The 2015 State Integrity Investigation revealed a majority of states were below average in integrity, with Oklahoma being among 11 states to receive an “F” rating.
The State Integrity Investigation, which started in 2012, is a study of transparency and accountability of state governments by the Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity. The 2015 investigation is the second round of research that evaluated the effectiveness of laws for the period of time between January 2013 and March 2015.
“What I believe state integrity comes down to is human nature,” Joshua Gage, junior political science major, said. “People strive to better themselves because that is how society and our minds tell us to react to different stimuli.”
Journalists in each state evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of the preventative efforts in 13 categories against corruption through means of openness, transparency and accountability rather than corruption itself. Each section is divided into 92 “de jure” (or “by law”) indicators and 153 “de facto” (or “by fact”) indicators outlined in each state’s system.
“Overall, certainly in state integrity, if you can come up with some way to measure that, it would be a very important thing,” Professor of History Matt McCook said. “On the other hand, depending on who makes up the group of journalists, if there’s minimal input from within that state, in effect, it’s almost kind of … a neat little honor, but does it really amount to much if it’s basically outsiders giving a grade on local politics and governments. … It may be more symbolic than really substantial.”
McCook said the study would hold more gravity if it becomes more established in the long run.
“It might, in a more longitudinal study, start to mean more, especially if you see certain states as the exemplary ones with positive schools and some states are perpetually bad,” McCook said.
Within the categories evaluated, Oklahoma’s highest grade was a “B” in internal auditing.
“The only good grade of Oklahoma’s system was the fact that the state auditor, an elected official, was able to deduce from many audits that the state of Oklahoma had many corrupt pieces of its state government,” Gage said.
Gage said Oklahoma was ranked one the worst states in integrity due to transparency and integrity associated with its judicial system. In the matter of the divorce of country music stars Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert, specifically, actions were taken in order to preserve their privacy despite Oklahoma law that divorce filings are public records, the study cited.
“The integrity of the state of Oklahoma was challenged based upon this incident as well as the length of time it takes for the state to disclose public records,” Gage said. “Oklahoma also lacks a central agency to monitor these transactions, making it very difficult for Oklahoma to follow the law promptly and efficiently.”
McCook said he expected smaller states to have higher scores in integrity than larger states.
“I think integrity, however it’s measured and by whomever is giving the score, if you’re not going to have integrity at that local level – where it’s actually your neighbors that you go to the grocery store with and everything else – how in the world are you going to expect the higher up it goes or in much larger states,” McCook said. “I would think that, if they’re using fair criteria to measure them, that Oklahoma and smaller states ought to be better than bigger ones on access to records and integrity overall.”
The 2015 State Integrity Investigation showed this correlation does not necessarily exist, as California was ranked No. 2 in the nation with an overall score of 76.
Gage said he thinks corruption is inevitable in any size of government agency.
“My mother has always told me, in respect to government and power, that ‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely,’” Gage said. “I believe this is true in many facets of our government, but most especially within local and state establishments.”
Gage said citizens of each state are ultimately able to control state integrity levels through responsible and informed voting.
“The best way for the state of Oklahoma to boost its integrity is for the citizens of the state to elect those willing to be honest and forthcoming to their state as well as to their government in a way that represents the people well,” Gage said. “I believe the judgment of integrity now is appropriate and successful, however, people must vote to make changes instead of them expecting to occur.”
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