We have a ways to go before we're world class in one arena
Any way you slice it, Massachusetts is not even in the top 10 states when it comes to public corruption, the New York Times reports. Why, Massachusetts reporters couldn't even bother to respond to a survey about how corrupt our public officials are (in contrast, Rhode Island reporters ranked their state the most corrupt state of all). Further evidence comes in a report by the Corporate Crime Reporter last year that ranked us just 17th out of the 35 most populous states for public corruption.
Jay Fitzgerald, however, reminds us about the old saw about statistics:
Massachusetts lost a good decade and a half of data because our corruption corrupted the feds before they could uncover corruption. Massachusetts and similar states also have honed institutional corruption to an immeasurable legal art form, the result of years of experimentation. The Big Dig Culture didn't arise from a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Culture.
Comments
The ones who get caught are
The ones who get caught are the anomaly, so those lists are unreliable. In any case, the state reps named judges because they donated to someone's campaign is just as much corruption as stuffing money in your bra.
And Rhode Island shouts out: "Don't forget about us, just because we're small!"
A Globe reporter.
A Globe reporter covering Boston City Hall got so ingratiated to Boston City Council staff they she didn't report on flagrant Council staff violations of ethics. It's difficult covering City Hall.