Not as corrupt as we thought!

New Jersey is only the 16th most corrupt state, according to a Corporate Crime Reporter release! Mississippi is number one, followed by- really- North Dakota. Sorry to disappoint all the Sopranos fans, but we're really not as bad as all that. Certainly not as bad as North Dakota! (I note that this study is a little old and was done before our governor resigned amidst a big ole scandal. I wonder if we're still only 16th.)

If you want to feel even better about Our Fair State, our tax burden only ranks 14th! The Tax Foundation report of State and Local Taxes from last month shows us far behind Maine(1) and Hawaii (3) in 2005.

Tom Hester brings this up in his weekly wrap-up of Capital Talk. He discusses this as an argument against adding an elected public auditor. I have to agree, adding one more person to the payroll isn't going to make a big difference. He also discusses the new goofball tactic from the Schundler camp, offering $100 to anyone who can find a worse justification for a tax increase than Doug Forrester has used. To quote the article:

Well, the worst reason I can think of for a tax increase was when Mayor "Diamond" Joe Quimby created the $5 bear tax after a bear walked into Homer Simpson's yard. Quimby used the bear tax to create a new Bear Patrol that included a stealth fighter jet. Yet somehow I don't think that entry is eligible for the $100.
Anyhow, after the townfolk complained about "the biggest tax increase in U.S. history," Quimby blamed illegal immigrants for high taxes, which made me wonder if conservative Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan is stealing Quimby's platform.

Well, I guess our gubernatorial race was long overdue for a Simpsons reference.

The last big GOP debate is coming, on Sunday June 5. We watched only a little of the last one, enough to shout at the TV a lot (and to discover that Todd Caliguire looks like a wraith when badly lit onstage.)