Missouri gets a C- on accountability in state government

The Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity and Public Radio International just released their state-by-state evaluation of each legislature and their possible accountability to their citizens and, conversely, likelihood of political corruption. The good news? We're not Georgia, ranked worst. Eight states, in total, failed utterly. Missouri, as said above, got a C-. Kansas was only a bit better, garnering a C. A bit of what they found on the "Show Me State": "While blatant corruption is relatively rare in this state of 6 million residents, questionable behavior abounds within state government – particularly among lawmakers – and an undermanned ethics agency struggles to investigate and punish offenders." Here's the biggest issue, to me: "...there is a near consensus that a largely unfettered flow of campaign money presents big ethical problems. Missouri is one of just four states to have no contribution limits, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures." Representative Jason Kander is quoted in it, naturally, since he's been pushing for ethics reform, especially as it applies to campaign contributions. You can read the entire, rather brief report at the links at bottom. The bottom line? We need to hold these people more accountable. With the internet, we can do that, too. It makes it far easier to watch what they're doing, what they're planning to do and to communicate with them via email, giving them our thoughts. We have to be involved. We have to demand accountability. It's got to come from us. Links: http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=9198792767248747350; http://www.iwatchnews.org/2012/03/19/8423/grading-nation-how-accountable-your-state; http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/political-corruption-8-states-earn-failing-grades/;