by     Chris Matthews    @crobmatthews June 10, 2014, 1:55 PM EDT
http://fortune.com/2014/06/10/most-corrupt-states-in-america/?xid=ob_rss



New research takes a look at decades of corruption convictions to find the crookedest states in the union.

When we think of government corruption (as one tends to do),  our biased minds often gravitate to thoughts of military juntas and third world governments. But, of course, corruption is everywhere, in one form or another. And it’s costing U.S. citizens big time.

A new study from researchers at the University of Hong Kong and Indiana University estimates that corruption on the state level is costing Americans in the 10 most corrupt states an average of $1,308 per year, or 5.2% of those states’ average expenditures per year.

The researchers studied more than 25,000 convictions of public officials for violation of federal corruption laws between 1976 and 2008 as well as patterns in state spending to develop a corruption index that estimates the most and least corrupt states in the union. Based on this method, the the most corrupt states are:

1. Mississippi
2. Louisiana
3. Tennessee
4. Illinois
5. Pennsylvania
6. Alabama
7. Alaska
8. South Dakota
9. Kentucky
10. Florida

That these places landed on the list isn’t exactly surprising. Illinois, which has gain notoriety for its high-profile corruption cases in recent years, is paired with states like Mississippi and Louisiana, which are some of the least economically developed in the country. The researchers also found that for 9 out of the 10 of the most corrupt states, overall state spending was higher than in less corrupt states (South Dakota was the only exception). Attacking corruption, the researchers argue, could be a good way to bring down state spending without hurting services that people need.

Researchers also found that spending in these states was different than their less corrupt counterparts. According to the report, “states with higher levels of corruption are likely to favor construction, salaries, borrowing, correction, and police protection at the expense of social sectors such as education, health and hospitals.”

The paper explains that construction spending, especially on big infrastructure projects, is particularly susceptible to corruption because the quality of large, nonstandard projects are difficult for the public to gauge, while the industry is dominated by a few monopolistic firms. Corrupt states also tend to, for obvious reasons, simply have more and better paid public servants, including police and correctional officers. The researchers argue that the need for correctional officers is greater in corrupt places too because “the overall extent of corruption will be higher in states with higher numbers of convictions of public officials.”

Of course, it’s not all bad news, as the study also found the least corrupt states too. Citizens of these states–Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Vermont, Utah, New Hampshire, Colorado, and Kansas–can take solace in the fact that they’re not getting ripped off as badly as the rest of us.

I'll turn and look the other way for a price.

Yay!

Finally we avoid BS.

Expected to see Louisiana in the #1 spot

Wasn't too far off...

Yeah,  by Chris "I have a tingle up my leg" Mathews....

How do I know its bullshit?

NY is not anywhere on the list....

The fuck? What measurements did they use?

I can't believe Kentucky was only #9. When I lived there, the previous Sherriff had been thrown in federal prison for growing and distributing marijuana, and I'm pretty sure a good portion of the cops were on the take. And that was in a small county.

Let me get this straight....

The states where the most politicians get busted for corruption are the corrupt states, and the states where they keep getting away with it are the righteous ones?

Got it.  

I'd say we're just damn good at rooting it out.

I was expecting NY.

South Dakota makes the list but no Michigan?

 

Suprised NJ NY and Cali are not on the list...

I knew my old Kentucky home would make the list. We had a former state Secretary of Agriculture get a few years at club fed for mispending state money on himself, nepotism, graft and corruption.

There was a town in SE Kentucky that the mayor was firing police officers who cited his son for underage drinking. Some of those rural departments pay a dollar or two over minimum wage.

Because they don't bother prosecuting.

It's bullshit.  They are so far gone.

Lol. But then I'd have to be in public service.

No new jersey?

Color me skeptical

 no shit.  Article is crap.

They lost me here;

“states with higher levels of corruption are likely to favor construction, salaries, borrowing, correction, and police protection at the expense of social sectors such as education, health and hospitals.”

here;

"The researchers argue that the need for correctional officers is greater in corrupt places too because “the overall extent of corruption will be higher in states with higher numbers of convictions of public officials.”

and here;

"The researchers studied more than 25,000 convictions of public officials for violation of federal corruption laws between 1976 and 2008 as well as patterns in state spending to develop a corruption index" That is like saying that there is no rape in Iran because nobody has been arrested for it in almost 40 years.

With what's his name, Huey long and Edwin Edwards, I am surprised to

No Delaware?

Well, there's lots of BS going on as we speak here. Maybe next year we can be on the list?

So, the states which have the most corruption prosecutions are at the top of the list?  What about the places so corrupt they don't even get prosecuted?

Shame DC doesn't count as a state... It would be #1

Yeah, their methodology is flawed. In the more corrupt areas, these folks wouldn't be prosecuted at all. Given that the three most obvious, super corrupt states are not even listed (Illinois, California, and New York), I'm going to file this under

My first reaction as well.  Methodology seems faulty.

Corrupt politicians operating with impunity scare me more than corrupt politicians getting caught.

I suppose you could argue that, since these are federal charges, local corruption and impunity problems are less of a factor.

laughable.

The main examples here are confined to the reservations.

THIS - NY politicians are the most crooked in the Country but our system is rigged by them so they hardly ever get charged never mind convicted!

Convictions would suggest that the state is against corruption in theory and acts to control it. One with fewer convictions in these times only suggests to me how completely corrupted the system is in those other locales. I find it hard to believe  VA, MA, NJ, NY, CA, NV, AR, MD aren't on there.

Chris Matthews is nowhere near the embodiment of integrity and honesty btw.

Lulz.  Illinois is so corrupt it even gets past the inbuilt bias of the study.

For those in the know, regarding:

"...as well as patterns in state spending to develop a corruption index that estimates the most and least corrupt states in the union"

Exactly what is the establish research that makes this methodology sound, or purportedly so?

It smacks of "if a state spends money the way I think it should, it's not corrupt.  If it doesn't, it must be due to corruption."

Let me throw a dead fish in here. I lived in a Mississippi delta county in the '70s and '80s. This is before and after the FBI came in and cleaned out our crooked county commissioners (pretty much every one knew they were on the take, it was just the way things were). Most people (including me and my wife) were much happier with crooked commissioners. They weren't stupid in their take and they had real incentive to keep their constituents happy. We had much better roads and county services before.

After the old ones were cleaned out, we mostly had one term people that found out real quick that the job wasn't worth the aggravation and pretty much didn't give a damn.

We had a former sheriff serve time for conspiracy to murder. After he got out he ran again. He probably would have won the election if he hadn't ended up shot and burned in his car in the next county over.

What the fuck?  We are only #4?    We are really slipping around here......

Florida is only #10?

I am disappoint.

Before I clicked I assumed they were located in the south eastern US.

Yep. South eastern states, you be scary.

I take it no one has paid attention to who wrote this.

list is wrong.

NY should be #1

Finally.

A list that Mississippi is #1 on.  


Oh wait....  

Yea, like Chris Mathews is a credible source on anything.  Mathews is a Liberal jerk off that has no concept of reality.

Easy for you to say.

It must have been extremely galling to him, that he couldn't massage Illinois out of the list.  But, again, that just goes to show just how incredibly corrupt it really is there, when the people who love the crooked shit show of the politics there can't make it fade out of view.



 

Where's California?  Leland Yee and his gun running while attempting to pass anti-gun laws, should rank pretty high