SNEK POLICY
Public Power Requires Public Financial Transparency
The public should be able to see the major financial interests of the people exercising significant government power.
What should be public
Disclosure should include assets, investments, business ownership, outside income, consulting relationships, significant debts, private loans, major creditors, spouse financial interests, tax returns, and significant financial transactions.
The information should be standardized, searchable, and updated at least quarterly.
No gifts for access
Gifts from lobbyists, government contractors, regulated companies, foreign governments, or people seeking official action should be prohibited rather than merely disclosed.
Public service is voluntary. The more government power someone accepts, the more financial scrutiny they should accept with it.
FULL POLICY DETAILS
The longer version
Why SNEK thinks this
Public power creates a legitimate public interest in knowing where an official’s money comes from and what financial obligations could influence that official. SNEK does not view privacy for powerful public decision-makers the same way it views privacy for ordinary citizens. If someone wants extraordinary authority over the public, the public gets extraordinary transparency in return.
How it would work
Major elected officials, senior unelected officials, and judges should disclose meaningful assets, outside income, business interests, loans, significant creditors, gifts, and other financial relationships capable of creating a conflict. Spousal interests matter because household finances can create the same conflict even when an asset is not technically titled to the officeholder. Disclosures should be searchable, easy to understand, and updated regularly rather than buried in scanned forms nobody can use.
Where SNEK leaves room
The purpose is conflict visibility, not publishing every trivial household purchase. Exact reporting thresholds can be set high enough to avoid useless noise while still capturing relationships that could matter. Tax returns should be disclosed for the most powerful offices, with narrowly protected information such as account numbers and other data that creates identity-theft or security risks.
Related SNEK policies
If You Can Move the Market, You Should Not Be Trading It • End the Paid Lobbying Industry