Welcome to the Museum of Political Corruption!

To own our future, we must first own our past. Using history, journalism, immersive exhibits, film, live programming, and storytelling, the Museum of Political Corruption explores how corruption has shaped our political landscape and how courageous reformers, investigative journalists, and determined citizens inspire us to build a more ethical and accountable future.

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This Day In Corruption History

What is Corruption???

Corruption occurs when an individual in a position of entrusted authority uses their power for personal gain at the expense of the people or institutions they are meant to serve. Corruption can be illegal, but it is ALWAYS unethical.

Term of the Day: Slush Fund

A Slush fund is money kept in a secret or loosely accounted-for fund, often used for questionable or unauthorized purposes. In political and business contexts, a slush fund may involve money that is set aside and used for bribes, kickbacks, illegal campaign contributions, personal expenses, or other improper payments.

 

The 2026 Nellie Bly Award for Investigative Reporting was a great success!

Congratulations to Julie K. Brown and all the evening's participants! The 10th annual Nellie Bly Award was a phenomenal success, and you can watch it in the Museum's Tammany Lecture Hall.

WATCH THE EVENT

Nominations for the 2026 inductees for the Halls of Shame and Honor

Who do you believe belongs in the Hall of Shame or the Hall of Honor?  See guidelines and use the form below to send us your recommendations. 

Deadline: December 1, 2026

Nominations for the Hall of Shame

  • Corruption by a U.S. citizen or citizens.
  • Corruption is defined as “the abuse of entrusted political power for private gain.”  
  • Corruption is substantiated by conviction and/or resignation combined (in most cases) with significant historical perspective.
  • The corrupt acts are considered by the Board of Trustees to be substantial and/or instructive.

Nominations for the Hall of Honor

  • A documented and substantial record of fighting corruption.
  • Fighting corruption has been a centerpiece of the individual’s life work.

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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Great Minds

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.

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.

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Visit the Museum Gift Shop!

Fun and unique items 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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Future honest politician
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Make Politics Young Again 2
Kickback 6
I'm bribable2
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18 USC 371 Conspiracy to Defraud the U.S.
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Corruptwear model
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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