I have to admit, I mistakenly thought that Illinois and Massachusetts were the two most corrupt governments in the U.S., but I did a little research and found a N.Y. Times article (blogger’s note: given the lack of journalistic integrity at the NYT, I checked and this data came from DoJ) that lists Florida, N.Y. and Texas as the states with the most convicted public officials in a 10 year period (824, 704 and 565 respectively). Illinois came in 7th and Massachusetts 18th. Interesting.
Of course, that is the number of convicted officials and doesn’t really reflect the extent of the corruption nor does it highlight the types of crimes the officials committed.
This goes right to the heart of what I wrote about previously, Integrity. We continue to lower the standards and make excuses for the lack of integrity and look where we are – government officials are corrupt and buying votes and selling favors; mortgage companies have screwed people out of their homes; and financial institutions are stealing money.
Our New Years resolution should be to hold those in charge of our livelihoods – from the President right down to the Selectmen or Councilors – to the highest ethical standards. If there is overwhelming evidence of malfeasance, and especially if there is an indictment (e.g., Blagojevich), we should remove the offenders out of office – quickly. I believe in due process, but these folks can’t do their job while they are trying to save their butts.
It’s time to change from “pay to play” to “if you play, you will pay (dearly).” No more excuses. Zero tolerance.
Merry Christmas to all and a Happy and Healthy 2009!!
