All Democrat machine cities, just like Baltimore where Nancy Pelosi's family ran the crooked politics there for decades.
10
LA, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia
Ed Burke, Chicago, Democrat
Kazeem Reed, Atlanta, Democrat, and a huge backer of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Eric Garcetti, LA, Democrat and presidential wannabe
Katrina Taylor-Parks, Phila, Democrat
LA and Chicago, the most corrupt cities in the US, Phila is #8
All Democrat Party led cities.
To that we add Virginia where the Governor is a racist, the LT Governor a sexual predator and the Attorney General is a racist as well.
And a financial genius called Ocasio-Cortez (she has been praised on her financial ideas by a nobel price winner from the NYT)
The DEMS party, the laughs won’t stop.
You make it way too easy to point and laugh at you.
At the end you are just another bunch of politicos, just more corrupt, racist and dumber.
6
Can’t wait to see Both Kareem Reed and Keisha Lance Bottoms both in jail. Mary Norwood was robbed twice by 700 and 800 votes by the Bickers bus them in from Clayton County scheme.
1
Dear NYTimes,
What "single party or political machine" dominates these 4 cities? Oddly it was not made abundantly clear in the article.
The clear political bias in the editing here is disappointing. No doubt there is corruption in both major parties, but this is an article about corruption in major American cities run by Democratic machines. The paper of record should not be too biased to call it out.
7
It's not just cities. It's entire state governments in the blue states that i've lived in.
6
Am I the only person who is wondering why all the targeted cities are under Democratic control? Where are the GOP-led cities on the federal government's hit list? The effective use ABSCAM to bring down only Democratic representatives with the exception of one token Republican comes to mind.
2
I know many people in Los Angeles who are on neighborhood councils, and city boards, who have spoken of how LA's city government has become more bloated and unresponsive. It's at the point people are questionning what the city administrators do, because it doesn't seem like they are taking care of business. If mayor Eric Garceltti had decided to run for President, he might have been the first candidate not to carry his constituents. I don't think his decision not to run is a coincidence. They probably did some poling and found the low opinion people have of him, and how the city has been run. He's an empty suit. If the FBI's investigation finds more, and if it leads to his office, I won't be surprised.
5
Maybe corruption as "the Human Way" is exactly how some Democrats think! So, it seems only natural to some.
Having worked among many Democrats (and a few Republicans), the visible corruption was most common among the loudest liberals, and least common among conservatives generally. And yes, there was at least a bit among them too..
5
I am an Illinois resident and absolutely disgusted by the corruption, nepotism and patronage that has run my state for decades. Michael Madigan is the king of Illinois and has absolute rule over it, even Governor Pritzker's position is subordinate to him. The only way I see positive change in Illinois is when the federal government investigates the state's operations. Illinois' problems are horrendous, the pension liabilities alone are enough to possibly sink the state from a financial standpoint. It would be great to hope that a new governor might actually put Illinois on a path to a new future but the state king still outranks him. This is what unchecked power and influence does.
8
This article is missing coverage from one major city - my hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii, where there a massive public corruption scandal is currently playing out.
Here's a brief recap: G. Puana is accused of stealing his niece's mailbox. She and her husband happen to be Katherine Kealoha, a deputy state prosecutor, and Louis Kealoha, the Chief of the Honolulu Police Department. Puana's federal public defender, in the course of his investigation, discovers that Puana has been framed by the Kealohas, and that they employed a special intelligence unit of HPD to frame him. Why would K. Kealoha bother framing her uncle? Answer: She's trying to discredit him in a civil dispute over mismanagement of Puana's mother's trust. The FBI hop on the case and discover that Kealoha was also mismanaging the trust of other relatives and directed them to lie in court about it when that came to light. What was Kealoha using all this money for? Buying luxury homes, throwing a lavish $24,000 party when L. Kealoha was appointed police chief, and...funding an inter-island affair with a Big Island firefighter, whom she met in a prestigious leadership program. In the meantime, L. Kealoha resigns from police chief and gets a $250k payout. I don't have enough space left to type it all, but now the head state prosecutor and city attorney are being investigated, 3 HPD officers have pled guilty, and K. Kealoha's role in a drug ring is under investigation. For more, go to civilbeat.com and search "Kealoha."
7
The excuse 'it's the human way' doesn't fly for most of us. But then most do no have access to this kind of power or money. The cities reported here are not under dark clouds, those under investigation are under dark clouds, and, I hope, worse. While it is true that human nature can be pretty fallable, it is a disgrace to see public officials enriching themselves. Wonder why the article didn't look into Congress.
Long jail sentences and fines and return of money stolen is the answer. While the return of money may be tough due to our lax bankruptcy laws, jail time should be a no-brainer. PS, Reed has not been indicted as he is a very powerful man, and has the back up of the African American community of Atlanta and the current mayor (his protege), just as Young, Coleman in Detroit, etc. However, he will be found guilty of breaking the law and dolling out millions to his law firm and cronies. The evidence is obvious.
I lived in Chicago for eighteen years and would argue that the problem goes far deeper than mere corruption. The problem is that the city government exists for the benefit of city employees. Perhaps an example that aggravates me decades after I moved out of town will explain this.
In Chicago, garbage still is collected by trucks manned with three-person crews. Each crew members earns some $60,000 per year. If we assume that benefits come to the standard figure of thirty per cent of an annual wage, the two people dumping trash in the back of garbage truck cost $180,000 per year or$ 5,400,000 over the course of a thirty year employment period. In my current city, that work is done by a robotic arm that is paid nothing. The cost of twenty or so of these Chicago garbage crews would be enough to repair the eighty-eight year old asbestos-lined elementary school in which I spent eight years as a student. But the money will not be spent on a school. The money will be spent on the Democrat precinct captains and block captains holding those Department of Sanitation jobs because the government of Chicago exists to serve itself, not the public.
8
There’s a culture of corruption in Georgia alright, but it ain’t just Atlanta city hall.
That Mayor Kasim Reed’s Neoliberal ally and biggest bipartisan booster Gov. Nathan Deal, who even appointed Reed’s wife to the state’s Board of Regents, was allowed to get away with shameless acts of cronyism and has now opened a lobbying firm with the same chief of staff that obstructed an ethics investigation, says something about who gets investigated and who gets a pass.
And about red state political machines controlling too much of the press:
https://medium.com/@brianpbannon/after-republicans-came-to-power-in-georgia-fox-news-moved-in-to-gpb-6f2e848d55b8
this issue is not limited to big cities smaller cities have also been caught up. It stems from a belief that white collar crime isn't that big a deal. However petty corruption turns to bigger acts of corruption as people continue to get away with it. We need to focus once more on good governence across the board , put monitoring in place and hold officials accountable.
Corruption is not the "human way." There are many societies, communities, and individuals who are not corrupt.
It is unfortunate that a politician who believes that "Chicago" is NOT on one end of the morality bell curve is given the last word on what is a self-evidently an accelerating social illness: increasing inequality and growing corruption.
"Chicago" and a number of other large cities are false equivalents for humanity and the values of large majorities.
Why is the NY Times giving this perspective "the last word?"
3
Visit Carmel, Indiana for an example of the problem.
The mayor doesn't believe that federal or state law applies in Carmel.
And who can count the number of city cars that he has wrecked?
But he is reelected like clockwork.
1
In the case of Shandarrick Barnes in Atlanta, the use of the brick and the dead rats can be viewed as symbolic communication, as used by organized crime.
The 'brick' is a common metaphor for 'the masonry'. It should be noted that in most cases this would identify an informal group that uses symbolic communication, rather than a legitimate (incorporated) Order of Freemasons (a.k.a. 'blue lodges'). Inside the blue lodges these outside informal groups are typically identified as 'irregular lodges', and are prohibited entry. A notorious example of an irregular lodge of this sort was the American Ku Klux Klan. Similarly, the published bylaws of most Masonic orders prohibit the discussion of politics, religion and business within the walls of the lodge, usually as a means for preventing intrigues of the sort perpetrated by Mr. Barnes.
As for the use of the 'dead rats', they can be interpreted as a death threat against someone who 'rats out' another. It is a classic use of symbolic communication because it relies on duplicity as a deception (to mask the overt threat and to obfuscate an illegal activity).
When evaluating the ethics of symbolic communication, the following definition generally applies: "Ethical behavior is anything that provides a positive social benefit without being illegal, immoral or just plain inappropriate. With respect to symbolic acts, what is unethical during overt communication is also unethical during covert communication."
One does not have to do much analysis to determine what all these cities have in common - and embedded political machine sole purpose of which is to enrich those in power through graft and favors for special interests. There is no thought to their constituents except to determine how much more they can squeeze from them for taxes and fees.
2
All of these scandals are hiding in plain site. One would imagine that there is endless useful work for some ambitious journalist here. Not as fun as talking about Trevor Noah's latest political joke or picking apart some obscure judicial nominee.
1
The problem: Most of these have been in operation for years -- for all to see. All of these cities have active newspapers and TV stations. Where has the 4th estate been?
Those in Philadelphia are well known ..including a newly former congressman. It's been going on for years
1
"Corruption, he said, is 'not the ‘Chicago Way,’ as people like to say — frankly, it’s the human way. Humans are fallible creatures.'”
This is a grotesque rationalization for graft, and an insult to the thousands of elected leaders and civil servants in American cities who do their jobs as intended -- in service to their populace, not their personal bank accounts. Humans may be fallible creatures, but even young children know the difference between right and wrong -- and accepting bribes to do the bidding of special-interest groups handily qualifies as such.
I agree there's a pervasive culture of corruption that seems to plague some places more than others -- Chicago being one of them, though it plainly extends to the state level as well (former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich being a textbook example of it) -- but dismissing it as "human nature" is beyond the pale.
As for how to fix it: an earlier period of Chicago corruption ended thanks to the efforts of Eliot Ness and his team of "Untouchables": federal agents -- working under the auspices of the Justice Dept. -- brought on to tackle endemic Prohibition-era corruption citywide. Much of it came about due to Al Capone's widespread bribery of local law enforcement officials. Perhaps a revival is in order?
19
The collapse of community journalism. The shrinking of newsrooms. The dwindling presence of the public watchdog that is the press only makes government corruption even more difficult to discover. We can only guess at the breadth of corruption that is never disclosed in governments large and small. Reporters sitting through meetings and knocking on doors is as important to government integrity as an FBI subpoena.
44
@Engineer Inbar
Investigative journalists live on in TV and the movies.
Newsrooms probably should just limit everyone's screen time or something.
@Engineer Inbar
As a former Chicagoan, my most vivid memory meeting is of the opening of bids for city contracts. Of course the contract went to the lowest bidder and of course the press was barred from the room.
2
"Chronic corruption problems" may be commonplace in most cities. What else could be expected when city council members are given access to other people's money, citizens have little direct input into how it is distributed, decisions are made in semi-secrecy, and the "deals" are done before most people hear about them.
3
The most corrupting influence in America is living in the White House now. The other corrupting influence is in Senate. Then there is the inner circle. While Trump didn't start the corruption in America, his ascension to the presidency and how he's behaved since has contributed immensely to the feeling that it's okay.
It's okay to lie bigly to Americans about immigration, health care, the state of the union. It's fine to say that you didn't say something when it's on tape that you did. It's fine to obstruct justice when you don't want to admit to anything. Trump wasn't the first to lie, cheat, or steal from Americans. He won't be the last. But his example is disheartening.
As for corruption in small towns. Some of that is because very few of us bother to run for office. We don't have the time and we don't have a thick enough skin. So the ones who run keep it in the family so to speak.
1
So many of America's smaller cities are rife with corruption for the simple reason that they've been corrupt for so long no one any longer knows what is corrupt.
It's unbelievable difficult to remove corrupt incumbents from small city governments through voting alone. One of the easiest tactics is to pad the candidate field with ringers, leaving an incumbent often winning on less than 20% of the vote; sometimes as low as 14%. Afterwards, when looking for those candidates, no one knows where they are.
After many wins, Missoula's alcoholic mayor determined that his mayoral post was no longer just a figurehead and that he was instead a king. And, after doubling property taxes in short order, badgered his rubber-stamping city council to give him bariatric surgery on the taxpayers' dime - even though he earns the highest mayoral salary in the state (rising 31% in 13 years) and is at least three times the 'considered' decent salary of Missoulians' often having to work three jobs. Oh, and the city already has an administrative head of operations.
If you want to see political corruption affect people directly, visit the small towns across the country.
14
@James Devlin I agree with your small town theory. I live in a small village with a mixed population of poor and wealthy citizens. In 40 years I've never seen or heard of any hint of corruption, but I believe this is because we're so small that everything we vote on is transparent, and (critically) people are paying attention. That said, another smaller nearby town supports what you say in that an administrator embezzled so much money as to bankrupt the town. They were NOT paying attention. As a former president once said, Trust.... but verify.
1
@James Devlin
Hi James. Is the mayor a Democrat as well? I understand that he endorsed Obama several years ago.
There appears to be a pattern in these specific corruption issues of Democrats stealing. I presume that Republicans are corrupt as well, but that wasn't reported in the article nor in your comments.
1
This is an encouraging article. The fact that people tend to be corrupt is nothing new in human history. It is encouraging that they are being caught and held accountable.
There is less corruption now than anytime in human history. Crime is actually in a steep decline worldwide. Check out Steven Pinker's book `Our BetterAngels." In the past, politicians, priests, presidents, managers, and leaders comitted petty and major crimes with impunity. Not so much anymore. That's good news! Less corruption is good for everyone.
3
Just like Trump die-hards, I'm tribal about my home town. I love Chicago. But seriously, there is no scientific evidence from evolutionary psychology studies that humans have evolved honest genes.
8
@Howard Winet Yes, you are right. But more reporting, transparency, and public accountability via the internet are reducing corruption even though it feels like it's getting worse.
1
It’s a shame these local politicians don’t have PACS for the bribe money to be paid into. Then it would all seem legal and above board.
The greatest level of corruption is at the federal level. And it’s almost all legal, as the Menendez trial revealed.
Corruptibility is the dark side of ambition. The people who seek power are the ones most likely to be corrupted by it. There’s no real solution to this other than appoint people randomly to wield power and outlaw lobbying. Jailing of predecessors doesn’t seem to act as any kind of deterrent.
14
If law enforcement were actually looking for it they would find corruption everywhere. They would rather fleece the poor people than upset the politicians they work with. Laws are made to control the poor and feed the wealthy. Those that partner with the wealthy can be corrupt.
Generally Americans believe that corruption is acceptable. That is why Trump is the president. They want a scam artist as a leader. They think getting away with crime demonstrates the superiority of the politician. Most Americans themselves would have no moral compunctions regarding their own criminality. They simply know they themselves are not guarded enough to get away with it.
5
As someone with some experience reporting in small towns, I would like to share the (admittedly anecdotal) data that corruption is just as present in small Republican areas as it is in major Democratic cities. But the NYT isn't going to write or care about corruption in tiny Republican towns of 1500 people. The NYT highlighting what happens in major cities is not the same thing as "corruption only happens where Democrats are."
8
It happens where same party dominates local government for a generation or more. Very few, if any, large cities have that kind of Republican control. Big cities are where the money is. No one cares outside Mayberry RFD if someone steals quarters from that town’s meters.
1
Trump has openly appointed and accepted corrupt Republican officials throughout his administration. He not only has made corruption acceptable to the political class but he has thrust it into the open with not an ounce of shame to go with it,
13
@DSD those mentioned in the article are Democrats.
2
It has been suggested elsewhere that the best way to manage criminals and those who violate probation is modest, but swift and sure punishment. I would argue that the same goes for politicians. We don't need to put them in jail for life, but if they know they are likely to get caught, even a 6-month sentence and clawing back the ill-gotten gains would probably stop most of this behavior.
The second thing we need is ranked-choice voting. I can think of no better way to break the grip of political machines on our major cities than by facilitating the rise of third parties. Voters must have a choice and in most of these cities, Republicans just are not seen as a viable choice. So, we go with the corrupt Dems.
27
@Rose....what are the objections to ranked choice voting and multi parties? Don't other countries use this? Or two stage voting, where voters pick their true preference from 3 or more parties, then pick from the top 2 winnners.
@Meredith The biggest objection I know to ranked choice voting is that it threatens the people/party in power. They argue against it based on complexity and that it takes longer to count votes, but I think those are red herrings.
Maine has ranked choice. In one of the congressional districts, the Republican had an initial plurality but the seat went to the Democrat after they went through the entire counting process. The Republican considered suing, but ultimately decided not to.
Multi parties without ranked choice or two-stage voting are more problematic because people are afraid that by voting for a 3rd candidate who has little chance of winning, we would throw the election to someone we object to. If the votes that went to Jill Stein and the Green Party had gone to Hillary Clinton instead, Donald Trump would not be President.
Ultimately I think getting change in our system takes educating the public about the benefits and forcing our legislators to respond to the will of the people. A pretty big lift, but we did seem to see voter empowerment as an issue in 2018.
3
Chicago...
Business as usual
While violent gun deaths
continue
5
Is it not interesting that all four of these are cities run by the Democratic party?
Since the Dems insist that any Republican who does not break with the party over Mr. Trump's racism is a racist, is it not logically consistent to state that any Dem who does not break with the party over these four crooked politicians is a crook?
19
@mikecody You invoke logic? 1) No correlation between Democratic dominance of large cities and corruption may be deduced here because big cities run by democrats are not anomalous; they are the norm in this country. Urban populations tend to vote Democratic while rural populations generally vote Republican. 2) Big city newspapers tend to focus on local politics that affect the large populations living in them. That tells us nothing about the levels of corruption in rural areas. 3) Your second sentence presents a truism as fact and then proceeds to confound allegiance to an individual with allegiance to party. I'm afraid there is no good logic in either your syllogism or your insinuation.
1
@mikecody
They left out at least a few Democratic cities too. NYC, Boston, and Providence for starters.
This is why politics generally attracts the worse segments of society. Those with no power or money, want to use their office to gain both, and those who already possess both, want more. And the voters that are expecting representation? it reminds me of that country song that goes something like, they get the goldmine, we get the shaft.
3
Political corruption is not the human way. It exists because it is accepted. For example: the Times endorsed Mayor de Blasio despite clear and convincing evidence (found by the paper's own journalists) that bribery and influence buying is a staple of his administration. The fact that corruption is a cancer that eventually destroys representative government is similarly ignored, despite the horrendous costs to society.
41
"whether there can be any lasting cure for the chronic corruption problems that seem to dog big cities, so often dominated by a single party or political machine."
Koi.
1
What? Our wonderful Cosmopolitan Elites personally benefit from all their grand ideas, tell me it is not true!
6
Guessing since the authors failed to mention it, all four scenarios involve Democrats. Shocking..
24
@Midwest Josh Yes, because Democrats happen to control all of the nation's largest cities. If you need examples of corrupt Republicans, however, they handily outnumber Democrats on whole and can be found at the municipal, state and federal level across America -- starting at the very top (the Oval Office).
You can also find myriad examples of them throughout Illinois' recent history: former Republican Gov. George Ryan was convicted of federal corruption charges, to cite one example, and former U.S. House Rep. Aaron Schock famously -- or, rather, infamously -- resigned in shame after a federal ethics probe revealed he had spent over $100,000 in taxpayer funds redecorating his congressional office in a fashion inspired by the lavish British aristocratic era depicted on "Downton Abbey." He remains under federal indictment for his actions.
25
@Jeff - You missed my point, I was hoping to correct some journalistic bias at the Times that is just to obvious to miss. Of course the Repubs have plenty of bad actors. My point was that the Times would have clearly stated that they were Republicans had this been the case. Anyone who thinks otherwise isn't being honest.
4
@Jeff
My gosh! I live in Illinois where Blago tried to sell Obama's Senate seat. He's currently in the slam; where Jesse Jackson, Jr served jail time for stealing campaign funds (amongst other things). The list is too long to recount. And Republicans do not "handily outnumber Democrats" in Illinois corruption. This is effectively a one party state that also provided the platform for the rise of Barack Obama....
2
Land use law, aka zoning and development, might be one of the most corruption-prone areas of American law. More than one developer has become wealthy by bribing local officials or by hiring the "right" law firm.
It seems like any place where people have the ability to make decisions that profoundly affect the lives of others and the profitability of their enterprises, some of those people will charge extra for "special" service. It might be the human way, but how we prevent it might be one of the indicators of how civilized we are.
Give 'em a fair trial and lock 'em up!
5
"It's the Human way" reads the title... I would argue that it is mostly the American way!
2
@Tim Smith
Nope. It's the same everywhere. Just check recent revelations about Russia, China, India, South America, and so on. Our Texas AG is under federal indictment and gets re-elected easily. Texas has a long and inglorious history of corruption at all levels of government. LBJ's political career began with the votes of dead people.
Wow, the NYT continually bangs on President Trump, while Democratic corrupt cronies who have enjoyed uninterrupted rule of America's big cities are -- surprise -- being crooks! Yeh, kind of like the moral hypocrisy outrage over racial policing in Baltimore, a city that elected its last non-Democrat in the Eisenhower administration. Don't see a spate of editorials telling us "the real state of America's cities in charts under one party rule"
19
@JOHN
Corruption is not exclusive to any particular race, culture, gender or political interest. The wealthy and republican simply wear their corrupt ethics openly, on their sleeves. It's a source of pride for them, a source of entitlement.
6
@JOHN
Unfortunately both Democrats and Republicans are human. If we could elect dogs or octopi we might have better governance.
7
It may be a coincidence, but every city on the "most corrupt" list is headed by Democrats and have strong public sector unions. Just sayin.'
18
@Liberty hound Maybe so, but how many large cities are run by Republicans? Urban voters are mostly Democrats, so if you investigate large cities for corruption, you'll find Democratic corruption. If you looked at smaller places run by Republicans, you'd probably find corruption there too. Neither party is immune from greed.
1
What surprises me in so many corruption cases is the lack of need. The many exposed public servants are privileged in economic sinecure sense. Their salary is certainly good, while it may be limited and the trajectory flat. Yet invariably these folks have status, authority and very stable economic circumstances. So what compels them to try to eke out a little or a lot by means of corrupt financial practices ? Is it simply the temptation or is it the inability to say no to glad-handing supporters in the business community or aggressively developers ? They throw away their offices, their paychecks, their pensions and their good name for so little in marginal return. Nature is odd.
16
@Will Eigo What do you mean they 'throw away their offices, paychecks, and pensions...?' They lose nothing! Corrupt mayors have been re-elected after being indicted and no one loses their salaries or pensions. They are temporarily side-lined until they move to the next city or state. Look at the teachers and principals in ATL indicted and found guilty of cheating!!! The problem is that there is no punishment long term. Even short term.
2
@Will Eigo
I think that the marginal return such politicians receive is primarily psychological and only secondarily financial. By succeeding in taking illegal actions, they convince themselves that they are very smart fellows and that the people who did not catch them are dumber than the daredevil politician.
Phoenix and its surrounding cities hold non-partisan elections for the mayor and city council. They use a council-manager form of government that limits elected officials to policy making. The council appoints a professional city manager to run the city. In theory, the elected mayor and council are not allowed to interfere with administrative staff. Phoenix may be the largest city in the country to employ the council-manager form of government. It is common among smaller cities. Ideally, a strong and independent internal audit office that reports to the council as a whole rather than to the city manager facilitates effective examinations of procurement, conflicts of interest, and adherence to the city charter and state salutes. Many critics claim that a strong mayor form of government provides more direct accountability to the citizens. There are trade offs for employing either system. Although I am not naive enough to think that some corruption exists, I believe non-partisan council-manager forms of city government do a better job of providing professional municipal services to its citizens and reducing opportunities for corruption. Phoenix has been nationally recognized for being a well run city. Maybe Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, and Philadelphia would do well to reduce the influence of strong mayors and partisan politics in city governance.
18
There aren't a lot of references here to political affiliation. You kind of have to read through the lines. Is there any pattern to the political parties of the individuals involved? Did they predominantly come from one party or another? Because it's hard to figure out from reading this and I'd think that is fairly standard reporting when writing about politicians. No?
14
@JayKay - if these situations involved Republicans, you know the Times would have made that crystal clear. Since they didn’t, do the math..
22
@Midwest Josh
Amen to that! Bias much? Democrats without exception.
10
@JayKay Contrary to the conspiracy theory espoused suggesting "liberal media bias" on The Times's part, I assume party affiliation wasn't mentioned because it's irrelevant to the broader issue: corruption is a bipartisan problem, and there are myriad examples of both Democrats and Republicans guilty of it. As a general rule, The Times avoids mentioning individual characteristics unless they're directly relevant to the topic at hand. This is why, for instance, its articles rarely mention the ages of their subjects (which is true throughout its subject areas, not just politics).
7
"Corruption, he said, is 'not the ‘Chicago Way,’ as people like to say — frankly, it’s the human way. Humans are fallible creatures.'”
If we concede that corruption is the "human way," it means that corruption will be with us always unless we do something about it. Here's a suggested solution: Because corruption is , in effect, a breach of the public trust, the punishment for breach of the public trust should be an automatic prison sentence with a hefty fine--say, $50,000. It seems that this is one area where the punishment will likely serve to deter the criminal act in the first place, so with an automatic jail sentence + a fine, everyone serving the public interest will be on notice that unacceptable behavior will result in a forfeiture of freedom.
9
I'd like to see investigation and reporting on corruption in the drug enforcement process. It seems to me that so much illegal drugs entering the US must have some "help" on this side of the border.
5
@Linda Goetz Me There are myriad known ways of illicitly transporting drugs that have nothing to do with bribing Customs or Border Patrol agents -- which is likely why no widespread corruption in their ranks has ever been uncovered. "Drug mules" routinely enter the country at its airport checkpoints having ingested a dozen or more condoms filled with heroin. The major cartels have devised scores of methods of concealing drug-filled compartments in ordinary luggage, ones that even drug-sniffing dogs can't detect. Scores of both drugs and humans are stashed in hidden compartments of vehicles crossing the border at ordinary checkpoints. Given the volume of traffic at each of them, it's effectively impossible to search every single nook and cranny of a given vehicle -- which the traffickers use to their advantage. And as we've learned thanks to El Chapo, among others, the cartels are adept at constructing elaborate tunnels as pass-throughs underneath the Mexico-U.S. border.
That's not to say *no* corruption exists, but given the lack of evidence of it, there's not really a valid reason to assume any sort of broad-based conspiracy going on.
1
The ultimate answer to corruption is digital direct democracy, where the legislature is eliminated and the people vote on the language of bills. You can't bribe everyone without creating a public good.
@Mark Battey
Sounds good, but how do you get "the people" -- mostly ignorant, apathetic, semi-literate -- to struggle through the verbal thicket of bills. Even the minority of bills passed to do actual good, rather than for partisan aims.
Shall we all feign outrage? I think resignation is more appropriate.
This is going on in every town, city, state.
1
@HistoryRhymes
"This is going on in every town, city, state."
Yes it is. How about disgust, will that work? I don't even have to feign it.
"Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Lord Acton, 1887
It was true then and it is true now. The larger and more powerful a government becomes, the more are the opportunities and avenues for corruption.
13
Human beings are far from perfect, churches, colleges, unions, buisnesses are all corrupt, read the headlines. AND WHAT? No corruption or scandal in Washington DC?
1
Kind of hard not understanding why Chinese and Russian adversaries think we're a little hypocritical.
4
organized crime is alive and well in many cities within the USA. many of the politicians might not use or hire "killers" to enforce their wishes, but do and can destroy persons who do not buy into the system with economic ruin.
4
Corruption is endemic and a natural part of the American way. Just look at how Russia stole the election, manipulated out wining class to vote against their interests, and turned normal people against each other. Tammany hall is so far jn the past that we’ve forgotten. Corruption extends to the news media and the internet. It’s not like Tucker Carlson tells the truth, ever. In addition, calling Atlanta the south’s most important city is a joke. It’s barely an economic afterthought, it’s airport is shrinking (due to less passengers flying through) and so is its importance. Houston, Miami, and Austin are much more important and will be truly are the rising stars of the south. Atlanta comparatively is a dimming bulb whose time for replacement is upon us.
1
Since I moved to Portland (OR) in '87, and seeing how City Hall works here, I've said that the fix is in here every bit as much as in Chicago.
Here though, they cover it in a veneer of "eco" to make it look good to outsiders.
23
@j s
The local press reported on a multi-story building built a few years ago on the east side of the Willamette on the north-side of Burnside street that was initially valued at $21 million but later sold to a hedge fund out of Thailand for $41 million; smells fishy to me. Based on basic rents and rate of return, I think the hedge fund will get its money back in 40 years or so. Not a very good rate of return, but a safe place to park cash.
Opaque money rots all cities equally.
2
How is money laundering, assuming the transaction was that, through real estate a municipal corruption issue?
@j s
Portland also has had a problem or two with its private sector, too. Do people there still remember the collapse of the financial manipulators at Aequitas?