A little more than five years ago, we launched LouisianaVoice in an attempt to bring political corruption in Louisiana into sharper focus. Two years ago, The Washington Post named Bob Mann’s Something Like the Truth and LouisianaVoice as two of the top 100 political blogs in the nation.
While we were quite proud to have been recognized by such a prestigious publication as the Post, that pride was tempered somewhat by the knowledge that we could never have achieved such a designation had political corruption not permeated all levels of government in Louisiana— from Shreveport to New Orleans, from Lake Charles to Monroe.
Now we learn that researchers Michael Johnston and Oguzhan Dincer, both former fellows at Harvard Law School’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, have been conducting a “one-of-a-kind” corruption survey over the past two years.
“The survey is designed to construct perception-based measures of different forms of corruption in American states,” Dincer wrote us recently. “We surveyed more than 1,000 news reporters/journalists covering state politics and issues related to corruption across (each state).
“…We were able to construct measures of illegal and legal corruption for each (branch of) government in 50 states,” Dincer said, adding that the results of the survey “quickly drew extensive and positive attention from the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, FiveThirtyEight, and a number of regional newspaper and broadcast stations.”
The results of that 2015 study were published by Illinois State University and the researchers are now in the process of conducting an updated survey. https://about.illinoisstate.edu/odincer/Pages/CorruptionSurvey2015.aspx
So just what is legal corruption as opposed to illegal corruption? Isn’t corruption just corruption without the adjectives? Dincer explained the difference. “We define illegal corruption as the private gains in the form of cash or gifts by a government official in exchange for providing specific benefits to private individuals or groups.”
Legal corruption, on the other hand, is defined as political gains in the form of campaign contributions to or endorsements of a government official, in exchange for providing specific benefits to private individuals or groups by “explicit or implicit understanding.”
“According to several surveys, a large majority of Americans, both liberals and conservatives, think that donations to super PACs, for example, by corporations, unions, and individuals corrupt the government,” the researchers’ report said.
The 2014 report indicated that the leading states for moderately to very common illegal corruption in the executive branch of government were Arizona, New Jersey, Georgia, Kentucky and Utah. States identified as “very common” in illegal corruption in the legislative branch included Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
Legal corruption was found in many more states. Kentucky and New Jersey were identified as states where legal corruption in the executive branch was “extremely common,” while those where it was “very common” included Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Mexico, New York and Texas.
Legal corruption in the legislative branch was far more discouraging on a nationwide basis. States where legal corruption in the legislative branch was “extremely common” included Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, Montana, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wisconsin.
States where legislative branch legal corruption was called “very common” included Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma and Rhode Island.
When all factors were taken into consideration, the states leading in overall illegal corruption were Arizona, California, Kentucky, Alabama, Illinois, New Jersey, Georgia, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Florida, Indiana, Rhode Island and Texas.
Setting the bar for overall legal corruption were Kentucky, Illinois, Nevada, Mississippi, New Jersey, Alabama, New Mexico, Georgia and Pennsylvania.
States that showed up as most corrupt in both legal and illegal corruption were Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico and Pennsylvania.
So, where did Louisiana rank in all these studies?
“Surprisingly enough, we received no responses from Louisiana, which is historically one of the more corrupt states in America,” the report said. http://ethics.harvard.edu/blog/measuring-illegal-and-legal-corruption-american-states-some-results-safra
We knew there had to be a logical explanation. There just had to be.
Which brings us to the current survey.
“We are conducting the third wave of the survey this year and we would like you to take part in a short (5 minute) survey that will gauge your perception of government corruption in Louisiana,” Dincer wrote. “We will again be contacting as many news reporters/journalists as possible in this endeavor to ensure that our results are as reliable as possible. The responses are entirely anonymous and cannot be related to specific participants or institutions.”
So, to all political reporters—and that includes local government beat reporters and political bloggers—in Louisiana who may be reading this, here is the link to their survey.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KYNN5FC
Now that the legislative session is over and there is no gubernatorial election on the near horizon, there’s no reason for you not to participate.
Be completely truthful, candid and forthright and we can return Louisiana to its rightful spot at the top of the rankings.
Louisiana Voice 
I’m not a journalist, but please remember to mention St. Tammany Parish Council when you answer the political corruptions in LA please and thank you
This was hilarious to read. I was amazed at the numerous mentions of Kentucky and none for Louisiana. And then there at the end. Very sad
Surveys like this tend to defy convention, scientific methodology and merit. I do hope they get responses here for inclusion in their next one since a null response automatically condemns us to the junk pile. I know you are conscientious in attempting to make your input fair, but I really do question the validity of the outcome no matter who they ultimately survey because of the inherent subjectivity and sampling limitations, including self-selection by the participants. We live in a corrupt state and a corrupt nation. Corruption does not exist solely in government and certainly not solely in Louisiana government – It unfortunately also exists in what passes for journalism nowadays (certainly not including you here). Pointing out our level of corruption to the rest of the world is of questionable value since none of the corrupt people actually care and doing so can only enhance the negative image of which we are already possessed. Our elected and appointed officials have proven they don’t care if they are perceived as corrupt repeatedly and the electorate has returned them to office without a care. You have directed attention to this consistently and you do a great service in so doing for the people who care enough to read LouisianaVoice, but the only thing that will really make a difference is people paying attention and voting accordingly. Based on my every day experiences, there is far too much ignorance and, worse, apathy in that regard and It is regrettable, but not nearly so much as the fact that good people are often unwilling to offer themselves up to the general public scorn that comes with public office even if they want to try to do the right thing.
I agree. In Oak Grove Louisiana especially.
# 1 and proud. Edmonson wins the brazen of the year award-my nominee.
On January 26, 2015, Nola.com/Times-Picayune reporter Robert McClendon posted a brief article referencing a report and survey by the blog FiveThirtyEight and federal corruption convictions of state politicians. He failed to mention in that report that the survey authors had polled “280 state political reporters to ask how corrupt they thought the branches of government in their states were.” And that, “They didn’t get a single response from Louisiana.”
A comment writer posted the missing information from the FiveThirtyEight report and asked, “What does this say about political reporting in Louisiana?”
Mr. McClendon responded: “It tells you that reporters have a lot to do, and filling out surveys doesn’t always rank as a priority.”
See the Nola.com/T-P article, “Louisiana is, by one measure, the most corrupt state in the country”, it contains the link to the full FiveThirtyEight report. Scroll down to the comments to see the exchange with Mr. McClendon.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/01/louisiana_is_by_one_measure_th.html#incart_river
http://www.lawgrace.org/2016/08/09/in-protest-of-judicial-political-nonprofit-racketeering-via-class-action-cy-pres-and-disaster-funding-source-of-totalitarianism-unfair-competition-inequity-disintegrated-communitie/
“Under color of official right, federal judges Samuel Maury Hicks and Mark Lane Hornsby obstructed exposure of Sarbanes-Oxley NONPROFIT illegalities and frauds. (CLICK this link to see list of NONPROFITS: http://www.lawgrace.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/NEW-__Nonprofits-NGOs-Foundations-DISASTERS-Cy-Pres.-CORRECTIONS.pdf
The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Legal Services –42 U.S.C. § 5182 appears to be the primary tool for nonprofit pilfering of government provisions and funds, and for outrageous unscrupulous exploitation of classes of disaster victims . . .
. . .illicit nonprofit activities involving scores of legal professionals (including courtroom judges) and their allies, pertaining Stafford Act disaster funding and class action settlement CyPres awards, occurs through the United Ways (Louisiana) and the Louisiana State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division’s Barristers for Nonprofit Boards
. . .it was BP’s litigation that led us to our Cy Pres discoveries, we now emphatically concur that BP’s contentions about unreasonably unfair CyPres awards is justified. Overwhelming evidence shows BP settlement money linked certain judges, law firms and associates.
As consequences of disparities and exploitation such as these by legal professional with superior skills and inside knowledge over disaster victims and unsuspecting citizens, church members, communities, etc., as to ‘the games these people play’, it’s not hard to recognize how defendants in class action lawsuits unwittingly are enabling social violence, poverty, and inequality when those defendants fund nonprofits that are engaged in fraudulent operations. Put plainly, it is not hard to see how “windfall” CyPres settlement money can become utilized for laundering for profit and not for profit businesses and “foundations” controlled by legal professionals inclusive of judges and law firms appearing in their courts –especially by means of “partnering with,” and “collaborations,” and undetectable White Collar “Passthrough grant” frauds.
. . . “outreach” methods and targets for these types of legal profession-controlled nonprofits and foundations created with or from CyPres settlement money and government contracts evolve around “At-Risk Youth” and their families, nursing homes, and government agencies –especially after a Presidentially-declared disaster affords the American Bar Association’s confederations with HUD and the Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) to take advantage of 42 U.S.C. § 5182 while pretending to aid certain classes of disaster victims.
**ENTIRE post & exhibits at: http://www.lawgrace.org/2016/08/09/in-protest-of-judicial-political-nonprofit-racketeering-via-class-action-cy-pres-and-disaster-funding-source-of-totalitarianism-unfair-competition-inequity-disintegrated-communitie/
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