People love Florida for its beautiful beaches, rich culture, and thriving tourism industry. It’s true that the Sunshine State has a lot of problems, but they’re mostly hidden. A non-profit watchdog group called Integrity Florida recently did a study that looked at how many public leaders were convicted of corruption between 2000 and 2010. The study found that Florida is the most corrupt state in the country. Here are seven questionable reasons why Florida got this title:
1. Weak Ethics Laws
One of the main problems in Florida with corruption is that there aren’t enough strong and effective ethics rules and enforcement. Integrity Florida’s study found that Florida’s ethics rules are unclear, out of date, and full of holes that let public officials avoid being accountable and open. For instance, Florida does not require politicians to talk about their income, assets, debts, or business interests.
Florida also doesn’t have a separate ethics committee that can look into violations and punish those who break the law. Instead, the Florida Commission on Ethics handles complaints about ethics. This group has nine members chosen by the governor and the lawmakers, which could lead to a conflict of interest.
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2. Rampant Voter Fraud
Voter fraud is common in Florida, which is another reason why the state is known for being crooked. Some votes in Florida have been rigged in the past, like the infamous 2000 presidential election recount, the 2006 congressional race in Sarasota County, and the 2018 midterm elections in Broward and Palm Beach counties.
In Florida, some of the most common types of voter fraud are fraudulent postal ballots, fraudulent voter registration, voting by people who aren’t allowed to or who have died, and buying votes. In 2023, the leaders of the Florida Democratic Party were charged with “electoral corruption” because they sent in a list of presidential candidates without talking to voters or the national party first.
3. Shady Real Estate Deals
There is a lot of corruption in Florida’s real estate business as well. Developers, builders, and politicians often work together to get lucrative contracts, permits, and zoning changes. Some of the hottest real estate cases of 2023 were between some of the biggest names in South Florida’s real estate market. The lawsuits were about claims of corruption, backroom dealing, and slander.
A billionaire developer named Jeff Soffer was sued by his ex-partner for reportedly paying Miami-Dade County officials to allow a $400 million addition to the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel. Moishe Mana and Ugo Colombo, two well-known investors, got into a fight over a $55 million land deal in downtown Miami in a different case.
4. High Crime Rate
Florida has one of the highest crime rates in the country, which is another sign of its corruption problem. Based on the FBI’s data, Florida had 491.8 violent crimes and 2,476.4 property crimes per 100,000 people in 2020, which ranked it sixth among the 50 states for violent crimes and fifth for property crimes.
In Florida, murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, theft, and setting fires are some of the most common crimes. Florida is also known for drug trafficking, trafficking in people, and organized crime, which often involves dishonest police and government officials.
5. Environmental Degradation
Florida’s environment is also hurt by its corruption problem, as public officials and private groups often don’t follow or break environmental laws and rules. Climate change, rising sea levels, water and air pollution, habitat loss, and invasive species are some of the natural problems that Florida has to deal with.
But instead of dealing with these problems, some politicians and businesses in Florida have been blamed for hurting attempts to protect the environment and conserve it. For example, Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill in 2023 that ended the ban on drilling off the coast of the state, even though environmental groups and coastal towns were against it. Another example is Florida Power & Light, the biggest utility company in the state. They were fined $1.5 million for illegally dumped wastewater into Biscayne Bay, which killed fish and caused algae blooms.
6. Poor Public Services
The level of corruption in Florida’s state services, like education, health care, transportation, and social welfare, is also affected by the problem. Florida has poor scores on many measures of public service performance, such as the poverty rate, student achievement, teacher pay, health insurance coverage, death rates for babies, and the safety of the roads.
A lot of these issues happen because Florida’s public service providers don’t get enough money, oversight, or responsibility. For example, Florida’s public schools are some of the least well-funded and busy in the country. They spend $9,346 on each student, which ranks them 43rd out of 50 states. With 18.4% of its people not having health insurance, Florida has one of the worst health care systems in the country, placing 49th out of the 50 states.
7. Low Public Trust
People don’t trust Florida’s government and institutions, which is the last reason why it is the most crooked state in the country. Gallup says that only 28% of Floridians trust their state government, which puts the state 47th out of the 50. People don’t believe the government in Florida because they think and experience corruption, inefficiency, and unfairness in the public sector.
A lack of trust in the government also makes people less likely to get involved in politics, as many Floridians feel let down by their government. Florida, for example, had a 72.1% voter turnout rate in the 2020 presidential election, which ranked it 26th out of the 50 states.
Read Also: California Is Named America’s Most Corrupt State Again for These 7 Reasons
Conclusion
Florida is a beautiful, varied state with lots of things to do and see. It is a state, though, that has a big problem with corruption that hurts its business, society, environment, and democracy. Florida needs to fix its ethics rules, make its anti-corruption agencies stronger, make its public services better, and win back the trust of the people. That’s the only way Florida can live up to its name as the Sunshine State and reach its full potential.