Graft

ALSO DEFINED AS BRIBES, extortion, influence-peddling, kickback, tribute, or payola, graft is generally understood to be the offer or promise from one party to improperly influence the judgment of a second party. Graft covers a continuum from local police looking the other way for a free meal to a multinational corporation convincing a local politician to allow environmental waste to be stored in his jurisdiction.

The entry of graft into a transaction can come from the person with the controlling influence seeking remuneration, or the person desiring the object controlled by offering remuneration to the controlling party. Within the two extremes, other examples include: goods given to Olympic committee members to favor a certain city, a judge modifying his ruling, a governor issuing a pardon, and a chief financial officer of a corporation allowing stock manipulations to occur.

The problem of graft has plagued the American political scene since shortly after the first European settlements. Governor Benjamin Fletcher of New York (1692–98) accepted graft payments from pirates to allow their criminal activities, as well as demanded payments from local traders for the right the peddle their wares within the city. As more tariffs were later mandated, the success of businesses depended many times on the savings they could achieve between the difference in the tariffs owed, and the graft paid to avoid the tariffs. Boss Tweed and the Tammany Hall political machine of the 1870s brought graft to an art form, effectively controlling all aspects of New York politics; nothing could took place without payments made to the organization. Graft and corruption later marked several presidential administrations: Ulysses S. Grant, Warren Harding, Harry Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

As it relates to the public sector, graft involves the corruption of the American political system, a system in which elected officials or civil servants are to serve the interests of the citizens and not themselves. Graft, as it involves public corruption, violates an official's understood duty of faith. Graft can happen at the national level, for example, Abscam of 1970s and Wedtech of the 1980s; at the state level, for example, Florida judge Alcee Hastings' impeachment trial of 1989; or the city/county level, for example, Jefferson Parish (Louisiana) judge Ronald Bodenheimer's guilty plea in 2003 to fixing a civil domestic case. Often the offenders are persons wanting to gain an upper hand in a business transaction.

Some have come to believe that the grease of graft is required to navigate the political landscape; but the result of the “grease” is increased cost in most instances. As graft and bribes are not generally regarded as legitimate business expenses, the cost of the graft is then hidden elsewhere.

Graft paid to building inspectors has led to injuries caused by structural failures, and graft paid to judges has allowed criminals to remain free and possibly commit additional crimes. Graft paid to private sector recipients may result in medicines being approved through testing falsification, service contracts being awarded to a less qualified vendor, and entrance of a criminal element into financial operations.

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