“Is Mississippi the most corrupt state in the country?”
It’s one of the most common questions I’m asked as your State Auditor.
Most folks who ask have read a ranking or article based on a study at the University of Illinois-Chicago. The study found Mississippi has one of the highest numbers of convictions for public corruption in federal courts, per capita.
That ranking, of course, focuses on convictions, and we certainly would prefer to actually be convicting corrupt officials rather than letting them run free. A measure of the number of corrupt acts, whether caught or not, would be preferable, but I’ve never seen such a study, and it probably would be impossible.
So is there something to learn from the information we do have, that Mississippi seems to need to convict more people per capita for public corruption than other states? Does that suggest we’re more corrupt?
The short answer—based on my time in office, my review of our cases, and discussions with law enforcement from around the country—is “yes,” potentially.
Mississippi is probably more corrupt, per capita, than your average state, but it’s not because there’s something special in the water. We have more corruption because of two concepts: need and opportunity.
The importance of need and opportunity in white-collar crime was described in a device called the Fraud Triangle. The Fraud Triangle was invented by a professor at the University of California-Santa Barbara, and it suggests that, if we want to predict where we’ll find theft of public funds, we look for suspects who have 1) the need for money, 2) the opportunity to steal that money, and 3) the capacity to rationalize the theft.
Mississippi has a lot of the first two parts of the triangle. We live in a poor state where financial pressure on families is high. That can create the need to steal.
We also live in a state with hundreds of small, tucked-away government entities: rural local governments; small state boards and commissions; small schools in far-flung places; obscure public boards, like drainage districts; etc. And being small and hidden creates the opportunity.
Take, for example, our case last year involving the theft of nearly $1 million from a community college in the Delta. Some were surprised that that sort of theft happened at a community college instead of one of our bigger universities. After all, the big universities have more money flowing through them.
Theft is harder at a university, though, because there is more oversight—more lawyers, accountants, and auditors running around—to be sure the rules are followed. There are fewer trained eyeballs looking at financial transactions in small institutions.
Statistics from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners confirms the dangers of small government offices. Fraud is more common in small offices and actually costs more per case. Worldwide, 31% of fraud happens at the local government level compared to 26% at the state/province level. The median loss per instance of fraud in small offices (less than 100 employees) is $200,000. The median loss at places with more than 100 employees is actually smaller, $104,000.
How then can we address the corruption problem in Mississippi? We can’t change the fact that we’re a rural state. And waiting for poverty to abate is not an option either.
Our only option is to make the best of the situation, knowing that we are more vulnerable to public integrity problems than average.
Transparency is the first and best preventative measure. We need vigorous enforcement of our public records and open meetings laws.
Personnel to prevent theft is also important. For instance, while all our universities have internal auditors, those auditors are hard to find at our fifteen community colleges. They should have them.
Also, all small government offices should have policies requiring separation of duties (rules that say no one person does too many of the tasks involving the handling of money).
As for our small state boards and commissions, many should have their back office functions consolidated, both to save money and to bring those functions under an experienced group of procurement officers and auditors.
Finally, the onus is on me to do my job well and to constantly send the message that I have zero tolerance for stealing public money. Such a message discourages anyone who reads a newspaper from attempting embezzlement of taxpayer dollars in the first place.
Shad White is the 42nd State Auditor of Mississippi.
Friday, March 22, 2019
Shad White: Mississippi's Corruption Problem and What We Can Do About it.
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20 comments:
No. We aren’t the most corrupt. We are simply the most inept at being corrupt. (Seeing as how or people seemed to be sent to prison ore than others)
Prosecution! Prosecution! Prosecution!
and that little perk known as PERS.
Simply allow the clawback of any stolen monies out of the individuals PERS account and expulsion from the PERS program.
That'll stop it.
Shad is such a breath of fresh air amongst those that call themselves "Republicans" in Mississippi. He actually acknowledges that we have a problem, while Huey,Dewey, and Louie (aka the 3 Stooges) just say that all is wonderful.
As it stands right now White is an appointed official and that's all fine and good. He appears to want to do what hasn't been getting done by all prior state auditors. If he is elected, lets see if he continues to do what should be done. If he does, then we can say the young man is fresh air.
2:45, he's now running unopposed from either party, so he is technically (re) elected. Given that no one filed to run against him says a lot in this state.
March 22 @ 2:45 pm
"If he is elected..."
You do realize Shad is unopposed in the upcoming election... write-in votes do not count unless a candidate dies after qualifying and being placed on the ballot.
He will be our next "elected" state auditor and he has done a damn fine job since being appointed. That young man has balls and is leading the charge on public corruption, not making back room deals with those that would cast a ballot for him. He makes some excellent points with regard to transparency being key(heyooooo MDOC!). Keep doing you Shad! We support your efforts!
He is doing a fantastic job. If he focuses much higher up the ladder he may need a security detail.
You go Mr. Shad!
Agree with previous comments that Mr. White is doing a bang-up job as State Auditor.
How refreshing. Too bad there are not more like him in the upper reaches of State (and local, and Federal) government.
Keep up the great work Mr. White.
When was the last time the City of Jackson, Jackson Public School District or Hinds County and its Supervisors been thoroughly audited?
Stop all these silly, nonsensical posts. All we need right now is for him to come up to Madison County. The county and Canton - the city. Take them one at a time. If your investigation takes a year, so be it. It will result in at least twenty going to prison.
Shad if you take down CMU and the Blackmon’s you will get my vote! All crooks.
Shad, your argument is " we are corrupt because we are poor and money is an irresistible temptation."
Laws exist to prevent humans from giving in to temptation, but it should be obvious to you that being " poor" doesn't mean one lacks moral backbone. Please read the timber case on this site.
Mississippi lacks laws common elsewhere to reduce corruption.
Too many of our boards and agencies lack the oversight capability needed. People who deal in government contract law have recommended reforms to various agencies for decades and get no where.
The very notion of an " advocacy board" is ridiculous. That may be why the Junior and Community colleges had a problem. An oversight board could catch anomalies.
I strongly suggest all politicians in MS start looking at their systems from top to bottom to look for reforms that will make corruption harder. Now , we are like a business that leaves the cash drawer unlocked.
IN THE 10TH PARAGRAPH, white mentions"hundreds of small tucked away government entities". here he gets it right. most all of these "entities " are boards and administrative agencies created by the legislature so politicians can hand out gold brick do nothing jobs with big salaries to their cronies. a CLASSIC example is the ms state department of marine resources. this is an administrative agency created by the legislature to "manage" our all of 40 miles of marine coastland. that is something that should be done by the dept of natural resources......but,......noooooo. tell me , about 3 years ago how many millions did the appointed head of this department of marine resources steal???? a couple of million ? some of you experts out there...... tell me... just how many of these little "entities" exist? i dont think anybody knows.
Mississippi is simply a prisoner of it's own sordid history. In Mississippi's old plantation based economy and political system every old "colonel" or "captain" could have a government position or title. Just look at "justice court'. For years any grade school educated white man could be a "Judge" and handle all the fees and fines he had the energy to generate. Nobody said anything. Boards, commissions, etc., same thing. 82 bloated county governments and even more school districts. The antiquated system remains, but now as Black people try to access the same gravy train, there will finally be some serious scrutiny. It all depends on who benefits. The loopholes are closing.
When you have Supreme Court justices who sit on boards for a decade (providing political cover for community colleges and universities) - let's say, call it the IHL - who doles out hundreds of millions with zero oversight - not to mention the billions in federal student aid that's knowingly chiseled - Mississippi is without question the most corrupt. Speak up and it's economic assassination (lose your job)....RICO anyone? So EVERYONE's in on the scams, and covers for one another (Can I trust ya?) until a gunslinger comes along - lines them up, and exposes every last one of them. Take em' down Shad - we're still waiting. You will in fact need a security detail if you're serious.....or you'll bail out just like the sniveling POS lying minister that you succeeded when things get hot. It's time. Make it happen.
I agree with 9:18. If he busts all the corruption around CMU, then I’ll vote for Shad and that little egghead can write all this little term papers he wants. Write a term paper then bust some crooks. On and on until they are all gone.
Dipwads like 7:40 are the ones who frustrate ME. He's the jerk who complained that Pickering was a do-nothing and, now that we have an effective auditor/investigator in the job, he rattles on about term papers in pejorative terms. Oh, he admonished Chad to 'bust some crooks'. What the hell does 7:40 think he's been reading about on this blog for the past year?
Sounds like an accountant stuck in a cubicle somewhere in Pearl.
Y'all can bust people all day but if you don't change the system that allowed the crime to happen, it won't matter. We've had several auditors and attorney generals and governors who brought down some corrupt people. But, you've got to create controls and clear chains of responsibility for oversight in the laws to stop it. Our legislators and agency heads are to blame.
11:15 - Right on Bro! Sorta like putting bars on windows have stopped thugs from robbing Mr. Patel. And our drugs laws have brought a screeching halt to the drug trade. 'Controls and responsibility' won't affect those involved in graft, corruption and theft in the least.
But, I'll stand by while you provide your list of what should be put in place that would preclude our need for a state auditor. Go.
Damn skippy and proud of it! Keep it real Mississippi
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