Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Bad Place, Fla.

The Carpetbagger Report » Blog Archive » The corruption capital of the United States is…

"Long-time readers know that I take a certain amount of pleasure in mocking South Florida, where I was born and raised. There’s just something uniquely ridiculous about Miami and its surrounding communities that makes the area prone to outlandish, not to mention absurd, circumstances.

And when it comes to politics, South Florida is, quite literally, in a league of its own. Carl Hiaasen recently explained, “The Sunshine State is a paradise of scandals teeming with drifters, deadbeats, and misfits drawn here by some dark primordial calling like demented trout. And you’d be surprised how many of them decide to run for public office.”

With this in mind, it is with great pleasure that I report that South Florida is officially the most corrupt community in the country.

South Florida is the public corruption capital of the country, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Between 1996 and 2005, a record-setting 576 people were convicted of federal corruption charges in the district that extends from Key West to Sebastian, according to the agency’s most recent annual report.

That’s far more than the 402 convicted during the same 10 years in Washington, D.C. or the 453 convicted in Chicago, where political machines have been rolling for decades.

New York City, another hotbed of government scandal, didn’t even come close. A mere 374 people were convicted of public corruption charges during the last decade, the report shows.

It’s a well deserved “honor...”

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