An important implication of
the saying, a fish rots from the head down, is that it is important that
corrupt heads be swiftly punished so underlings get the message that crime in
public office carries considerable risk. In the matter of Ukraine’s possible
accession (not merger!) into the E.U. as a new state, the old, deeply entrenched,
culture of corruption in the potential state has been of particular concern in
the E.U.’s executive branch, the European Commission. In both the E.U. and U.S.,
it’s worth asking whether some states are more corrupt than others. It is a
mistake to treat all states alike in terms of where to direct federal resources
and how much of a given state’s resources should be devoted to investigations
of state officials. At least in 2025, Illinois and France could be said to have
been “problem children” in this regard, and this doesn’t mean that Hawaii and
Sweden, for example, also had as sordid corrupt cultures.
In September 2025, a state
court in Paris “found Sarkozy guilty of criminal conspiracy in connection with
the alleged Libyan financing of his victorious 2007 presidential campaign . . .
and sentenced him to five years in prison.”[1]
A day before going to prison in mid-October, Sarkozy said he would be taking a
biography of Jesus and The Count of Monte Christo with him to prison, so
it seems that he was continuing with his innocent-victim role in spite of the
conviction and sentencing. Short of any contrition or even public recognition by
Sarkozy of his own corruption, it fell on Hollande of the Socialist group to
praise “the independence of the judiciary,” especially given that the incumbent,
Macron, spent an hour with the convicted ex-president on the day before the
Sarkozy, of the same political group, was to show up at a prison.[2]
In a corrupt culture, it is natural to worry about whether judges might be
persuaded that it is in their interests to reduce or rescind the sentence of a
powerful political figure.
Admittedly, in notoriously
corrupt Illinois, by 2025 four former heads of state had spent substantial time
in prison. Otto Kerner, for example, was convicted in 1973 on 17 counts of mail
fraud, conspiracy, perjury, and other charges related to a bribery scheme and
was sentenced to three years. Dan Walker was convicted in 1987 of bank fraud
and perjury related to fraudulent loans that he had obtained after leaving the
high office. George Ryan was convicted in 2006 on fraud and racketeering
charges related to bribes; he served five and a half years. Last but hardly
least, Rod Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office in 2009, and convicted
in 2011 on 18 counts of corruption. Whereas the president of the E.U. cannot
pardon state officials, the president of the U.S. can, and U.S. President Trump
pardoned “Blago’s” sentence in 2020 after the former head of Illinois had served
eight years; the former head of France could only hope in vain for a pardon
from E.U. President Von der Leyen, but corruption at the state level could end
up appreciably shortening Sarkozy’s sentence, and the meeting with Macron could
be a sign that their shared political group might work behind the scenes to
free the convicted former leader.
Once begun and allowed to
spread throughout a state, whether Illinois or France, political corruption
involving money is much more difficult than a fire to put out. Companies such
as Enron, Wells Fargo Bank, Arthur Andersen, and even Uber came to be known for
their deeply dysfunctional organizational cultures. This does not mean that manager-groups
at every or even most companies are that unethical.
It is fortunate that not every
company is corrupt mentally, for changing an entrenched sordid organizational
culture is very difficult at best, with plenty of strategic firings
being just one part of the cure. A so-called “coach” hired by Starbucks, for
example, to change the attitudes of the executives towards the employees
(especially those who try to unionize) would have a full plate. Such a “coach”
would find it very frustrating to “drive” talking-points; the obscenely
stretched use of jargon wouldn’t get the consultant very far up against the
entrenched acerbic attitudes that had come to dominate the organizational
culture. Let’s just say the Pike’s Peak blend of coffee was hardly the only
thing that was known for being bitter at Starbucks by 2025.
2. Ibid.
