Do they really think they've got Illinois beat?! Do they get newspapers in Tennessee and Louisiana? Have they heard of Rod Blogojevich? Rich Daley? Tony Rezko? Bill Cellini? Or are these guys on a different level, like high school sports?
Nevermind, read a little closer and figgered it out. Those numbers are rankings, not number of offenses. So TN having an 18 in public corruption means we were the 18th highest in public corruption per capita (yes, they took population into account too).
So, lower numbers are worse.
Damn, How the hell did Illinois end up in the bottom 10? Montana, Wyoming, Indian I get...but IL at #47? Did they exclude Chicago?
TN must have gotten up early put in some tremendous work to beat AK, AR, SC, TX, LA and the Midwest Monster of Mayhem--Illinois! How can TN be in the same class as IL?
But bribery in TN has got to be different than in IL, right? Hmmm, I say, I say, I wonder what's involved in TN?
Maybe it's something like . . . Moonshine? Hawg jowls? Lifetime supply of white suits? Or, maybe those hats on the Jimmy Dean sausage cover?
Tennessee public officials are a lot better than most about not getting caught."
But when they DO get caught, it's SPECTACULAR. For instance State Senator John Ford videotaped stuffing money in his pockets, telling the Fibbie "You'd better not be a Federale; if you are, I'll have you taken care of".
Wound up arrested and doing the Perp Walk the day his nephew announced his campaign to take Bill Frist's U.S. Senate seat.
Do they really think they've got Illinois beat?! Do they get newspapers in Tennessee and Louisiana? Have they heard of Rod Blogojevich? Rich Daley? Tony Rezko? Bill Cellini? Or are these guys on a different level, like high school sports?
ReplyDeleteI do have my moments, however rare they may be.
ReplyDeleteI'm fairly certain that list is backwards. There is no way on God's Green Earth that MA comes in the last 5.
ReplyDeleteNot with the past *THREE* speakers of the house resigned and indicted.
Not with multiple bribery investigations of Boston City Councilors and State Senators.
HELLO? BIG DIG mean anything???
I think Tennessee is the LEAST corrupt state!
ReplyDelete#1 Tennessee has 50 Total Convictions
#42 Alaska has 169 Total Convictions
#51 New Hampshire has 196 total Convictions
What Anon @ 10:33 said. If you look at the source, TN has the LEAST corruption. I wonder if its differentiated by population or some such.
ReplyDeleteMost likely tho they just numbered them backwards and some stupid journalist didnt, you know, check to see if the numbers made any sense at all.
That sounds entirely more likely.
ReplyDeleteTennessee public officials are a lot better than most about not getting caught.
Nevermind, read a little closer and figgered it out. Those numbers are rankings, not number of offenses. So TN having an 18 in public corruption means we were the 18th highest in public corruption per capita (yes, they took population into account too).
ReplyDeleteSo, lower numbers are worse.
Damn, How the hell did Illinois end up in the bottom 10? Montana, Wyoming, Indian I get...but IL at #47? Did they exclude Chicago?
It's not just being caught, it's also burying the story once it happens. Connecticut is #1. You never hear about our scandals.
ReplyDeleteTN must have gotten up early put in some tremendous work to beat AK, AR, SC, TX, LA and the Midwest Monster of Mayhem--Illinois! How can TN be in the same class as IL?
ReplyDeleteBut bribery in TN has got to be different than in IL, right? Hmmm, I say, I say, I wonder what's involved in TN?
Maybe it's something like . . . Moonshine? Hawg jowls? Lifetime supply of white suits? Or, maybe those hats on the Jimmy Dean sausage cover?
Shootin' Buddy
Hard to beat Illinois, where former governors generally step straight from the receiving line to the license plate production line.
ReplyDeleteNew Jersey has won for so many years in a row that they must have wanted to give someone else a chance.
ReplyDeleteTennessee public officials are a lot better than most about not getting caught."
ReplyDeleteBut when they DO get caught, it's SPECTACULAR. For instance State Senator John Ford videotaped stuffing money in his pockets, telling the Fibbie "You'd better not be a Federale; if you are, I'll have you taken care of".
Wound up arrested and doing the Perp Walk the day his nephew announced his campaign to take Bill Frist's U.S. Senate seat.
Who sez the gummint don't have a sense of humor?
There's a serious/deadly flaw. Prosecution numbers don't show corruption, they show how often corrupt officials are caught and dealt with.
ReplyDeletethe study has NO relation with how corrupt a state is, because the ultimate hypothetical corrupt state is going to have no prosecutions.
The WV even named that hypothetical state for us: Dicixebo.