‘Guam-NMI high on NYT ranking for corruption’

Taotao Tano president Gregorio Cruz Jr. yesterday brought to the attention of the Legislature and the Executive Branch a recent New York Times article that ranks the states and territories in terms of levels of corruption.

In an e-mail to lawmakers and members of the Executive Branch, Cruz said the CNMI “made it to New York Times…listed under corruption.”

Cruz said the most interesting chart in the article relates to how many convicted officials are produced for every one million constituents.

“These charts are very revealing, especially corruption per percent of population. Other countries may be worse…but if you compare us to American corruption…we are at the top of the list,” according to the Taotao Tano president.

The article’s graphic regarding convictions per million residents per year shows Guam-CNMI in third position, just behind the U.S. Virgin Islands and topnotcher District of Columbia.

The graphic indicates that Guam-CNMI ranks 29th with respect to the number of convicted public officials from 1998 to 2007. Florida was on the top of the list, while Nebraska “continues to shine as a beacon of good government,” according to the article.

The article was prompted by the recent scandal surrounding Illinois Gov. Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who allegedly tried to put up for sale the Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama. The issue has prompted Internet bloggers to label Illinois as the most corrupt states in the U.S.

The New York Times article, published on Dec. 13, examined this premise, using three methods of finding out which state is the most corrupt.

Based on the sheer number of guilty officials, Florida was tops, followed by New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, California, Ohio, Illinois, New jersey, District of Columbia, and Louisiana.

The second method, based on how many convicted officials are produced for every one million constituents, showed the District of Columbia on top, primarily because of the high concentration of ranking officials in Washington D.C., followed by the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam-CNMI, North Dakota, Alaska, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Kentucky, and Alabama.

The third method surveyed state house reporters and the results showed Rhode Island as the most corrupt.