Believe it or not, a D+ puts West Virginia in the middle of the pack among the 50 states.
A new report gives West Virginia a D+ on its coruption risk report card, citing issues with public access to information, the budgeting process and redistricting.
The report is a project of the Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity and Public Radio International.
With a D+, West Virginia ranks 27th among the 50 states.
It's not all bad news, as West Virginia gets praise in the report for internal auditing.
Here's a link to the report.
And, here's an exceprt:
Many of these reforms came as the result of the scandals that sent two West Virginia governors to federal prison in the past half-century. Gov. Arch Moore sparked change when he headed up the river on racketeering charges in 1990, as did former Gov. Wally Barron, who came up with a profitable pay-to-play scheme in the late 1960s that also landed him in the Big House.
The main problem is this state of 1.9 million people is that money talks, observes Derek Scarbro, executive director of the Democratic Party of West Virginia. Although corporations are forbidden by state law from contributing directly to candidates, political parties or political action committees, Scarbro says there are many ways around that prohibition. “Sometimes they issue position-paper advertising which doesn’t necessarily campaign for an individual, but as they explain an issue, they can convey a lot of negative information about a candidate,” he explains.
Ohio got a D, and Kentucky got a C-. The best grade any state received was a B+ for New Jersey. Eight states received an F.
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