Center for Public Integrity Gives 11 States an 'F' in Ethics -- But That's Not The Whole Story

image
Author: David Yee
Published: 11 Nov, 2015
Updated: 18 Oct, 2022
2 min read

The Center for Public Integrity has evaluated all 50 states and found them lacking on issues of integrity and ethics, giving Alaska the highest grade of "C," while failing 11 other states.

Each state was assessed the same, by measuring the states on 13 separate criterion, ranging from openness and access to records to management of state pensions.

What this study really tells us is one of two things: 1) the states have a long way to go to improve their credibility and ethics with their citizens, or 2) the study measured the states on too stringent of a criteria.

Most people seem to implicitly believe that our government needs to be more accountable. From the "Occupy" movement to "Black Lives Matter," dozens of groups have sprung up in the past several years to combat very real problems that people are facing.

Fueling this is a growing number of politicians and public servants who wind up behind bars -- such as former U.S. House Speaker

Dennis Hastert, who recently pleaded guilty to corruption charges, or former governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich, serving a 14-year prison sentence for trying to sell President Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder.

And while these are just a couple of examples of high profile cases, this happens very frequently at the state, county, and local levels as well.

People have a reason to distrust the government.

But they also have a reason to distrust the media.

Life exists on a bell-curve. In almost all situations, average characteristics or behaviors gravitate toward the center of the curve, while exceptions wind up as outliers.

IVP Donate

If the average grade is a "D" and by most standards we consider a "C" as average (in a true bell-curve grading system), then the study is skewed to make it look worse than it really is.

It takes advantage of the A-F system to give out mostly "D's," one "C," and 11 "F's," because it's misleading -- normalized to the bell-curve we would have mostly "C's," one "B," then "D's" and "F's."

Most Americans aren't going to see the states sitting at "average" as a good thing, and it would have given added credibility to the study.

So in the end, America really needs to work on its ethics problems, and the media really needs to work on not sensationalizing every single report.

Because jumping through the hoops of sensationalism only means that the problems never get addressed.

Photo Credit:

Latest articles

CA capitol building dome with flags.
Why is CA Senator Mike McGuire Trying to Kill the Legal Cannabis Industry?
California’s legal cannabis industry is under mounting pressure, and in early June, state lawmakers and the governor appeared poised to help. A bill to freeze the state’s cannabis excise tax at 15% sailed through the State Assembly with a unanimous 74-0 vote. The governor’s office backed the plan. And legal cannabis businesses, still struggling to compete with unregulated sellers and mounting operating costs, saw a glimmer of hope....
03 Jul, 2025
-
7 min read
I voted buttons
After First RCV Election, Charlottesville Voters Back the Reform: 'They Get It, They Like It, They Want to Do It Again'
A new survey out of Charlottesville, Virginia, shows overwhelming support for ranked choice voting (RCV) following the city’s first use of the system in its June Democratic primary for City Council. Conducted one week after the election, the results found that nearly 90% of respondents support continued use of RCV....
03 Jul, 2025
-
3 min read
Crowd in Time Square.
NYC Exit Survey: 96% of Voters Understood Their Ranked Choice Ballots
An exit poll conducted by SurveyUSA on behalf of the nonprofit better elections group FairVote finds that ranked choice voting (RCV) continues to be supported by a vast majority of voters who find it simple, fair, and easy to use. The findings come in the wake of the city’s third use of RCV in its June 2025 primary elections....
01 Jul, 2025
-
6 min read