Good Government

Oklahoma ranks 11th in corruption

July 3, 2014

Patrick B. McGuigan

Researchers at Indiana University and the University of Hong Kong ranked Oklahoma the 11th most corrupt state in America.

John L. Mikesell, of Indiana, and Cheol Liu of Hong Kong, studied 25,000 convictions of public officials for violations of federal anti-corruption laws nationwide between 1976 and 2008.

Mississippi topped the most corrupt list, followed by Louisiana, Tennessee, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Alaska, South Dakota, Kentucky, and Florida.

Oregon ranked as the least corrupt state, followed by Washington, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Utah, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

“I don’t think anyone who has studied Oklahoma’s political history and culture will be surprised by this study’s findings,” said Andrew C. Spiropoulos, director of State Constitutional Law and Government at Oklahoma City University. “We have suffered from a historically high level of political corruption because of several factors. We are a relatively poor state, with limited economic opportunity in the private sector, making public money and jobs more important.”