A recent study by the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard found Alabama to be among the most corrupt states in the country, according to responses from the state’s political reporters.
The study, written by Oguzhan Dincer, an Associate Professor of Economics at the Illinois State University, and Michael Johnston, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science at Colgate University, measured both “illegal” and “legal” corruption at the state legislative, executive, and judicial levels.
Dincer and Johnston defined “illegal” corruption as “the private gains in the form of cash or gifts by a government official, in exchange for providing specific benefits to private individuals or groups,” and “legal” corruption as “the political gains in the form of campaign contributions or endorsements by a government official, in exchange for providing specific benefits to private individuals or groups, be it by explicit or implicit understanding.”
The study created an index of the states by surveying reporters who cover politics and corruption in each state. Dincer and Johnston received 280 responses, coming from every state except Louisiana, which is historically one of the most corrupt states in the country.
For illegal corruption, Alabama’s political reporters perceive corruption in the executive branch as being “moderately common,” legislative corruption being very common,” and judicial corruption as “slightly common.”
Legal corruption, however is where many of the state’s political reporters see a larger problem. They rated the executive again as “moderately common,” but placed the legislature in the most severe category of “extremely common.”
For perception of illegal corruption, Alabama came in 4th behind Arizona, California, and Kentucky, and in 6th in legal corruption behind Kentucky, Illinois, Nevada, Mississippi, and New Jersey.
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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
