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June 05, 2025

Dylan Gyauch-Lewis

Blog Post Economic MediaEthics in GovernmentExecutive BranchRevolving Door

Caring About Corporate Conflicts is Cool

The private sector rewards for public sector experience creates a conflict in which the public good and an employee’s own career prospects may be in tension. Not only does it incentivize public servants to consider the interests of the private sector (and how their decisions as a public servant might impact future employment prospects), but it erodes public confidence in civil servants.  

May 30, 2025

Kenny Stancil

Newsletter Climate and EnvironmentCorruption CalendarCriminal JusticeCryptocurrencyDOGEElon MuskExecutive BranchHousingImmigrationRevolving DoorTrump 2.0

Corruption Calendar Week 19: “We Reject Regulators.” Pardon Me?

This week the Trump administration deepened its wildly corrupt and lucrative crypto grift, sought to further enrich wealthy supporters at the direct expense of working households, and continued to pardon white-collar criminals who don the red MAGA cap.

May 16, 2025 | Watchdog Weekly

Timi Iwayemi

Newsletter Artificial IntelligenceCorruption CalendarElon MuskEthics in GovernmentFinancial Regulation

Corruption Calendar Week 17: A Great Gesture Of Corruption

This week’s edition covers Trump’s latest grand gesture of corruption—gleeful acceptance of a $400 million gift from the Qatari royal family, Donald Jr.’s moves to cash in on his father’s office, various deregulatory actions across the executive branch, and Musk & company’s numerous conflicts of interest.

May 15, 2025 | The American Prospect

Timi Iwayemi Alex Moss

Op-Ed Department of CommerceHoward LutnickIntellectual PropertyPatent and Trademark OfficePharmaRevolving Door

Trump Appointees Are Hijacking the Patent System

The PTAB’s inter partes review (IPR) process was designed to swiftly weed out low-quality patents—the kind that stifle competition, inflate consumer prices, and entrench monopolies. But since Trump and Lutnick’s arrival, a quiet bureaucratic coup at the USPTO has undermined this critical safeguard. Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart has moved to centralize power and gut accountability measures, opening the door to a flood of dubious patents.

May 14, 2025

Xaver Clarke

Blog Post DOGEElon MuskTrump 2.0

Musk’s DOGE Cuts to AmeriCorps Have Triggered a Nationwide Public Service Collapse

The gutting of AmeriCorps is yet another callous move made by Elon Musk’s team at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. AmeriCorps is the national service program that sends full-time volunteers to some of the most vulnerable and underserved communities in the country, reaching where other public or private sector services fall short. In cutting $400 million in AmeriCorps grant funding, nearly a third of the program’s already modest $1.3 billion annual budget, DOGE has displaced over 30,000 volunteers and disrupted more than 1,000 programs. These cuts are already triggering ripple effects in communities across the country, from halted disaster recovery projects to abandoned school programs and shuttered food banks.