New Jersey canary in the U.S. coal mine?

44 people, including five rabbis, three assemblymen and two mayors, were arrested in New Jersey last week on various charges, related to public corruption and international money laundering. If these men are convicted, kudos to those who investigated these crimes, and perhaps risked their lives, to bring these men in.

In the wake of this scandal, Brad Parks, a former reporter with The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger, wrote an article for this weekend's edition of the Wall Street Journal, titled "Poison Ivy in the Garden State", outlining the history of corruption in New Jersey government. According to the article, "it is generally accepted that, among the 50 U.S. states, only Louisiana compares with New Jersey in the pervasiveness of its corruption"

Although nobody is perfect and there are moral failings everywhere, Parks says the reason these kinds of scandals are so common in New Jersey is that Big Government is a catalyst for more corruption:

"The main problem...is that the state is enormously over-governed. In most states, the local unit of government is the county; in others, it’s the municipality. In Jersey, we have both, and lots of them. There are 566 municipalities—California, with four times the population, has only 480—and each has a mayor and/or councils. The 21 counties have their various freeholder boards and utility commissions and there are also 120 state legislators. When that many people have their hands in the cookie jar —and there are that many cookie jars—is it any wonder that you get people selling Oreos out of their trunk in the parking lot to make a little extra cash on the side?"

In other words, the more complex the bureaucracy, the harder it is to keep track of who is involved in what, and where the money is going. Thus, as our Federal government expands, expect corruption and scandal to expand along with it.

When Congress passes a 1,300 page cap-and-trade bill, including a 309-page amendment Waxman dropped in just hours before the vote, does anyone actually believe all members of Congress read and understand it, and that the government is able to track how the bill is executed? In this environment, does it even matter if Obama keeps his promise of posting all non-emergency bills online for public review? Do you have time to read a dense, 1,300 page bill?

Think about the economic stimulus bill. If a few billion of the $787 billion were to "go missing", what could anyone do about it? If "only" tens of millions were wasted or misappropriated, is our government going to tell us that it is understandable that 1 or 2% of such a large amount is acceptable, and that they will form a committee to make sure they catch those responsible? (I have someone in mind to nominate to such a committee - his name rhymes with Buck Borris)

Dealing with the complexities of government has become so difficult that Bill Ritter, the governor of Colorado, has been under fire for hiring expensive outside lawyers to handle the state's stimulus funds. "We needed deep legal expertise on the most complex federal legislation passed in decades, and we needed it quickly"(emphasis mine), according to a spokeswoman. Of course, there are no headline stories about the money spent in Washington to draft the insane bill.

Also, although President Obama is rhetorically against the proliferation of lobbyist dollars due to his belief that they corrupt poor innocent civil servants, it's striking how the recent, massive expansion of government through the bailouts, the stimulus bill, and possibly health care "reform" in the near future, is increasing lobbying (see Major Players Increase Their Spending in Lobbying Fight Over Health Care and Obama’s stimulus: The Lobbyist Enrichment Act).

All of this in spite of increased scrutiny and public disapproval. Now, I'm not saying that all of these lobbyists are corrupt, but the potential is there, and as the government becomes involved with larger and larger pieces of our economy, with billions of government handouts at stake, this is to be expected.

In his article, Parks also asks why so many in New Jersey are so willing to put their reputations and careers on the line, sometimes for $5,000 or less. "The only possible explanation is that the graft is so widespread, they figure they’ll never get caught", he says.

Let us "hope" the article exaggerates the problem in New Jersey, and let us pray that enough people get caught to prevent corruption from becoming as entrenched on a larger scale.