Quite a few years ago, a writer friend and I started chatting about state-level corruption. I offered the opinion that Arizona might just be the most corrupt state in the union. (I had picked up some rumors about drug routes and paid-off pols, and I had just read a book about the Don Bolles killing.)
"No," my friend said. "I think it's Wisconsin." He happened to have spent much time in Madison.
Wisconsin? The idea seemed absurd on its face. But he went on to regale me with about half-an-hour's worth of insider stories, none of which I can now recall. Those tales sure seemed impressive on first listen.
Let's open the matter up for general discussion. Which state is the most corrupt? Texas and Florida would seem obvious choices, but I'd also like to hear about some of the less-obvious candidates. If you know any under-reported dirt about the state you call home, feel free to pass it along...
ADDED NOTE: Well, the response to this post has been a lot of fun. I'd like to widen the game. Can someone re-post this piece (or a similar piece) to Democratic Underground?
I would do the job myself, but the DU folks revoked my membership -- for reasons that baffle me, since my few posts there were inconsequential and non-controversial. They won't respond to my inquiries, alas...
25 comments:
Illinois, the Chicagoi Tribune says, is "a state where corruption has been as much a part of the landscape as corn, soybeans and skyscrapers."
google << corruption illinois parade >>
Just to get the ball rolling, I vote for California. This is afterall, porn capitol of the world. Those dollars must be greasing some squeaky wheel or another.
Ms. Vandal
I would like to nominate New York State because of its bizarre, secretive and dictatorial state legislature.
We have two houses -- the Assembly and the Senate. The Assembly, which is more reflective of the population and therefore reflects a downstate (ie New York City) majority is firmly in the hands of the Democrats. The Senate is in the hands of the Republicans.
This split means that all legislation is basically decided upon by the Democratic leader of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver of NYC, and Joseph Bruno a Republican and the governor.
Three guys decide everything and basically don't disclose anything to any other legislators, who are barely allowed to know what they are voting on.
Pataki was famously corrupt before he became governor and Bruno is under a federal probe right now. While no one knows how these three make leglislation, you can assume the worst.
sofla said...
I hear Rhode Island is wholly mob-owned and controlled. Small enough that it might be.
I was just about to suggest Rhode Island. I've lived here all my life, and while it's not mob owned, it may as well be. The local democratic party is both mob affiliated, and operates like a miniature semi legitimate mob all it's own. In the past two weeks two prominent local politicians have had family members arrested, and let's not forget about Providence's mayor Cianci, currently in federal prison.
I'll go wit Joisey. Can you say "The Sopranos"? Fuhgeddaboudit...
well, South Carolina pretty much functions on the "good ole boy" system, which to best of my knowledge is basically as corrupt as it comes
Excuse me, people but REALLY! Like, has your governor been CONVICTED? My governor, Robert Taft was. Until your governor is CONVICTED and comes in as worst (or 3rd worst) governor in the US, I'm sorry, you're all rank amateurs.Like me trying to spell amateurs. Besides, were YOUR Workman Comp funds converted to rare coins? Did YOUR state officials steal the 2004 election? I think not. I rest my case. Yes, dudes and dudettes, I hereby proudly proclaim the MOST corrupt state in the Union is Ohio. But, sigh, that should change with our new governor.
According to this article from 2004, it's Mississippi, but I would have gone with Ohio.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040118-114320-9103r.htm
Sibel says 'State' is the most corrupt :-)
Seriously tho - how about Louisiana?
Joe - btw - I have a new post up about Sibel and heroin trafficking that you might be interested in reading.
Let me try that again...
http://www.tiny.cc/daIES
Have you been following the public housing scandal in Miami? You really should. All sorts of interesting connections, there, especially as they relate to supporters of the Bush Administration. Start out with the board members of the Housing Finance Authority.
Wonder if that's why Mel Martinez was appointed as head of HUD?
hands down it's OHIO. Drugs sneeking in from Port of Cleveland. Corrupted voting system. Payoffs, coverups, thwarted economy, etc.
A few years ago Wisconsin had some guy (Chvala) who nearly became governor who'd been a figure in the Madison police department and who literally had his own private gestapo operating.
Living in Madison in the 90s was literally like living in a police state.
How can any state be more corrupt than Florida? Just the comments that have shown up here from residents of the Sunshine State after some of Joe's "it's beyond the reach of Democracy" posts have been some of the most horrifying things I have ever read about happening in this nation. And let's not forget--ever--the Feeney/Raymond Lem(m?)/Curtis/Jeb = 2000 and 2004 election theft scandals and all they taught us about the fact that the place is one massive, pulsing pile of CRIMINALITY. It gets so scary for me to think about the idea that people are moving to Florida at the rate of like, 1,000 per day.
Kathleen, I think the fact that Ohio, which is firmly #2 on my List o' Totally Corrupted States in the U.S., has seen an actual governer "face" some sort of punishment for shepharding said corruption makes it slightly better than Florida in this department. Although not by much.
Seriously, kids, it's FL. "Beyond the reach of democracy."
Ohio was a virtual banana republic until the recent election when freedom rang. The Buckeyes have a solid past of graft but nothing like Louisiana, which raises corruption to new levels. Then there's Rhode Island where city and state officials do time on a regular basis. But alas, the most corrupt of them all is MARYLAND.
The "free state" where everything has a price tag has corruption so endemic it isn't even considered corrupt. Those Louisiana folks are just to willing to brag at the drop of a hat. Rhode Island have many who don't approve. But Maryland has achieved a sublime state of CORRUPTION CONSCIOUSNESS.
I lived there for a year and now just south in Virginia. While the Commonwealth has room to iprove, it's an oasis of virtue compared to the Maryland fortress of fraud.
Three cheers for the winner, MARYLAND (thankfully NOT my Maryland).
MC
Arizona is where the mob played golf after WW II. Our history of land fraud pales in comparison to FL, but it led to bigger things. Banking has always been a popular industry. Robert and Barry Goldwater helped Moe Dalitz, the man who never got a plaque for building Las Vegas.
The Don Bolles case also ties these names together: Kemper Marley, who bankrolled Bugsy, employed a Jim Hensley, who got sloppy and was represented by Rehnquist, then had daughter Cindy, who married McCain, who used his instant bankroll wisely, but got greedy and took cash from a Keating, after he was run out of Ohio.
For comic relief we have the governor who was indicted in the 90s, then pardoned by a Clinton. He became a pastry chef but still has politics in his blood.
AZ is a nasty place, but I still think OH, LA and FL are scarier.
joe - i'll post over at DU
DU link
Good citizens check for duplicates, lukery.
Florida's still winning the poll I posted about this a while earlier this morning.
Massachusetts is up there also, I very much hope our new governor can change things. But there is so much corruption most people here don't even think about it. The Big Dig is the biggest example: Democratic Senators and Congressional Reps getting the money, Republican Governors mishandling it, an undemocratic Democratic legislature (google Finnernan) ignoring oversight, and bipartisan miltary-industrial complex firms (Bechtel) bringing you the most expensive, badly done, and stupid (no mass transit) public works project the country has ever seen.
But I think the real takeaway point is that the corruption is all over in these allegedly democratic United States.
We need a Zapatista-style from-the-ground up replacement of our political institutions.
jen - i've never claimed to be a good citizen - but i *was* surprised to see that my post was pulled from DU.
can you link to your post please?
Woah! Lukery, I thank you for writing the piece on D.U....
...which I read within this hour...
...and was VERY surprised to see go missing just now!
Now I'm beginning to get a complex. What the hell does D.U. have against me? The only explanation that comes to mind is that one of the administrators is a die-hard CD theorist. But I didn't think that the CD buffs were in favor over there...
probably Cannonfire is banned because of the recent anti-Israel post. but more likely joseph may have pissed off someone (i don't know anyone who runs the DU blog).
Also Joseph your blog discusses topics that are not discussed on DU: Grand Ole Pedophilia (a new nickname for the GOP I just made up) that dicusses the Sembler-Bush connection to the teen anti-drug abuse (torture) centers, or the great post about the connection between aleister crowley and barbara bush (crowley being Barbara's genetic father) among other subjects non-grata.
thanks again for the many great posts, please don't throw in the towel.
Until yesterday, it was Ohio, hands-down-we had a convict Governor and Blackwell as the Secretary of State.
Now the people at the top are gone, but plenty of corrupt Goppers are still in high positions in the General Assembly, so Ohio deserves the title for the time being.
High unemployment, incredible corruption at every level of Government, living standards declining at lightning rates. And still, in many areas of this State you have to be the Gopper to win an election-it doesn't matter if you are a convicted Gopper, even.
Post a Comment