By Kim Kalunian, WPRO News

It might be surprising to some, but Rhode Island ranked first in a nationwide report on state government transparency and accountability.

The Integrity Index, compiled by Chicago-based watchdog organization the Better Government Association (BGA), analyzed laws in all 50 states and scored them in four categories: Open Meetings, Freedom of Information, Whistleblower Protection and Conflict of Interest.

Rhode Island did well in all categories, coming in the top 15 for all four. Rhode Island received an overall score of 69.77 percent, outranking second place finisher, New Jersey, by less than six- tenths of a percentage.

“I think it should be a point of pride that we have good laws,” said John Marion, Executive Director of Common Cause Rhode Island, a good government group.

Marion said Rhode Island’s transparency laws are in fact good, and he believes Rhode Island’s high ranking is a testament to the hard work groups like his have been doing over the years.

“I don’t think we’re perfect,” he added. “We have a long way to go.”

But in comparison to other states, Rhode Island is doing well. The state has taken strides to put sunshine laws on the books, despite the notion that the Ocean State is inherently corrupt.

Here’s an excerpt from the BGA’s news release about the rankings:

“The report notes that several of the states receiving high marks—particularly Rhode Island, New Jersey, Illinois and Louisiana—aren’t commonly viewed as paragons of good government. Those states likely rank higher today because years of corruption and embarrassing scandals led to the adoption of stricter safeguards and more comprehensive sunshine laws. The BGA report also cautions not to assume that just because tougher laws are on the books, public officials are following them or states are enforcing them.”

Marion says there’s validity to the theory that corrupt states are among the first to get better sunshine laws.

“Clearly there’s some correlation there,” said Marion, noting that both Rhode Island and New Jersey led the pack.

“Often times our laws have been born out of scandal,” said Marion, who noted that many of Rhode Island’s ethics laws were created in the wake of government problems in the 80’s and 90’s.

But even when it comes to corruption Rhode Island isn’t that bad. Marion pointed to a survey done in 2008 that found that corruption of Rhode Island’s public officials was quite low. Perhaps the problem then, he said, is that the corrupt officials in Rhode Island tend to be high profile, not rank-and-file.

“It leads to the perception that we’re in worse shape than we really are,” he said.

And because of that perception, Marion knows people will be surprised Rhode Island did so well in this study.

“They associate problems with our government with being a result of not having laws that are strong enough,” he said. “And really, it might be that some of those laws aren’t being enforced well enough.”

Marion said other states, like Connecticut, are more dedicated to efficiently enforcing transparency laws. For example, they have an Ethics Commission and a Freedom of Information Commission, he said.

“They make enforcement much more of a priority,” he said.

The BGA rankings put Connecticut in the middle of the pack at 24; neighboring Massachusetts ranked 15.

Joining Rhode Island and New Jersey in the top ten were Illinois, Nebraska and California. The worst ranking states were Montana, Wyoming, Michigan, South Dakota and Idaho.

The BGA says overall the national average is “an unacceptable 55 percent,” with all states scoring less than 70 percent.

You can read the full report here.