New website to help public fight corruption

Integrity Florida, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute, has launched a new anti-corruption website with the goal of helping Floridians hold government accountable.

“At this critical time in U.S. history, working together to address the root causes of systemic corruption has never been more important,” said Ben Wilcox, research director of Integrity Florida, said Monday.

The organization’s revamped website at integrityflorida.org provides access to over 20 Integrity Florida reports and related public resources on key government accountability issues, such as budget transparency and election integrity.

“We’re often referred to as a government watchdog,” Wilcox said. “We just felt, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we had 20 million watchdogs here in Florida?‘”

Integrity Florida combats both illegal and what Wilcox called “legal corruption,” such as the system of campaign finance regulation in Florida.

Wilcox said direct contributions to candidates have limits, but in Florida those restrictions can be avoided by forming a political

“We’re often referred to as a government watchdog. We just felt, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we had 20 million watchdogs here in Florida?’ ”

Ben Wilcox,

research director of Integrity Florida

committee. These contributions are not being made for the sake of good government, but rather for the committees’ own efforts, he said. “Its basically legalized pay for play,” Wilcox said. “It has all the appearances of bribery.”

To combat this, the website includes a section dealing with money and political influence.

Floridians can access anti-corruption and transparency resources that allows them to report criminal public corruption, civil rights violations, election crimes and possible ethics issues, as well as how to make a public records request, which includes a sample.

If someone feels a local government official is violating their state’s ethic laws, they can file a complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics and have that suspected violation investigated by that panel. The process is the same with a violation of elections law. A form can be downloaded to file a complaint with the Florida Elections Commission.

The website also includes links to see how government is spending tax dollars, allowing residents to look for waste.

“We’ve tried to be helpful with that and give people tools to interact and just take on government,” Wilcox said.

With upcoming state and local elections rapidly approaching, one feature of the website allows citizens to view a campaign finance database to find out who is funding candidates.

This allows people to make a more educated decision when it comes time for them to vote, Wilcox said.

“I think a lot of people just kind of feel powerless to hold government accountable these days,” Wilcox said. “I think it will be empowering for the average citizen to feel like they can actually do something to make government better.”