In addition to corruption and ethical problems common at the federal level, corruption infects state, municipal, and county officials of both political parties. A report in May 2006 noted that more than 2000 investigations into public corruption were active by the FBI, and over 1060 officials at all levels had been convicted of criminal acts in 2004 and 2005. Between 1998 and 2007, a group called Integrity Florida reported that 1762 Florida politicians had been convicted on counts of public corruption. In the same time frame, New York had 2522 politicians convicted, California 2300, Illinois 1828, and Pennsylvania 1563. The numbers are mind-boggling and an indictment of the democratic system. But ignoring the frequency of corruption on a municipal, county and local scale, with reports in the news media on virtually a daily basis, a few of the transgressions on a state level can provide an idea of the seriousness of corruption among politicians in the United States.
In Illinois, four of the last seven governors have gone to prison because of various corrupt acts. Included are Democrat Rod Blagojevich who was impeached in 2009 and convicted in 2011 of a number of charges, among which were trying to sell President Obama’s senate seat. Also convicted were Republican George Ryan who was governor from 1999-2003 and found guilty afterwards of racketeering while in office, Democrat Dan Walker, governor from 1973-1977, who pleaded guilty to bank fraud after leaving office, and Democrat Otto Koerner, governor from 1961-1968, who became a judge afterwards until he was convicted of bribery during his tenure as governor.
Republican Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia in January of 2015 was sentenced to two years in prison for public corruption. He had been previously been found guilty of trading access to the governor’s office for cash and gifts.
Edwin DiPrete, the Republican governor of Rhode Island from 1985-1991 went to prison after pleading guilty to 18 felony counts of bribery, extortion, and racketeering. Speaker of the Rhode Island House, Democrat Gordon D. Fox, pleaded guilty in March of 2015 to receiving bribes, wire fraud, and filing a false tax return. He faced a three year prison sentence and loss of his license to practice law.
Democratic governor Edwin Edwards of Louisiana was released from prison in 2011 after serving eight years for bribery and extortion. He subsequently lost a run for Congress.
Arch Moore, Jr, Republican governor of West Virginia, served three years in prison after pleading guilty to five felony charges relating to acceptance of illegal payments during his campaign.
Republican John Rowland, governor of Connecticut from 1995 to 2004, was sent to jail for ten months after pleading guilty to corruption charges. In September of 2014, he was convicted of a playing a role in an election fraud case and subsequently sentenced to thirty months in prison.
The New York State government in Albany has been a particular hotbed of corruption for years, with little in the way of prosecutorial drive to indict and convict the top perpetrators. Occasionally, a senator or assemblyman has been penalized for misdeeds, but the Albany culture has remained unchanged. Though Democrat Eliot Spitzer, who had vowed to clean up Albany, resigned as governor in 2008 after it was revealed he had frequently patronized prostitutes, the legal system did not play a role in his departure and Spitzer escaped punishment. Democrat Alan Hevasi, the State Comptroller from 2003-2006, went to prison for twenty months in 2010 after being found guilty of taking a $1 million payoff from a pension fund investor in return for business in the state pension fund. In 2006 Hevasi had left office after pleading guilty to using state workers to drive around his disabled wife.
Democrat Sheldon Silver, the Speaker of the State Assembly for two decades and one of the most powerful politicians in the state, was indicted in February 2015 by a grand jury on charges of fraud, extortion and kickback schemes, stepping down from his post. Three months later, the Republican leader of the State Senate, Dean Skelos, left office after being arrested on federal corruption charges. The new Speaker of the Assembly, Carl Heastie, has subsequently been accused of neglecting to pay back $200,000 from the sale of an apartment as ordered by a judge. His deceased mother had embezzled $90,000 from a non-profit agency and had bought the apartment with the stolen money. Hastie has also been accused of using state and campaign money of over $150,000 for personal expenses.
Current Governor Andrew Cuomo had promised to attack corruption in New York State politics when he was elected. However, he interfered with the Moreland Commission he had established to perform the job of rooting out corruption when it went after groups close to him, investigative reporters discovered in July of 2014. Cuomo had abruptly disbanded the commission in March 2014 without providing a reasonable explanation. Among other fraudulent activities, the panel had found sham corporations set up by legislators funded with government money, businesses that were attempting to buy legislation through targeted campaign contributions, and legislators who were billing the state for travel expenses that had already been paid by their campaigns. So corruption continues to run rampant in New York with supposed reformers neglecting to pursue the miscreants. Unbelievably, corrupt officials in New York are able to collect their state pensions, even if found guilty of crimes and imprisoned, with the State Assembly unwilling to change the law regarding this issue. Yet New York voters keep electing the same corrupt politicians to office year after year, either unaware of their misdeeds or simply not caring. Democracy at work.
Resurrecting Democracy
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Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020