One of the most read technology and media sites on the internet has named former Ala. Gov. Don Siegelman’s bribery scandal the worst ever by an American governor.
In a post titled “11 Political Scandals Worse Than Chris Christie’s,” Mashable.com lays out what they believe are the “biggest governor scandals in recent memory.”
Here’s what Mashable had to say about Siegelman:
Siegelman was convicted of taking bribes in return for campaign donations and is currently around two years into a 6.5 year prison term. He seems hopeful that he will be exonerated at some point by the Supreme Court or President Barack Obama for what he feels was an unfair conviction orchestrated by a politically biased Department of Justice under former President George W. Bush.
Illinois holds the distinction of being the only state with two governors on the list. Former Ill. Gov. George Ryan “served five years in federal prison for racketeering, conspiracy, tax fraud and lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” And Rod Blagojevich “is serving 14 years for various levels of corruption, including trying to sell off the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.”
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin somehow comes in at number two on the list, right behind Siegelman, in spite of never being convicted of anything.
According to Mashable, “a state investigation found Palin guilty of abusing power when she fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.” In reality, the State of Alaska Personnel Board hired a Democrat to investigate Palin and he found that there was no reason to believe she had violated the state’s ethics standards. That’s clearly worse than Blago (#7) being convicted of selling a U.S. Senate seat or former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards (#5) being convicted of extortion and racketeering and spending fourteen years in prison, right? Right.
You can check out the full list over at Mashable.com.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
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