Mission Statement

Founded in 1923 by a group of citizens concerned about the growing influence of the Capone mob, the Better Government Association (BGA) is an independent, non-partisan government watchdog group committed to fighting waste, corruption and inefficiency in government. The BGA applies investigative journalism techniques, litigation, and public policy studies to expose problems, inform citizens about the operations of their government and lay the groundwork for substantive legislative and administrative reforms.

Principles

The BGA remains committed to the same principles that mobilized our founders more than 80 years ago:

1. A public office is a public trust.
2. Anything that diminishes that trust, such as waste, fraud and corruption, ultimately undermines the public’s confidence in government.
3. Such actions cost legitimate programs scarce resources and lead to decisions based upon private gain rather than public good.