Dec 10, 2008

Historical Corruption & Blagojevich

by Cliopatria

At yesterday's press conference announcing the criminal complaint against Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, the lead FBI agent on the case remarked that if Illinois wasn't the most corrupt state in the union, it was very competitive for the honor.

It turns out, however, that Illinois isn't even in the top five of most corrupt states--at least according to statistics from 1997 through 2006 compiled by Corporate Crime Reporter. Of the nation's 35 most populous states, which is the most corrupt? Louisiana. Illinois ranks 6th.

Louisiana's reputation for corruption goes back much further than 1997, as Lyndon Johnson explained on Election Night 1964: By the way, the least corrupt states? Little surprise here: Oregon, followed by Iowa and Minnesota.

More Comments:

Les Baitzer - 12/13/2008

"Per Ralph's list, I just can't believe that Alaska didn't make the top 35 of that list. - TL"

The list of 35 was "Of the nation's 35 most populous states." Alaska is our 47th most populous State.

Tim Lacy - 12/11/2008

It's troubling and interesting to see my old home state (MO---now IL) is only a few ticks behind IL at 15. Wow. ...Per Ralph's list, I just can't believe that Alaska didn't make the top 35 of that list. - TL

Ralph E. Luker - 12/11/2008

At Josh Marshall's TPM, other states are competing with Illinois for the honor of being the most corrupt: New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Alaska, Arizona, Nevada -- and the list goes on from there.