Where Hawaii Ranks 38: Integrity

I decided to spend a little more time than usual on this 2015 ranking by The Center of Public Integrity for transparency and accountability. 

1. Alaska (C)
2. California (C)
3. Connecticut (C)
4. HAWAII (D+)
5. Rhode Island (D+)

Well, the good news is that Hawaii is fourth highest. The bad news is that our grade is a D+.

The highest grade was for internal auditing (B). We got C's (C+ to C-) for public access for information (second highest in the nation), political financing, executive accountability, state budget processes, procurement, and ethics enforcement agencies.

We scored D’s for electoral oversight, legislative accountability, and state civil service management.

What about F’s? Did Hawaii fail in anything? You betcha – judicial accountability and lobbying disclosure.

It’s a sad state of affairs, especially for our nation’s 49 other states because Hawaii ranked … fourth highest? Yikes.