Lloyd Lofthouse

The politics of the 10 most corrupt states in America

Robert McGarvey, writing for Yahoo.com’s Main St. news, says, “An academic at the University of Hong Kong and another at Indiana University set out to rank the states by level of corruption, combing arrest and conviction records for public officials.”

But I wanted to know more so I set out to determine the political party strength in each of the ten most corrupt states, because that information wasn’t included in the ranking.

  1. Florida—controlled by the Republican Party from the governor to both houses of the state legislature
  2. Kentucky—controlled by the Democratic Party except for the state senate
  3. South Dakota—controlled by the Republican Party from the governor to both houses of the state legislature
  4. Alaska—controlled by the Republican Party from the governor to both houses of the state legislature
  5. Alabama—controlled by the Republican Party from the governor to both houses of the state legislature
  6. Pennsylvania—controlled by the Republican Party from the governor to both houses of the state legislature
  7. Illinois—controlled by the Democratic Party from the governor to both houses of the state legislature
  8. Tennessee—controlled by the Republican Party from the governor to both houses of the state legislature
  9. Louisiana—controlled by the Republican Party from the governor to both houses of the state legislature
  10. Mississippi—controlled by the Republican Party from the governor to both houses of the state legislature

Conclusion: Based on the results of the most corrupt states, it’s arguable that states controlled by the Republican Party have an 83.3-percent chance of being more corrupt.

If you are interested in the least corrupt states, they are:

  1. Oregon—controlled by the Democratic Party from governor to both state legislatures
  2. Washington—controlled by the Democratic Party from governor to both state legislatures
  3. Minnesota—controlled by the Democratic Party from governor to both state legislatures
  4. Nebraska—controlled by the Republican Party from governor to both state legislatures
  5. Iowa—controlled by the Republican Party by governor and 1-state house. The other state house has a Democratic majority by two seats.
  6. Vermont—controlled by the Democratic Party from governor to both state legislatures
  7. Utah—controlled by the Republican Party from governor to both state legislatures
  8. New Hampshire—controlled by a Democratic governor and 1-state house. The other state house has a Republican majority by 2 seats.
  9. Colorado— controlled by the Democratic Party from governor to both state legislatures
  10. Kansas— controlled by the Republican Party from governor to both state legislatures

The ten least corrupt states in America

Conclusion: Based on these results, it’s arguable that states controlled by the Democratic Party have a 60-percent chance of being the least corrupt. With the results of both lists, one might question if people who vote Republican are crooks, fools or both.

_______________________

Lloyd Lofthouse is a former U.S. Marine and Vietnam Veteran,
who taught in the public schools for thirty years (1975 – 2005).

His third book is Crazy is Normal, a classroom exposé, a memoir. “Lofthouse presents us with grungy classrooms, kids who don’t want to be in school, and the consequences of growing up in a hardscrabble world. While some parents support his efforts, many sabotage them—and isolated administrators make the work of Lofthouse and his peers even more difficult.” – Bruce Reeves

lloydlofthouse_crazyisnormal_web2_5

Lofthouse’s first novel was the award winning historical fiction My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. His second novel was the award winning thriller Running with the Enemy. His short story A Night at the “Well of Purity” was named a finalist of the 2007 Chicago Literary Awards. His wife is Anchee Min, the international, best-selling, award winning author of Red Azalea, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year (1992).

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Lloyd Lofthouse

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13 responses to “The politics of the 10 most corrupt states in America”

  1. joylennick Avatar
    joylennick

    Hi Lloyd I’m British (living in Spain) and a novice, while ‘ancient,’ regarding politics, BUT why am I not surprised that the Democrats come out on top? I HATE colonialism and am always on the side of the hoi polloi. Politicians? The jury is out…Hurray for free thinkers! Your words are always interesting and thought provoking. Best wishes.

    Reply
    1. Lloyd Lofthouse Avatar
      Lloyd Lofthouse

      When it comes to politics, the jury will always be out. A few decades ago, the Democrats represented racism and whites in the U.S. southern states (those that started the 19th century Civil War) voted almsot exclusively for Democratic candidates. Then there was JFK followed by LBJ, the Civil Rights movement and LBJ’s war on poverty. Then most of the whites in those southern states shifted to the Republican Party where white supreme-ism and racism in the south seems to have found their new home after the Democrats appear to have evicted them.

      Under President Reagan, the Republicans took advantage of this shift and Reagan seduced even more democrats to the GOP—a faction now known as neo-conservatives who bevel that we must build democracies through the use of the military and war. President G. W. Bush was their first president and his White House administration was staffed with many known neo-cosnervatives. The result, the lies about weapons of mass destruction that led to the Iraq war and the stabilization of the Middle East.

      Sometimes the devil you know, is a better choice over what might replace that devil. That old wisdom seems to have proved itself once again through the rise of the Taliban, the Shiite fundamentalism in Iran and now this ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

      It doesn’t help that now another faction controls the White House through Obama, the neo-liberals who follow another dangerous philosophy that’s must as dangerous as the one followed by the neo-conservatives. A key player in the neoconservative movement was Leo Strauss who taught at the University of Chicago from 1949-1958. For the neoliberals we have Milton Friedman who was a University of Chicago economist.

      In short, becasue of these two ideologies, the U.S. is a political nightmare. There also a third group that’s struggling to gain a foothold in the halls of power. They are the Libertarian Party and the Tea Party movement, funded by the Libertarian billionaire Koch brothers is driving this group.

      And let’s not forget the political influence of the fundamentalist Christians movement that also mostly votes Republican—this group wants school prayer, and end to the science of creation being taught in the schools (instead, they want to ignore the science and teach what the Bible says about creation), no sex education, no abortion for women, etc.

      Reply
  2. e t ellison (@etellison) Avatar
    e t ellison (@etellison)

    One thing I wondered about and would be interested in your thoughts. A number of the “least corrupt” states were completely controlled — governor and both legislatures — by one political. The suspicious cynic/political realist in me wonders if such control might not extend to prosecutors and judges, thus being able to avoid prosecutions (or at least convictions) for corrupt activities. Were this true, it would certainly skew the data. Thots?

    Reply
    1. Marilyn Armstrong Avatar
      Marilyn Armstrong

      But that was also true for all of the MOST corrupt states. Apparently it doesn’t make any difference though it should.

      Reply
    2. Lloyd Lofthouse Avatar
      Lloyd Lofthouse

      If you look at the two lists, most of the states were controlled almost totally by one party or another through the governor and the majority in both state houses who were members of the same political party. There were only a few exceptions and they weren’t that dramatic. For instance, one party having a two or three seat majority in one of the state houses.

      But there were still elected officials in each state legislature who belonged to the minority party in that state creating a watch-dog atmosphere where the minority keeps a close eye on the majority ready to blow the whistle on any sign of corruption, etc.

      I think the majority, through, controls the political atmosphere in each state locking out the minority most of the time. The only job left is for the minority to keep a close eye on the majority.

      Reply
  3. Marilyn Armstrong Avatar
    Marilyn Armstrong

    I’m not sure how my state avoided both lists. Maybe because no two pols agree on anything, regardless of party? New England is a wildly contentious place!

    Reply
    1. Lloyd Lofthouse Avatar
      Lloyd Lofthouse

      The original report seems to be behind a pay wall. I’d like to see the complete list from worst to best, all fifty states.

      Reply
      1. Marilyn Armstrong Avatar
        Marilyn Armstrong

        Me too.

      2. Lloyd Lofthouse Avatar
        Lloyd Lofthouse

        I decided to Google it and found this ranking from The Center for Public Integrity.

        http://www.stateintegrity.org/your_state

      3. Marilyn Armstrong Avatar
        Marilyn Armstrong

        Interesting. I personally think we are worse than that. Old state — one of the original 13 — with corruption so ingrained, it’s not visible or even considered corruption. It’s simply thought of as the way business is done. People don’t even do it for money because It IS the way business gets done.

      4. Lloyd Lofthouse Avatar
        Lloyd Lofthouse

        I think you are right. When corruption becomes so commonplace, its the same as waiting for a light to change from red to green so you can cross to the other side of a street. Then one person—because no cars are coming—decides not to wait and crosses on a red light. The next thing you know, everyone is crossing on the red light.

      5. Marilyn Armstrong Avatar
        Marilyn Armstrong

        Very apt analogy.

      6. Lloyd Lofthouse Avatar
        Lloyd Lofthouse

        Thank you.

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