The corruption has gotten so bad...
The corruption in our State is so bad, a group now will monitor this at the State level. From The Herald:
The spike in public corruption in Massachusetts has garnered headlines for months now and stirred the Legislature to pass reforms in the areas of ethics, campaign finance, lobbying and pension laws.
Both the corruption itself – the indictments of the last three House speakers for instance - and the public policy responses will be weighed in an upcoming risk analysis of corruption in all 50 state governments in the United States.
The Washington D.C-based Center for Public Integrity announced Thursday that it plans to hire part-time reporters in every state capitol to help them rank the states for susceptibility to corruption. The State Accountability Project will be paid for with a $1 million grant from the philanthropic investment firm Omidyar Network and $500,000 from the New Jersey-based Rita Allen Foundation.
The grants were received by the Center for Public Integrity, Public Radio International and Global Integrity.
According to the center, the journalists will assess the existence and effectiveness of anti-corruption and government transparency measures, including political financing, civil service management and state budget processes. The project will feature online data and reporting.
Public Radio International plans to use its 880 partner stations and social media to spread the word about the project and its results.
“If we hope to stop corruption, people need to be invested and involved,” Michael Skoler, PRI’s vice president of interactive media. “We live in a new media world where people, not simply reporters, can and must be watchdogs for honest government.”
posted by Jim Pillsbury @ 1:55 PM
6 Comments
6 Comments:
Sounds like quite an undertaking. What I don’t see you mention is when this is actually going to happen, and when the results will be available for us to see. It would be a huge surprise to me if MA did not rank as one off the 5 most corrupt states in the country.
With DeLeo on the verge of being indicted for his illegal activities, how can we expect to rank anyplace except number 1 on the list of corrupt states.
I had stopped checking this blog lately, figured you were on vacation or something. Nice to see you back. I have to say I would like to see more of your ideas, thoughts, and opinions here. I can read the stories in the Globe and the Herald myself. I come here to get your spin on things.
The corruption has gotten so bad, that we are finally going to vote these thiefs out of office? Oh I should know better. This is MA, where we honor our corrupt politicians. Nice to see they are going to do this study, but I wonder Jim, do you think it will do any good or have any impact? Even the new reps, including Walsh, voted to support the corrupt speaker in January. If no one stands up and says enough is enough, it won’t make any difference what this report says. In MA coming in first int his poll will probably be considered an award.
We can't seem to shame Beacon Hill into being honest or even accountable. The trial of DiMasi is going forward and we now learn he tried his best to cover up all the shady dealings with the software company for the lottery. Deval is being called as a witness and som of his aids. The weirdo Senator from Lexington (Mazzelli) is scheduled to go too trial this month. The two elected reps who will decide the new district for this State are now accused of peddling around Washington for campaign funds for thier next election from those is Congress who may have thier district chopped up. Chuck Turner (convicted city counciler) is on his way to prision, still claiming his is innocent.
Not that we are alone by any stretch.. but Mass is now seen perhaps one of the most politically corrupt states in the country. While many of us had thought that for years, at least now the media will be broadcasting the results and perhaps thousands will take to Beacon Hill and demand change in leadership like the common folk in the middle east are doing.
Who is going to pay for it? We, the taxpayers of course. Who else?
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