....the classic situation of inmates running the asylum seems to be more true in Texas (and Illinois) than anywhere else?
Depends on who is classifying the inmates level of sanity, Texas is trying to catch up, but we are back in the pack.
Top 10 most corrupt states in the U.S.
1. Mississippi 2. Louisiana 3. Tennessee 4. Illinois 5. Pennsylvania 6. Alabama 7. Alaska 8. South Dakota 9. Kentucky 10. Florida
US Corruption Map
There are different ways to make the measurement as well:
..and of course there is bias in almost all of the ranking systems, as the democrats see more in the republican states, and the republicans see more in the democratic states (and in most of the media and Universities doing the rankings).
Both sides seem to agree that there is plenty of corruption to go around.