[ekianjo]

Not allowing conflicts of interests is almost impossible for most politicians: they all have friends in different industries because they need financial support (or popular support anyway). The least you can ask for is transparency and disclosure of ties/relationships/friendships.

[tommu]

Right now they have no chance of being elected unless they spend obscene sums. Remove that need through campaign finance regulations and you will remove an enormous source of leverage. I would be happy to see a 50% mix of public money and 50% individual capped donations making up a cursory figure. Legally require large networks to give free and equal airtime to each candidate with enough support to justify inclusion. It simply cannot be impossible to remove the biggest sources un-democratic influence.