Do You Live in One of the Most Corrupt States?

[MountainDon]

According to a news story I ran across Illinois is NOT the most corrupt state when it comes to governments. No, the most corrupt state government is.... North Dakota!

On a per-capita basis Illinois ranks 18th for the number of public corruption convictions the federal government has won from 1998 through 2007, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Department of Justice statistics. Who'd of ever thunk of ND as being the hotbed of corruption? Not I.

http://news.aol.com/article/north-dakota-tops-state-corruption-list/274636?icid=100214839x1214987307x1200961444

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Really?  ND?  Who'd have thunk it!?

[glenn kangiser]

How can we be corrupt?  We have the Terminator.

[peternap]

I'm not sure I agree with that Don.

There is corruption and CORRUPTION!

A simnple violation like failure to report free lunches is a far cry from selling a Senate seat.

It's a little like saying Georgia has the highest crime rate in the country because more speeding tickets are written there while Las Vegas has a low rate because all they have are a few child molesters....(The state choices do not reflect anything other than the first name I thought of )

I have found that Rural States like ND, have a less sophisticated group of Corrupt officials and therefore get caught for silly things.

[harry51]

One way to interpret that info is that they actually police and prosecute corruption in ND, unlike more "progressive" states, such as my beloved Kalifornia, where it's business as usual and nobody thinks twice about it, much less prosecutes anyone for it.

I don't know much about ND political history, but it's a loooong stretch for me to buy the idea that ND could suffer from more corruption than places with generations-old political machines like Illinois and Massachusetts.

[MountainDon]

You may be on to something there, Peter. I do have to admit that Gov Blago does seem to head the pack.

Our state of NM has it's own share of corruption in big dollar things. Our former long time State Senate President Pro Tem Manny Aragon (known to some as Manny Arrogant) has been convicted in a conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering case that authorities say cost New Mexico taxpayers $4.2 million. He proclaimed his innocence down to the wire when he finally admitted to his wrongs. There are people who still stand by him; probably most of those benefited in some manner from his political largess. I say he reaped what he sowed.

[MountainDon]

Statistics can fool ya.   The outcome depends on how the stats are viewed, who views or interprets them and so on. I should of known better.   

If you look at the figures based on convictions per 100 elected officials, not convictions per 1,000 population, North Dakota is only the 47th most corrupt state. 

That said though I know that there are politicians in ND who have held power for decades. That is not always bad, but sometimes it is. I just mention that because there is a political machine in ND, but maybe it is a better model than IL. Same as here in NM, retiring 6 term Senator Pete Domenici (R) is going to be missed. He was a fair minded person.

[fishing_guy]

I have lived in one of the most corrupt states(Illinois) and one of the least (Minnesota).  Funny that both are pretty Democratic but have totally different political systems.

Illinois corruption has been around for many years and is viewed (or was 30 years ago) with a wink wink.
Minnesota corruption mostly occurred during prohibition.  St. Paul used to be a haven for gangsters.  As long as they didn't cause trouble here, they were pretty well left alone.

[ScottA]

I'm sure Oklahoma has plenty of corruption but you don't see or hear of it much. In general the government here is pretty easy to get along with. 

Many years ago I worked for the housing authority in Tulsa. Now that place was as corrupt as any thing I ever heard of. They would buy materials then declare them surplus so the big shots upstairs could buy them at auction for pennies on the dollar. Seems they'd always buy just what they wanted. Funny part was the big shots would get to bid on thier lots before the public sale even started. Shortly after I left there in disgust the director was arrested for using a company credit card to buy christmas gifts for her own family to the tune of $6k. She had just replaced a director that had to resign for having housing authority workers remodle his house.

One thing no one mentions in regards to corruption is selective prosocution. Seems to me that when the Feds go after someone it usually has something to do with politics. I'm sure there are plenty of well connected that never get investigated.

[Bill Houghton]

"On a per-capita basis"  <----  From the article in the link.  Does that mean that the ranking depends on how many arrests of gov officials relative to how many people are in the state (per-capita) or people in the government or what?  Hard for me to make sense of the article until I understand what those terms mean.

Bill in the U.P.

[MountainDon]

"On a per-capita basis" 

I take that to be the entire state population.

[sparks]

 





sparks (in ill noise)