North Carolina looks a lot like Illinois

The indictment and arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff reads more like a court filing against organized crime in the Tony Soprano/John Gotti/Vito Corleone tradition than anything in American politics. Federal prosecutors charge that Blagojevich attempted to sell the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois (being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama) to the highest bidder. He also seeks paybacks for state contracts and wants plush jobs for himself and his wife, according to the indictment.

Political corruption is nothing new, but the audacity and openness of Blagojevich's efforts made headlines nationwide. Illinois has a history of political corruption. Blagojevich's predecessor is in prison. But these alleged activities are so blatant that they are unbelievable, even by Chicago standards.

North Carolina can't be self-righteous about political corruption. We have seen  a former congressman, a former agriculture commissioner, a former speaker of the state House, a former legislator, a former lobbyist, another former legislator and former state employees sent to prison in the past decade. What many of them were convicted of doing differs from the Illinois standard only in degree of magnitude.

And North Carolina still leaves the door open for more deal-making, favor-swapping, paybacks and corruption. The state Board of Transportation is an open invitation to corrupt practices. Its members are appointed based on their ability to raise money for political candidates. Once on the board, they have the authority to steer road projects to benefit themselves, their friends and their political sponsors. Gov.-elect Bev Perdue has not endorsed any significant reform of the board's powers, in part, no doubt, because she has benefited from board members' fund-raising.

The Blagojevich investigation also implicates the Service Employees International Union, with which the State Employees Association of North Carolina has recently allied. Does anyone see a connection here?

Despite widespread corruption, inefficiency and incompetence in state government, North Carolina voters returned the same old power brokers to their positions of power in Raleigh last month. Not even the imprisonment of high state officials was enough to bring fundamental reform to Raleigh. It reminds me of Illinois, where the imprisonment of one governor was not enough to stifle the greed and malfeasance of another governor. Who will be the next N.C. elected official to go to prison? And will the voters care this time?