FLORIDA

Three Miami Area Mayors Arrested

State leads country in convicted officials.

These isn't the kind of conviction you want in your public officials. The arrest of three Miami-area mayors within a month on corruption charges is bringing to light Florida's reputation for corruption among public officials. “It’s bad when three mayors get led out in handcuffs,” the ethics officer for Jacksonville tells the New York Times. “What’s left of the public trust gets ground into little pieces.” The state leads the country in convictions of public officials, with 781 between 2000 and 2010. The three mayors were accused of various bribery schemes, including taking payments from a health care company trying to build a clinic.