Many of the people that are selected to be our governmental representatives are voted into public office by the people, of which, the primary purpose of those representatives is to represent the people for the benefit of those people as a whole. Those that represent the people and the adjutants to them, are often privy to all sorts of information, of which some of that information is rightly proprietary and necessitates some degree of secrecy; whereas, a great deal of that information demands to be and needs to be, transparent and openly discussed with the people.
In regards to information as a whole, and in consideration that our representatives often play an integral role in a significant amount of legislation contemplated and thereby subsequently passed, or in regulations contemplated and thereby subsequently passed, or the rejecting of such legislation or regulations, as well as everything that involves directly or indirectly business, community, and financial decisions of all sorts, than quite obviously those governmental representatives are knowledgeable of a great deal of information that could be used to their own personal advantage, and/or the advantage of well-placed individuals or businesses.
In point of fact, the taking advantage of inside information, before it is disseminated to the public at large, is done time and time again, of which, those that are knowledgeable of that information, are able to benefit from that information, financially as well as in other ways that increase or augment the power of those having such knowledge. This thus means that, for instance, in regards to specific legislation that directly impacts a given publicly traded company, that those that are aware ahead of time of what the resolution of that legislation will be, and specifically know such before the public as a whole is aware of it, can utilize that knowledge for their gain. This means that a small subset of well placed people is able to thereby benefit at the expense of the public as a whole, which is neither fair nor right.
Again and again, those that are aware of valuable information, before the general public is aware of this same information, in regards to zoning, or regulations, or specific tax set asides, and so on and so forth, are thereby able to take that information and either monetize it directly, or via a quid pro quo, swap such for future consideration. The only conceivable workaround to resolve such abuse, is for governmental officials and legislators, from big to small, to be far more transparent and open than they currently are, as well as being subject to far more public oversight by independent citizen councils and press agents, along with having a robust internal affairs department specifically built and conceived to stymie such selfish behavior.
Those that are truly honorable are able to deal responsibly with all the information that they are privy to and though they could take selfish advantage of, they specifically do not, and thereby by holding themselves to that higher standard that they owe to their constituency, they then stay true to the code and honor that they owe their people, for they are the firstly the people's representative.