Anyone who thinks I'm hounding Biden on government ethics b…

I put my money where my mouth is. I stood up to Trump and, in doing so, destroyed my govt career. In Sept., I quit my job to help Biden unseat Trump and prepare to lead a strong ethical administration. I'm not permitted to tell you what I did, but I went 5 months without pay. /2

Someone asked me once how much I donated, I told them I couldn't tell them how much I gave because I wasn't allowed to say. But I gave up five months of pay and had to pay COBRA, so I'd say that's more than most people gave. I am committed to his success. /3

But he was swept into office on an anticorruption platform, and strong government ethics is the ONLY way he will succeed. So, I -- and, I hope, you -- will hold him accountable for delivering strong government ethics. This is what he owes America. /4

We spent four years demanding that Trump's allies put country over party. They failed to do that. Now it's our turn to live up to our own demands. We must in all things put country over party. And that means demanding strong government ethics -- from the start! /5

Presidential administrations don't get more ethical over time. They get less ethical, not because they're necessarily filled with bad people. They are filled with people who learn just how hard governing is, and those people get frustrated. They start looking for shortcuts. /6

So whatever we get at the beginning of an administration is ALL we are going to get. And, trust me, whatever we don't get at the start of an administration is a conscious choice on the part of the administration --especially an administration like this one, filled with experts./7

Biden's team knows what it's doing. They had all the best people advising them. They KNOW what the watchdog groups want. They gave what they were willing to give. Anything lacking from the ethics executive order is lacking because a decision was made not to include it. /8

The demand I've made for increased transparency is not a new one. I made it in 2017. Good government groups made it earlier than that. Much earlier. I and others have consistently demanded this transparency. If the Biden administration does not meet this demand, it's a choice. /9

So stop responding that I should give him time or cut him a break. I'll do neither. And you shouldn't either. It is not enough to go back to the way things were. These past four years have taught us our ethics program was always too weak. We need reform! /10

We need reform because the fascist movement won't die with Trump's presidency. The foreign AND domestic enemies of the republic are still out there. They will win some victories. They may win big ones. The future is not guaranteed. /11

We have only a limited window of time in which to strengthen the republic and its anticorruption mechanisms. After that, whatever we have accomplished will have to be strong enough to withstand the next fascist onslaught. /12

So, no, I won't stop rooting for Biden AND I won't stop hounding him to live up to the promise of government ethics reform that swept him into office. I challenge you to join me in this effort... because the alternative is weakness in the face of powerful enemies of democracy./13