Announcing "Ban Secret Deals"
Nondisclosure agreements are shielding elected officials from accountability. It’s time to ban them.
Across the U.S., state and local officials are offering large corporations taxpayer dollars to secure deals they claim will grow the local economy and create jobs — all behind closed doors.
In Fort Wayne, Indiana, Amazon walked away with $16 million. In Columbus, Ohio, Google managed to get its hands on $54 million. And in Kansas, a mystery corporation is getting $1.2 billion. Who is it? We still don’t know!
Because as absurd as it may seem, many corporations require public officials to sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) as a condition of signing economic development deals. The practice excludes input from community members, small business owners, and other concerned parties, and it shields these corporations from accountability. It needs to stop.
We’ve got a new campaign to do just that.
Together with a coalition of national and state-based policy and advocacy groups from across the political spectrum, we’re launching Ban Secret Deals, a campaign to end the use of nondisclosure agreements in economic development deals.
Members of the coalition include: American Economic Liberties Project, The Center for Economic Accountability, Fight Corporate Monopolies, Good Jobs First, Hedge Clippers, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Reinvent Albany, Responsible Incentives, and Strong Economy for All.
Help us launch this campaign by signing our petition to ban secret deals. If your community has been impacted by a secret deal, please let us know by filling out this form. You can learn more about some of the most recent and egregious examples in our Secret Deals Database.
