Former Ohio state House speaker sentenced — the latest in a string of major local corruption cases

When former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted in a $60 million bribery scheme, he became the latest high-profile state politician punished for (or accused of) corruption in recent memory.

A handful of prominent former state officials from both parties have either been charged or convicted over just the last few years:

• Householder, the Republican convicted after prosecutors accused him of helming a scheme aimed at easing the passage of legislation benefiting an electric utility in the state.
• Former Illinois state House Speaker and state Democratic Party Chair Michael Madigan, who faces federal racketeering and bribery charges as prosecutors accuse him of a scheme in which a utility company paid Madigan allies for work they didn't do. (Madigan has denied the charges.)
• Former Michigan state House Speaker Rick Johnson, the Republican who pleaded guilty a few months ago to federal corruption charges related to the state's medical marijuana licensing.
• Former Louisiana state Democratic Party chair and state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, who was sentenced to 22 months in prison earlier this year for what federal prosecutors claim is her "role in [a] nearly seven-year scheme to defraud [a] campaign entity, donors and [a] political party organization."

There have been other high-profile cases on the more local level — including one Los Angeles City Councilman found guilty for corruption and another charged in what city prosecutors call a "pay-to-play scheme." There's also a former New York county executive and his wife convicted for corruption.

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And it all comes amid a decades-long decline in faith in institutions broadly, including government.

While the Covid pandemic complicates recent data, Gallup’s polling data shows a decline in faith both federal and state government in the last few decades. However, the decline in faith in the federal government has been more significant than the decline at the state level, and faith in local government has been largely resilient.