It could be worse, eh, Alaska?
The State Integrity Investigation, a "first-of-its-kind, data-driven assessment of transparency, accountability and anti-corruption mechanisms in all 50 states," is complete, and Alaska ended up in 27th place, with a D+ overall.
The analysis, a joint project of The Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity, and Public Radio International, graded states based on openness and accountability across a wide range of government functions, like State Civil Service Management, Procurement, Lobbying Disclosure, Ethics Enforcement Agencies, and State Insurance Commissions.
The bottom line, according to the compilers:
After the year-long analysis, no state earned an overall A, and only five states earned a B: New Jersey, Connecticut, Washington, California, and Nebraska.
The overall F grades went to Michigan, North Dakota, South Carolina, Maine, Virginia, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Georgia.
Alaska's best individual grades, C+, came in Judicial Accountability, Political Financing, and Internal Auditing. Its worst grades, F, came in Public Access to Information, State Budget Processes, State Pension Fund Management, and Redistricting.
Once a state strongly focused on open government and accountability laws, Alaska's efforts have been softened by court decisions, broad loopholes and enshrined conflict of interest, the analysis in part concludes.
As some readers may imagine, the messy, drawn-out process of fulfilling requests of emails from former Gov. Sarah Palin's administration recieved mention in Alaska's state overview.
Read much more, here, see Alaska's whole report card, here, and check out the other states, here.