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* As I told you the other day, GateHouse has a new survey of state legislators on various issues. It would’ve been helpful if GateHouse had given us a breakdown by chamber and by party, but no such luck. Here’s the narrative…
Of the 134 lawmakers who responded to the survey, 116 say he should resign right away, or nearly 87 percent. And 108 legislators — more than 80 percent of those responding — say the General Assembly should pursue impeachment soon. […]
On impeachment, 25 lawmakers said they either were unsure or wouldn’t comment. Many of those are senators, who could serve as the arbiter on impeachment if the House begins that process. […]
90 lawmakers, said they support a special election for the Senate seat. That’s about two-thirds of the 134 survey respondents. […]
But legislators are split on executive authority, with 56 saying the legislature should try to curb the governor’s power because of Blagojevich’s scandal and 53 saying “no.”
* There are some basic toplines…
Should the governor resign immediately?
116 lawmakers say YES
6 lawmakers say NO
2 say UNSURE
10 say NO COMMENT
43 did not respondShould the legislature start impeachment proceedings immediately?
108 lawmakers say YES
1 says NO
8 say UNSURE
17 say NO COMMENT
43 did not respondShould Illinois have a special election to pick Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate replacement?
90 lawmakers say YES
14 say NO
21 say UNSURE
9 say NO COMMENT
43 did not respondRegardless of what happens with Blagojevich, should the legislature take steps to curb the power a governor has in this state?
56 lawmakers say YES
53 lawmakers say NO
17 say UNSURE
8 say NO COMMENT
43 did not respond
There are no crosstabs, but click here to search for your own legislator. You can’t search by votes on each topic, which is quite maddening, and there also doesn’t appear to be a way to download the entire xls file.
* Meanwhile, the New York Times looks at various ways of discerning which state is the most corrupt…
Where is officialdom most crooked? Last week, many guessed it must be Illinois, after news that Gov. Rod Blagojevich was taped making brazen personal demands in exchange for his selection of a Senate successor to President-elect Barack Obama. […]
But bloggers from competing hotbeds of wrongdoing proclaimed that theirs were the worst officials in the land, thank you. New Jerseyans seemed especially sure that their leadership came out on top in the race to the bottom.
Not so. And not so for Illinois, either.
There are several ways to gauge levels of government corruption, all of them a bit, well, corrupt. We present three methods here in the interest of keeping the arguments going.
* Here are some of the charts. Click each for the complete lists…
posted by Rich Miller
Sunday, Dec 14, 08 @ 2:27 am
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Think we have a chance of getting a wild card spot for the corruption playoffs? (Note to Barack: organize National Corruption Championship Series).
Comment by Excessively rabid Sunday, Dec 14, 08 @ 7:45 am
What I’d like to know is how Rhode Island of all places won the Journalists’ Survey one…. maybe it’s like golf, and the lowest score wins (in terms of having corruption being a “win”)? But then the question would be how L.A. is in 2nd…. hrm…
Comment by Chambananon Sunday, Dec 14, 08 @ 7:55 am
It’s refreshing to see some context on the “most corrupt” question. Although Blago has been a wonder, and many of us seem to take a perverse pride in our homegrown corruption, we’re not that special.
Comment by wordslinger Sunday, Dec 14, 08 @ 9:00 am
Rhode Island has a pretty interesting political culture. Google “Buddy Cianci” for context.
Comment by Boone Logan Square Sunday, Dec 14, 08 @ 10:57 am
It should not be per million residents, but per # of elected officials.
Comment by Pot calling kettle Sunday, Dec 14, 08 @ 11:32 am
This makes me wonder whether Illinois is barely in the top ten because we really aren’t that corrupt or are we barely in the top ten because we are so corrupt that many of our prosecutors are on the take too?
Comment by Ronbo Sunday, Dec 14, 08 @ 3:48 pm
Do I detect that ever-present liberal bias in the “survey of journalists”? Their top ten barely intersect with the per conviction or per capita measures, and is top heavy with red states.
Comment by ghostofthecolonel Sunday, Dec 14, 08 @ 7:10 pm
If you get a moment today, check out The Criminal Division of the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice. This is required, pursuant to Section 603 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978. It has some interesting facts…
Comment by VisualManager Monday, Dec 15, 08 @ 12:01 pm