From the Chicago Tribune

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Study of U.S., 24 other nations finds corruption a problem
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By R. Jeffrey Smith
The Washington Post
May 1, 2004
WASHINGTON -- A survey of government accountability and openness in 25 countries has found that each is challenged by corruption and lacks sufficient protections against electoral abuses, including developed democracies such as the United States, Germany and Japan.
The yearlong effort involved 150 journalists, social scientists and researchers on six continents under the supervision of the Center for Public Integrity, a non-partisan Washington-based group.
The resulting report, released this week, produced a ranking of nations in which none was labeled "very strong" on integrity of key institutions and public accountability.
The United States was joined by Portugal, Australia, Italy, Germany and South Africa in receiving a "strong" rating, while seven countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa received "moderate" ratings. Russia joined Panama, Indonesia, Kenya and six other countries in being rated "weak." Guatemala and Zimbabwe fell below that level.
"This study shows that no country, regardless of wealth, size or population, is immune from corruption" and its ensuing problems, said Charles Lewis, the center's executive director.
In comparing nations on a rudimentary scale of anti-corruption mechanisms, the center joins a growing number of groups shining a spotlight on governance problems that have historically been given short shrift by U.S. and allied governments, as well as by the World Bank, the European Union and other major aid donors.
Only in the past decade has corruption been regarded by international funding organizations as a major hindrance to development, and only in the past two years--under a Bush administration foreign aid program known as the Millennium Challenge Account--has the U.S. emphasized good governance as a condition for economic assistance.
According to the Center for Public Integrity's survey--which Lewis called "a work in progress" that he wants to expand to 25 additional nations next year--shortcomings exist in mechanisms to ensure that elections are free and fair, a key test of democracy.
For example, Turkey, which is trying to eventually join the European Union, lacks laws providing for public audits of political party finances and public access to reports on campaign financing.
Turkey's head of state, and those in 13 other countries in the survey, cannot be prosecuted for corruption.
Turkey also scored its "weak" ranking because journalists there have been harmed or imprisoned for investigating corruption, a circumstance it shared with 16 other nations, and because the ruling party controls at least two-thirds of parliamentary seats.
Although the United States was rated strong or very strong in nearly every index measure, it was faulted for lacking a national ombudsman--along with four other nations surveyed--and for ineffective protections of government whistle-blowers.
Lewis also criticized the climate in Washington in which former officials and relatives of top officials in the Bush and Clinton administrations have profited from their access to decision-makers.
"It's not Indonesia, Nigeria or Russia that boasts such an unabashed, mercenary culture in which influence peddlers so shamelessly cash in ... but the United States," Lewis said.
Private gain from public life, he noted, is common and legal in the U.S.Copyright (c) 2004, Chicago Tribune