Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Not a Good Look, Virginia

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by

James A. Bacon
in ,

Not to give our friend Don the Ripper more ammo in his assertion that Virginia is the most corrupt state in the country, but… These numbers regarding federal public corruption convictions in Virginia’s Eastern District, published in a 2022 University of Illinois at Chicago study, “Anti-Corruption Report #14,” speak for themselves.

I’d like to see the figures broken down per capita. Who knows, maybe Virginia really is the most corrupt. Even if it’s not, just being in the same league as New York, New Jersey, and Louisiana is a badge of shame.

Hat tip: How_It_Works

— JAB

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13 responses to “Not a Good Look, Virginia”

  1. how_it_works Avatar
    how_it_works

    The per-capita figures can be found in Table 2 on Page 8 of that report.

  2. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    On a per capita basis, Washington DC is a clear #1. No one else is even close.

    1. how_it_works Avatar
      how_it_works

      Well, it was built on a swamp..

    2. Eric the half a troll Avatar
      Eric the half a troll

      DC is not a state…

      1. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        Washington DC is included in the table, and I did not put it there.

  3. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Hey, 7 is still a magic number.

  4. Ronnie Chappell Avatar
    Ronnie Chappell

    Frankly, in a state where campaign contributions can be converted to personal use and in which there is no limit on the amount that can be paid a candidate, the Virginia numbers seem low. Maybe legal graft suppresses illegal graft .

  5. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Good news shows convictions are waning! Clearly law schools are graduating a better defense attorney.

    1. how_it_works Avatar
      how_it_works

      The numbers for 2020 show Eastern District Virginia on top. Maybe the defense attorneys in Virginia need to up their game.

  6. how_it_works Avatar
    how_it_works

    I just realized that there isn’t a single judicial district per state, so there aren’t just 50 of them.

    There are 94 of of them. Being #7 out of 50 is bad enough, but being #7 out of 94 is even worse.

  7. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    These tables rely on studies of public corruption cases in
    federal district court in Virginia. These cases go far beyond the claim that Virginia has the most corrupt legislature or
    government in the country. Here is a sample, from the Eastern District’s website of the types of cases listed under “public corruption”:

    · Former Norfolk Sheriff sentenced for public corruption

    · A federal jury convicted a California woman and
    Russian-born man on Friday on charges of conspiracy and obtaining U.S. citizenship by fraud.

    · A Virginia Beach man (former deputy) pleaded guilty today to corruption charges related to his smuggling of drugs and other contraband into the Chesapeake City Jail.

    · A Franklin, Tennessee, man pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud by paying bribes to secure medical services contracts for the Norfolk City Jail.

    · A former U.S. government official agreed to pay
    $33,000 to resolve allegations that she had an improper conflict of interest with a company while she served as a division chief at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

    · A New Jersey woman was sentenced today to two years in prison for engaging in a bribery and procurement fraud scheme while she served as a contracting officer for the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).

    · Former Bureau of Prisons (BOP) correctional officers at Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Petersburg, Stephen Taylor and Shanice Bullock, were sentenced today for their respective roles in a bribery scheme that allowed for the introduction of contraband into the prison by FCI Petersburg inmate Dontay Cox.

    · A General Services Administration (GSA)
    Contracting Official pleaded guilty today to accepting bribes.

    · A Baltimore, Maryland, woman was sentenced to 45 months in prison yesterday for her role in a bribery scheme that allowed for the introduction of contraband into Federal Corrections Institution (FCI) Petersburg. (She was bribing prison officials)

    · The former owner and operator of seven political action committees (PACs) pleaded guilty today to making a false statement in connection with PAC expenses reported to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). (The person convicted was from Texas, but the case was tried in the Eastern District in Northern Virginia. That court handles a lot of cases brought by
    federal agencies.)

    That is only the first page. In summary, “public corruption” covers a broad swath of offenses and offenders. Furthermore, the Eastern District Court of Virginia handles a lot of cases brought by federal agencies, in which Virginians or Virginia public officials are not the defendants. That could be the primary reason Virginia ranks so high on these charts.

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      Thanks for posting this information. As is often the case, you dug deeper into the issue than most of the rest of us.

      Also, if the situation in DC federal courts is similar to that in Eastern Virginia, it might help explain why Washington DC has such an incredibly high per-capita rate of corruption cases.

      1. how_it_works Avatar
        how_it_works

        It’s a good theory. But there’s a lot of the Federal apparatus located in Maryland, specifically in Prince George’s county.

        The Maryland district court (they have one, statewide) does not appear on that list.

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