So I found two interesting pieces coming out of the papers today. First, we'll be breaking out the champagne bottles tonight.
IN YOUR FACE, Louisiana!
On a per-capita basis, however, Illinois ranks 18th for the number of public corruption convictions the federal government has won from 1998 through 2007, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Department of Justice statistics.
Louisiana, Alaska and North Dakota all fared worse than the Land of Lincoln in that analysis.
Follow over the flip.
Alaska narrowly ousted Republican Sen. Ted Stevens in the election in November after he was convicted of not reporting gifts from wealthy friends. In Louisiana, Democratic Rep. William Jefferson was indicted in 2007 on racketeering and bribery charges after the FBI said it found $90,000 in marked bills in his freezer. Jefferson, who has maintained his innocence and will soon go to trial, lost his seat to a Republican this year.
But North Dakota?
Don Morrison, executive director of the non-partisan North Dakota Center for the Public Good, said it may be that North Dakotans are better at rooting out corruption when it occurs.
"Being a sparsely populated state, people know each other," he said. "We know our elected officials and so certainly to do what the governor of Illinois did is much more difficult here."
Morrison said the state has encouraged bad government practices in some cases by weakening disclosure laws. North Dakota does not require legislative or statewide candidates to disclose their campaign expenses.
It's true. Our politicians must report all donations, something our current Insurance Commissioner seemed to forget at his last job running the Cass County Republicans...
All of this of course pales in comparison to our worker's compensation system, which is by any objective measure the most corrupt in the country. Instead it is a massive money machine for the Republicans, which hold a ruling supermajority in the state. They have the house, the senate, the governor's office, the Supreme Court, and every statewide office except the Ag Commissioner and the head of the Department of Public Instruction. It's not pretty.
Beyond that, though, our Bush-appointed US Attorney is having a campaign to keep his office after Bush leaves. This is like the case in Pennsylvania where the current USA is refusing to resign.
Don't get me wrong, Drew Wrigley hasn't been a BAD USA(at least as far as I know...I'm checking with some friends in high places on this though), He does have some ties to Alberto Gonzales(he was on his USA advisory committees in 2005 and 2006...you know...when 9 USA's were fired under slightly less than kosher conditions). He is also George Bush's U.S. Attorney. He is(by the fact that he wasn't fired) a "loyal Bushie." Even setting that aside, he was a part of a Department of Justice that has been plagued by partisanship over the last eight years. There needs to be a new direction taken by the next Attorney General, which includes a complete housecleaning of the US Attorneys. Across the board. Period.