Earlier this week, the Center for Public Integrity released a report
detailing the risk of corruption and lack of accountability in all 50 states.
The findings of the report should worry anyone who believes state governments
are transparent and free of corruption. Of course, no state is without flaws.
Unfortunately, nearly every state received a grade that would give residents
cause for concern.
The Center for Public Integrity’s report examined issues concerning
accountability and ethics in each state government. States were graded on 330
separate metrics, which were grouped into 14 major categories. Overall grades
are based on the average grades in the major categories, which included lobbying
disclosure, political financing, internal auditing, ethics enforcement agencies
and redistricting.
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Most states scored poorly. No state earned an A, and only five states
received better than a B+. More than half the states received a D+ or worse.
Scored from 1 to 100, eight states earned failing grades of 59 or below from the
project.
24/7 Wall St. examined the eight states that received an F and the five
states that scored B- or better. A review of the states with the highest and
lowest scores illustrates that regular reports on government from citizens,
public employees and watchdog groups is essential to encourage state
integrity.
According to Randy Barrett, Communications Director for the Center for Public
Integrity, one of the most widespread issues throughout these state governments
is the lack of public access to information, which, he says, is key to
preventing other kinds of corruption and conflicts of interest from occurring.
“When you think about it, that’s really the root of transparency. If citizens
can’t see into how their state does business and decision-making, that’s the
real problem,” Barret said.
States with the worst corruption risk scores lack powerful watchdog agencies.
In many states, according to Barrett, the existing groups intended to ensure
ethical action by elected officials lack real power. Virginia, which scores
among the worst in terms of corruption risk, does not have a statewide ethics
commission at all. Barrett suggests that the reason many states have such
ineffectual watchdog organizations is that the elected officials they are
supposed to be monitoring consistently vote in favor of cutting their funding
and restricting their power.
Surprisingly, most of the states that received high marks have big
governments with long histories of corruption and political machinery.
Connecticut and California fit this description. New Jersey, where it seems
former and current officials are indicted every year on ethics charges, received
the highest grade in the country. Despite its colorful political past and
present, New Jersey received a perfect score in areas such as lobbying
disclosure and internal auditing. According to the report, the reason states
with historical problems with corruption now have high accountability scores is
precisely because of their former offenses. Those past problems led to strict
enforcement measures that have kept politicians honest and information readily
available.
Many of the states with the worst corruption scores have not had the same
public issues with corruption that trigger reform. These states, according to
the report, are among the most sparsely populated in the country. Reporters sent
to conduct research for the State Integrity Investigation found these smaller
populations lead to a relaxed, “everybody-knows-everybody” attitude. This
environment leads to a lack of reporting by elected officials, a
look-the-other-way approach regarding campaign finance and lobbying, and an
underfunding (or nonexistence) of political oversight groups.
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Miserable States
According to Barrett, states with stagnant political environments often
encourage corruption. Governments with high levels of corruption tend to have a
political party — either the Democrats or Republicans — in power for a long
time. The states that have had a “machine” in place for a long time often tend
to be the most corrupt. Machines tend to want to protect themselves.
These are America’s most corrupt states.


8. Michigan
> Overall grade: F (58%)
> Public access to
information: D
> Legislative accountability: F
> Political
financing: F
> Ethics enforcement agencies: F
Michigan received a grade of F in 10 of the 14 categories measured, including
accountability in all three branches of government as well as in redistricting,
lobbying and political financing. Michigan is one of just three states that
still lacks financial disclosure rules for lawmakers and governors. According to
Chris Andrews, author of the State Integrity Investigation report on Michigan,
the state does not fall prey to much of the widespread corruption that has been
seen in Detroit. The report’s findings indicate, however, that the state has no
system in place to monitor state lobbying, which is among the most corrupt in
the country. This, according to Andrews, “has allowed wealthy individuals and
powerful PACs to funnel huge amounts of money into campaigns.” The state also
has a “gift loophole” for lobbyists, which allows gifts from interested parties
to elected officials like sports tickets or meals.
7. North Dakota
> Overall grade: F (58%)
> Public access
to information: C
> Legislative accountability: F
> Political
financing: F
> Ethics enforcement agencies: F
North Dakota got an F in eight of the 14 categories, including redistricting,
ethics enforcement agencies, lobbying disclosure and political financing.
According to the report, these problems with accountability can lead to
conflicts of interest. For example, there are no laws in place preventing civil
servants from entering any part of the private sector after leaving office. The
state has had a Republican governor in place since Ed Shafer took office in
December, 1992. With Republicans holding 75% of legislature seats and
philosophically opposing more regulation, as State Integrity Investigation
reporter Terry Finneman explains, they tend to “protect the machine.” Last year,
they overwhelmingly voted against a bill to create an ethics commission.
Read: America's Happiest States


6. South Carolina
> Overall grade: F (57%)
> Public access
to information: F
> Legislative accountability: F
> Political
financing: D-
> Ethics enforcement agencies: F
South Carolina received nine failing grades in areas including executive,
judicial and legislative accountability. State Integrity Investigation notes
that the budget of South Carolina’s State Ethics Commission has been cut a total
of six times in the past three years. In September 2010, all regulations on
limiting contributions to political parties were eliminated. Additionally, many
contributors to individual candidates abuse loopholes to avoid limitations on
donations. There is also an antagonistic relationship between office-holding
politicians and the press. Specifically, the report says, Governor Nikki
Haley’s administration has used a policy of deleting important emails.
5. Maine
> Overall grade: F (56%)
> Public access to
information: F
> Legislative accountability: F
> Political
financing: D+
> Ethics enforcement agencies: F
Maine received F grades in nine of the 14 measured categories, including
legislative accountability, lobbying disclosure and public access to
information. The State Integrity Investigation identifies the existence of
possible conflicts of interest and corruption. According to the report, there is
no law in place, for example, to force Democratic State Senator Jim Brannigan to
disclose that the organization that he was a director of received $98 million in
Maine government contracts. On February 1, Republican State Representative David
Burns was arrested for violating campaign finance laws such as falsifying
records and misusing funds.
4. Virginia
> Overall grade: F (55%)
> Public access to
information: F
> Legislative accountability: F
> Political
financing: F
> Ethics enforcement agencies: F
Among Virginia’s ethical failings are poor government oversight, weak
consumer protections and poor separation between politicians and big business.
Overall, it receives nine Fs. One of the state’s greatest offenses is its
exemption of its State Corporation Commission — a regulatory agency that is
responsible for overseeing all businesses, utilities, financial institutions and
railroads in the state — from its Freedom of Information Act. While Virginia has
a General Assembly Conflict of Interests Act, the law has proven incredibly
inefficient. Only one legislator has ever been prosecuted for violating it — 26
years ago. The state is also weak on enforcing disclosure laws. In 2004, it was
discovered that former Democratic Governor L. Douglas Wilder failed to file
disclosure reports for his gubernatorial election campaign. Worst still,
approximately $169,000 from his campaign account was unaccounted for.
Consequently, L. Douglas Wilder, Jr., the former governor’s son and one-time
campaign treasurer, pleaded guilty to two election law misdemeanors in 2007,
resulting in a $1,000 fine and a suspended one-year sentence.
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3. Wyoming
> Overall grade: F (52%)
> Public access to
information: F
> Legislative accountability: D-
> Political
financing: F
> Ethics enforcement agencies: F
The state of Wyoming received a grade of F in nine of the 14 categories
measured by the State Integrity Investigation. The state’s mechanism for
self-governance is extremely poor. According to the report, there is no hotline,
website or other method for state employees to report corruption. The state also
has had the same political machine in place for some time. Wyoming’s two U.S.
senators both have been Republicans since 1977. In 2006, the state legislature,
which is primarily Republican, overrode a veto from the governor and ruled
themselves exempt from open records laws. This means bills in draft can be kept
secret, as can all communications with staff, until a bill is proposed.
2. South Dakota
> Overall grade: (50%)
> Public access to
information: D+
> Legislative accountability: F
> Political
financing: F
> Ethics enforcement agencies: F
South Dakota, which has the second-highest corruption risk score, has nine
failing grades out of 14 categories, and three Ds. The state, which has among
the lowest population density in the country, does not have “comprehensive state
ethics laws,” an ethics commission or satisfactory transparency laws, as Denise
Ross writes for the State Integrity Investigation. The state does little to
require public officials, other than judges, to disclose their income and
assets. State law features a loophole that makes it possible for individuals to
make unlimited political donations. The state has made major improvements in its
integrity by making many state records available online in recent years.
1. Georgia
> Overall grade: F (49%)
> Public access to
information: F
> Legislative accountability: F
> Political
financing: F
> Ethics enforcement agencies: F
Georgia has the worst levels of corruption risk and lack of accountability of
any state in the country. The state scored a D or worse in 12 of the 14
categories. The state’s biggest problem is the absence of a strong ethics
enforcement agency. Republican governor Sonny Perdue managed to get an ethics
bill through the legislature, but by the time it passed, his proposals to ban
gifts to state workers and clearly define appropriate campaign spending had been
stripped out. According to State Integrity reporter Jim Walls, while Georgia has
provisions to prevent certain kinds of corruption in campaign finance and
lobbying, the state is full of unaddressed loopholes and lax enforcement. “About
2,000 Georgia officials, including one in five sitting legislators, have failed
to pay penalties for filing their disclosures late, or not at
all.”

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