Seems to me that this would indicate just the opposite. We catch and convict our corrupt public officials whereas the other 47 states just let them get away with it.
Posted on 10/05/2005 7:06:54 AM PDT by no dems
Congressman: Don't Trust Louisiana Pols
A Republican congressman has raised the hackles of Louisianans by declaring that no federal disaster aid should be sent to local officials due to the "long history of public corruption" in the state.
Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.) sent a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, urging him to create a "bipartisan select committee" of members of Congress to oversee federal disaster spending in Louisiana.
Tancredo wrote: "Given the abysmal failure of state and local officials in Louisiana to plan adequately for or respond to the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans, and given the long history of public corruption in Louisiana, I hope the House will refrain from directly appropriating any funds from the public treasury to either the state of Louisiana or the city of New Orleans."
He goes on to say: "The head of the FBI in New Orleans just this past year described the state's public corruption as ?epidemic, endemic and entrenched.'
"Over the last 30 years, a long list of Louisiana politicians have been convicted of crimes; the list includes a governor, an attorney general, an elections commissioner, an agriculture commissioner, three successive insurance commissioners, a congressman, a federal judge, a State Senate president, six other state legislators, and a host of appointed officials, local sheriffs, city councilmen and parish police jurors.
"I am not confident that Louisiana officials can be trusted to administer federal relief aid."
A Louisiana newspaper, the Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, fired back in an editorial: "If the Colorado congressman and potential candidate for president is not playing politics, he is into something that smells much the same.
"He says Louisiana officials are too corrupt to handle federal funds, yet he has no problem with money flowing into the hands of Mississippi officials.
"Granted, Louisiana is ranked as the third most corrupt state in the nation. Mississippi, however, is Big Number One - the most corrupt of all the states, according to The Corporate Crime Reporter. Tancredo conveniently overlooked that."
In any case, Tancredo's call is not likely to be heard, according to Business Week, which points to "the difficulty of rebuilding without local politicians."
I was born in and have lived my entire life in Louisiana, and I am ashamed of our politicians.
States ranked as most corrupt
By Guy Taylor
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Mississippi is the most corrupt state, with North Dakota and Louisiana a close second and third, respectively, according to a report released Friday by a D.C.-based legal newsletter.
The Corporate Crime Reporter based its findings on public corruption convictions per 100,000 people in the 50 states from 1993 to 2002.
The statistics were drawn from annual reports by the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, which charts federal prosecutions and convictions of public officials nationwide.
Public corruption takes on a range of forms, perhaps the most prominent being misuse of taxpayer money by elected officials and acceptance of bribes.
The corruption report comes as scandals break nationwide, said Russell Mokhiber, CCR editor and the report's author.
He cited the recent indictment of ex-Illinois Gov. George Ryan on federal racketeering, fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from accusations he took money, gifts and loans in exchange for state contracts.
"We need not just strong economies, but strong political economies — reporters, citizen groups, prosecutors, judges, religious leaders — who are willing to speak out about the rampant corruption in our midst," Mr. Mokhiber said.
He pointed to Connecticut, where some are calling for the impeachment of Gov. John G. Rowland, who has admitted to lying about taking gifts from a state contractor and politically appointed employees.
Connecticut ranks relatively low in overall corruption. According to the CCR report, it is 31st on the list, with only about 2.2 public corruption convictions per 100,000 people from 1993 through 2002.
The highest conviction rate by far was in the District. But it is not a state and its flood of corruption cases results mainly because it is home to the federal government, which Mr. Mokhiber said accounts for a disproportionate number of convictions — about 453 from 1993 through 2002.
"The vast majority of public corruption convictions ... are done by federal prosecutors," he said, noting more of the cases occur in the District because it is the workplace of so many federal public officials.
As for states, Mississippi had 215 convictions for a population of 2.9 million, a rate of 7.48 per 100,000 persons. While Louisiana had 101 more convictions, its larger population ranked it lower — third. North Dakota, with less than a million people, had 45 convictions. Rounding out the top 10 were Alaska, Illinois, Montana, South Dakota, Kentucky, Florida and New York, which had 874 convictions for its population of about 19.2 million, a rate of 4.56 per 100,000.
Maryland and Virginia both ranked in the middle of the pack, with Virginia ranked 21st with 2.86 convictions per 100,000 persons, and Maryland 37th with 1.57 convictions per 100,000 persons.
The most populated states, Texas and California, also ranked near the middle. Texas was 29th with 527 convictions for its 21.8 million people and California 25th with 948 convictions for its 35.1 million people.
The least corrupt state, according to the report, is Nebraska, which had just nine convictions for its population of about 1.7 million — a rate of 0.52. Also near the bottom were Oregon, New Hampshire and Iowa.
REPORT RANKS STATES FROM MOST CORRUPT TO LEAST CORRUPT
Mississippi is the most corrupt state in the United States, and Nebraska is the least corrupt, according to a first-ever ranking of the states released last week by Corporate Crime Reporter.
According to the report, Public Corruption in the United States, the ten most corrupt states in the country are:
Mississippi, North Dakota, Louisiana, Alaska, Illinois, Montana, South Dakota, Kentucky, Florida, and New York.
The ten least corrupt states in the country are:
Nebraska, Oregon, New Hampshire, Iowa, Colorado, Utah, Minnesota, Arizona, Arkansas, and Wisconsin.
The 50 states were ranked by corruption rate -- the number of public corruption convictions in the state over a ten-year period (1993 to 2002) per 100,000 population.
The report is being released at a time when public corruption scandals are breaking out all over the country.
The former Governor of Illinois, George Ryan, has been charged with taking money, gifts and loans in exchange for handing out state contracts to his donors.
In Connecticut, three mayors and the state treasurer are in jail or heading to jail.
And the Governor of Connecticut is under siege in a soap opera of a corruption scandal.
The last three insurance commissioners in Louisiana have gone to jail for corruption.
"We need not just strong economies, but strong political economies -- reporters, citizen groups, prosecutors, judges, religious leaders -- who are willing to speak out about the rampant corruption in our midst," said Russell Mokhiber, editor of Corporate Crime Reporter and author of the report. "Connecticut, for example, has a strong economy and an educated citizenry. But its political economy has historically been weak, with little public debate about the level of corruption around it -- until federal prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney‚s office in Hartford decided to force the issue out into the open."
Mokhiber called on Attorney General John Ashcroft to stop muzzling his line attorneys at the Public Integrity Section, which is in charge of combating public corruption.
"They want to speak out on the issue, to shed some light, but they are being muzzled in an election year," Mokhiber charged. (See At a Glance, Page 12)
Public Corruption in the United States(.pdf)
http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/01_19_04_pressrelease.html
Seems to me that this would indicate just the opposite. We catch and convict our corrupt public officials whereas the other 47 states just let them get away with it.
The highest conviction rate by far was in the District. But it is not a state and its flood of corruption cases results mainly because it is home to the federal government, which Mr. Mokhiber said accounts for a disproportionate number of convictions — about 453 from 1993 through 2002.
"The vast majority of public corruption convictions ... are done by federal prosecutors," he said, noting more of the cases occur in the District because it is the workplace of so many federal public officials.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Can ANYBODY tell me WHY we continue to allow this activity? Why do we continue to pay them to do it? At what point do we stop paying the taxes, stop playing the game, and drag them into the street in their nightshirts?
That's the same D.A. (he's black) who fired all of the white workers in his office when he was elected and hired black workers to replace them. He lost the resultant lawsuit brought by the white workers in federal court. I wonder if those employees are safe now or is he only going to pick the white workers.
Mississippi Ping
Mississippi Ping
BTTT
Well, Mississippi hasn't asked for 200 billion dollars like the Louisiana politicans have done. In fact, we haven't asked for any specific amount at all, and we haven't been biting the hand that feeds us in an ungrateful manner like Blanco and Nagin have done.
Weren't MD and MA also once known as among the nation's most corrupt states?
MS #1 comes from THIS article --- note the date (January of 2004) and "corporate crime" is no doubt due to World Com.
Governor Haley Barbour's administration is squeaky clean. Yes, we have some democrats, but they're in Jackson doing their "thang" for the most part.
We're no longer the Jackpot Justice state --- again thanks to our great Governor Haley Barbour.
Friday, January 16th, 2004
Mississippi's #1: Corporate Crime Reporter Ranks Most Corrupt State Governments
A new report examined the most corrupt state governments. The top 10? Mississippi, North Dakota, Louisiana, Alaska, Illinois, Montana, South Dakota, Kentucky, Florida and New York. [includes transcript]
So...if MS put more corrupt people behind bars per capita than anyone else,
wouldn't that make MS the BEST at cleaning up corruption?
I see OR is listed as one of the "least corrupt" states.
I wouldn't bet the farm on that.
My observations over these last years is that their corruption is in the closet.
The state is run by 'Rats, and the state media is full of 'Rats.
They don't dig around unless the story is too huge to sweep under the rug.
At least, MS brings theirs out in the parlor for all to see.
And, then they put 'em behind bars.
Of course, World Com had much to do with MS being at the top of the list.
But, as you said, onyx...Gov. Haley led the way in cleaning up the justice system.
Mississippi just being picked on once again.
(that's ok, adversity makes one stronger...)
He sure is telling it right as it is.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.