Virginia received a failing grade on a Corruption Risk assessment report card released Monday by the Center for Public Integrity, Public Radio International and the nonprofit group Global Integrity. The report ranked Virginia 47th among all states in its risk for government corruption.
The assessment was part of the State Integrity Investigation, which evaluated 330 indicators of risk in 14 categories.
Virginia failed nine of the 14 categories, which included public access to information, executive accountability, state pension fund management, political financing, legislative accountability, state budget processes, lobbying disclosure and ethics enforcement agencies.
Geoffrey Skelley, University Center for Politics spokesperson, said he thought "Virginia's government and bureaucracy have some major problems that need to be addressed" but noted his surprise for Virginia's grade on some categories, specifically redistricting, which the report awarded a "C" grade. Skelley said Virginia's redistricting process should have received a lower grade.
"I found [the grade] to be surprising as both the final state level and congressional redistricting maps are heavily gerrymandered," Skelley said.
Megan Rhyne, executive director at the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, said the creation of an ethics review board would help reduce the state's risk of corruption.
"I don't know if we have an ethics review board, but there should be some sort of mechanism for government ethics and state governments, and I know Virginia is currently lacking in the rules governing financial disclosures," Rhyne said.
Rhyne said Virginia is admired for its Freedom of Information laws, but also noted an error in the report's summary for the state. Contrary to the report's findings, Virginia does not subject constitutional officers to public records law.
Randy Barrett, Center for Public Integrity spokesperson, said the core problem of Virginia's governmental structure is its lack of transparency.
"Virginia has a giant, gaping hole in terms of transparency," Barrett said. "[The solution] starts with public access to information."
Tucker Martin, spokesperson for Gov. Bob McDonnell, responded to the report by reaffirming the state's mission of ensuring executive accountability and transparency.
"This report is long and detailed," Martin said. "Upon learning of the report this morning, [McDonnell] immediately directed his secretaries of the Commonwealth and Administration to launch a full and thorough review of the document."
Barrett said state pension funds management, a category which Virginia failed, is a closed process, which suggests the governor has a responsibility for its failure.
"It's up to governors around the country to fix these problems," he said.
Barrett added that Virginia's low ranking was to be expected.
"It's not surprising that Virginia is coming up towards the bottom," Barrett said. "We're hoping that citizens take this information and use it to demand more accountability in their state government."
Martin said McDonnell will closely look at the report to see if policies need to be changed to improve transparency because "Virginia's taxpayers deserve a fully open, ethical and transparent" government, he said. But Martin added some categories may not require alterations.
"In some areas it may be that the Center [for Public Integrity] simply believes certain policies are more conducive to ethical government," he said. "However, that is a policy discussion, not a finding of how a state is actually performing under the current policies it has in place."
Rhyne said she hoped the report would raise awareness about the importance of ethical, secure government.
"To be a transparent and open government, you have to have all the elements [that are a part of the report]," Rhyne said.
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