors and partisan political loyalties. Ethics knows no party."

Richard Painter, Chief White House Ethics Lawyer under George W. Bush

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"Corruption is the opposite of the love of the public."

Zephyr Teachout, Associate Professor of Law, Fordham University

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“You can choose to be either a leader or a lemming. A leader is a person of courage and action, with integrity and an independent mind. A lemming is a small and unattractive rodent that will follow other unattractive rodents off a cliff. Choose to the be the former.”

Preet Bharara, former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York

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In American politics, ethical leadership demands the capacity to ensure always that the M in me is turned upside down to become a W in we. Without that fundamental commitment to the broader good and the well-being of the whole, leaders easily fall prey with ruinous effect to the narrow confines of self- interest, ego and purposeless ambition.

Aaron David Miller, Vice President and Middle East Program Director at the Wilson Center

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“Ethical leadership is about transparency, ownership and accountability. Speak the truth, own your part in it and always be accountable.”

Marin Alsop, Music Director, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

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“Elected officials are entrusted by voters to serve for the betterment of the public good. Public officials are rightfully held to a higher standard, and I work hard to conduct myself in the utmost professional and respectful manner. It is a true honor to represent the residents of the 109th NYS Assembly District, and I make every effort to uphold that honor in my service.”

Patricia Fahy, New York State Senator

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"Integrity is the heart and soul of leadership. If people don’t know what you stand for, they cannot stand with you and behind you. That is all the more true of Jewish leadership, which – if it lives up to its name – serves a higher cause, the very Highest Cause: the age-old covenant of the Jewish people with God, one another, and the world."

Dr. Arnold Eisen Chancellor, Jewish Theological Seminary

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"It is not by great acts but by small failures that freedom dies....justice and liberty die quietly because men first learn to ignore injustice and then no longer recognize it."

Charles Morgan Jr., Civil Rights lawyer

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"It seems to me that the great ethical leaders of our times, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Oscar Romero, Yitzhak Rabin, ... were willing to not only tell the truth but to love the truth and to pay the high price of telling and living the truth (misunderstanding, bigotry, hate, even death). For me it is not only telling the truth that matters but living the truth as best one can from day to day. It is less a question of understanding for me and more a question of willing it, of making something good happen."

Father Chris DeGiovine

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"Leaders will behave ethically, once they can envision a world in which everyone must behave as they do. Of course, this was Kant's idea, and it is as rational, true and challenging today as when he wrote it."

Frank Anechiarico, Maynard-Knox Professor of Government and Law, Hamilton College

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“Corruption is at the root of most evils of the World: Poverty, misery, despair of billions of people; death, refugees and conflicts of hundreds of millions; environmental destruction and climate change; hunger and disease; dictatorship and exploitation. We need a new paradigm of governance: Governments, private companies and Civil Society have to cooperate to diagnose corruption, develop remedies against it, and implement these remedies in a multi-stakeholder, holistic approach.

Peter Eigen Founder of Transparency International

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“Our work makes it clear that we must never take our system of government and our freedom for granted. Principled leaders dedicated to the rule of law must always stand ready to frustrate the plans of the corrupt few who would seek to undermine our liberty.”

Congressman Bennie G. Thompson, Co-Chair of the January 6th Committee

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“Corruption is central to so many of our world’s challenges. It destabilizes countries and regions, robs the treasuries of the resources for a country’s development and facilitates terrorism and illicit trade in arms, drugs and people. Strong ethical leaders are the antidote to this world disaster. Such leaders will place the public good as their number one priority and ensure that fair laws and rules are upheld along with strong institutions where transparency prevails. Such leaders will be uncorruptible.”

Dr. Huguette Labelle, Former Chair, Transparency International

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“In a time of global uncertainty and division, it has never been more critical for leaders to stand on their values, morals, and ethics. It is the foundation upon which all action springs forward and that action should spur change that results in the healing of communities, not the fracturing of them.”

Mayor Ted Wheeler, Portland, OR

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“Government leaders must never lose focus on citizens. Every decision we make should be framed with a concern for its impact on our neighbors and those strangers that share our sociopolitical jurisdiction. When we constantly remind ourselves of those to whom we’re accountable, ethical decision-making happens organically.”

Chief Thomas Jenkins, President and Chairman of the Board of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC).

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“Ethical leadership is the foundation on which government and public service should be built. When personal gain or self-interest takes priority over the public good, our entire institution fails. Hard-working men and women put their trust in us to act on their behalf, to be their voice, and to represent them with authenticity, honesty and integrity. Our obligation to uphold their trust supersedes everything else we do as public officials.”

Brian M. Kolb, former NYS Assembly Minority Leader

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"At the end of the day, ethical leadership requires one to be true to oneself. In so doing you come across with authenticity, trust, passion and compassion - all nurtured by a commitment to the truth and service to others."

R. Mark Sullivan, Past President, The College of Saint Rose

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"The root of ethical leadership is to tell the truth"

President Jimmy Carter

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“What makes democracy worth the effort is if those elected act more ethically than those who got the job through the divine right of kings. Corrupt politicians ruin the democratic experiment by acting as cravenly as the worst petty tyrants.”

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, Professor of Law, Stetson University College of Law | Brennan Center Fellow

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"History teaches that a citizenry mirrors its leaders. When the people are morally and ethically strong, they prosper. When they are not, they decline."

Gerald Nebeker, Founder of RISE, Inc.

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“Ethical leadership means always putting your constituents’ interests ahead of your own. It means making decisions based on what’s best for the public we serve, irrespective of partisan politics or pressure from special interest groups.”

Deborah Zamer, Albany Common Councilmember

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"Ethical leadership means being guided by your love of your fellow man rather than by your love of superyacht owners."

Andy Borowitz
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"Ethical leadership involves setting aside personal ambitions and instead prioritizing goals that, if met, would leave the institution better off. Ethical leadership also requires pursuing those goals in a manner not just legal but also transparent, honest, and fair."

Richard Haass, former President of the Council on Foreign Relations, author of "The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens."

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“Corruption is an alteration in the behavior of one in power from honesty to fraudulent conduct, betraying the trust of those who believe in them.”

Former NYS Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson
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"A culture of ethics is essential to guarantee the promise of representative democracy. The highest standards of integrity and transparency must be expected from our public officials."

Tom DiNapoli, New York State Comptroller
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Visit the MPC Gift Shop

Fun and unique products for the politically engaged!  Whether you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind gift, the latest in Corruptwear™, a thought-provoking read, or a fun game that teaches about corruption, we have something for everyone. Let our products represent your desire for better, more ethical government.  And at great prices, you’re likely to find a steal!  

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Thank you to the many brilliant thought leaders and creative artists that have contributed to our success!

Inducted in 2021
Alex Gibney
Inducted in 2017
Susanne Craig
Clay Jones
Clay Jones
Preet Bharara
Preet Bharara
(b. 1938)
Peter Eigen
Jerry Mitchell
Jerry Mitchell
Inducted in 2020
Jane Mayer
Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner
David Remnick
David Remnick
Ronan Farrow
Ronan Farrow
Ron Howard
Ron Howard