Where corruption is mentioned in media, Las Vegas outpaced by Chicago, eight other cities

By Joe Schoenmann

Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012 | 1:48 p.m.

Find anyone on the street of Las Vegas and they’ll belly laugh, or run away quickly, because someone stopped them to ask the question: “Is Las Vegas corrupt?”

We’ve had bribery scandals that landed four county commissioners in federal prison; we’ve had suicides, court battles and convictions related to a years-long case involving homeowner association boards and attorneys trying to cash in on home-defect allegations.

We all “know” lobbyists and casinos run our state Legislature.

Even local firefighters have been called corrupt after county officials and an independent arbitrator pointed to firefighters' apparent use of sick-leave to run up overtime hours. The FBI is still investigating the matter.

There are many more instances and that’s just within the last decade. When the city was run by mobsters, fughettaboutit.

So this may be a surprise.

We’re not the most corrupt, at least as measured by the number of times that the word “corruption” appeared in media reports in relation to a particular city. The less-than-scientific study was issued by press release to advertise highbeam.com, an online research tool. Of 10 cities listed in the study, Las Vegas came in 10th.

Here’s the list of cities and the number of times the word “corruption” and a particular city appeared in media mentions over the last two years.

1. Chicago, 3,121

2. Los Angeles, 1,412

3. Boston, 1,130

4. Washington, D.C., 946

5. New York City, 899

6. Philadelphia, 634

7. Miami, 617

8. San Francisco, 492

9. Detroit, 434

10. Las Vegas, 387