Government Ethics

John Marty’s career in the senate is perhaps best defined by his nationally-recognized efforts to improve democracy in Minnesota, opening up the political process, taking on corporate powers and special interest money, and fighting conflicts of interest. His leadership and personal commitment to these issues has led many to call him the conscience of the Senate.

The recent high-profile fraud against Minnesota human services programs is outrageous, and robs both those who need the services and the public who pay for them. John continues to strongly support efforts to prevent such fraud and to prosecute those who have stolen money from the state. 

He also is pushing to simplify the convoluted system we have for paying for care – the more complicated and bureaucratic the system is, the easier it is for people to defraud the system, and the less time case workers and public employees have to track down and prevent such fraud. 

Unfortunately, this fraud prevention work is being made even more difficult because of changes in federal law, which make the system even more costly and bureaucratic. Just the new federal Medicaid administrative burden will cost the state and counties $330 million more per biennium. On top of the huge expense, this new bureaucratic burden takes time away from fraud prevention efforts. 

In addition, because virtually all of the recent fraud was committed, not by public employees, but by private contractors who are supposed to perform the services, Senator Marty pushes for careful assessment of when services should be conducted by counties or the state instead of private contractors.

Government Ethics. John Marty authored Minnesota’s landmark law banning all gifts from lobbyists and interest groups to public officials. He has worked to eliminate conflicts of interest from our political process.

No special interest money. There is a critical factor that separates John Marty from politics as usual: special interest money. John Marty does not accept any PAC or lobbyist contributions and no big $1,000 contributions. John accepts only small individual contributions not exceeding $200 per person. 

Money has infiltrated our political system, and one’s ability to speak truth to power is compromised when that power bankrolls campaigns. Powerful interest groups regularly make generous financial contributions – often to both Republican and DFL legislative caucuses and candidates. Those contributions buy access and goodwill, which leads to favorable treatment. Special treatment doesn’t necessarily mean support of the donor’s issue; sometimes it is something as subtle as toning down criticism of it. No matter how indirect the benefit, selling political favors to the highest bidder is wrong.

If you take contributions from the insurance industry or the pharmaceutical lobby, it becomes much more difficult to fully challenge them. John has consistently rejected all special interest money. He stands up to those powerful interests and fights for real health reform in Minnesota. Senator Marty serves the public interest, not the special interests.

“Clean Money” Campaign Finance Reform. Campaign finance reform may not be the most glamorous issue, but it is critically important.  It’s about the future of our democracy, and John Marty has led the fight to take special interest money out of politics. John is working for “Clean Money” comprehensive campaign finance reform, which is more urgent than ever in light of the misguided Citizens United Supreme Court ruling.

The Citizens United ruling is, like Plessy v. Ferguson (“separate but equal”), one of the most tragic decisions in U.S. History. Like Plessy, Citizens United must be overturned, or we need a constitutional amendment to do so.

Senator Marty seeks to remove all special interest money from the political process – no PAC money, no soft money, no lobbyist contributions, no dark money, no mega-contributions from anyone. Campaigns would be funded at a rational level with public financing. If anyone is going to “own” politicians, it ought to be the public, not special interests.

A Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United and‍Fighting Waste & Fraud. Senator Marty has been fighting against waste, fraud, and abuse throughout his career. He has worked with whistleblowers to expose waste and improper behavior, and helped to protect them from retaliation. John points out that every dollar wasted takes away from urgent unmet needs. . The corrupting influence of special interest money in our elections affects virtually every issue in politics. To end this corruption, we need to clarify that the First Amendment was not intended to allow corporations, wealthy individuals, and interest groups to buy clout in the political system through massive contributions and dark money expenditures. Senator Marty is the lead author of Senate File 569, legislation calling on the U.S. Congress to propose a constitutional amendment to overturn “Citizens United” and require that Congress and the states regulate political spending so that every person, regardless of their economic status, has access to the political process, and that no person gains, as a result of their money, substantially more access or ability to influence elections.

Conflict of Interest. Marty introduced legislation making it a conflict of interest for a legislator to vote on an issue after accepting a large campaign contribution from a lobbyist or interest group. No sports league would allow a team owner to give a financial “contribution” to the referees before a game. That same principle should apply to our political system.

Clean Government. For years, John has fought for legislation to close the “Revolving Door” between public office and lobbying. As your Senator, he continues to push for legislation that would prohibit legislators, constitutional officers and state agency heads from lobbying after leaving office.

Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). John Marty has authored RCV legislation as an important step to offering Minnesotans a chance to support the candidates of their choice. Voters should have an opportunity to register their first preference, without concern for a “wasted vote” or unintentionally becoming a “spoiler” for a second preference. RCV is gaining momentum. It’s smart. And it’s good for democracy.

Stopping Omnibus “Garbage” Bills. Senator Marty has been a consistent and vocal opponent of the unconstitutional practice of combining large amounts of unrelated legislation into single bills. This practice allows lobbyists and legislative leaders to slip favored provisions into bills with little awareness or accountability. Because changing these entrenched practices at the Capitol is difficult, Marty has focused on limiting the scope and content of omnibus budget bills by reducing the number of unrelated policy provisions included in them, while continuing to push for broader reforms to ensure legislation is transparent, accountable, and debated on its merits.

Open Government. John has a strong advocate for openness in government. He believes the public business ought to be conducted in the public eye, and has worked to open conference committee negotiations to public scrutiny. 

Public Right to Know. Senator Marty has worked to close loopholes in Minnesota’s financial disclosure laws covering public officials and lobbyists. For example, a lobbyist could give every Minnesota legislator a $200 campaign contribution without public disclosure or any way for the public to know about it. When highly paid lobbyists, whose job is to persuade public officials, give money to those officials, the public has a right to know about it. This legislation would expose these transactions so that the public is aware of the conflict of interest.