With all of the attention that former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich received for being indicted, impeached, and ousted from office, it’s easy for people to suppose that the Land of Lincoln is more corrupt than many other historically corrupt states like Louisiana. Thanks to the good folks at the Chicago Tribune, though, Louisianans can rest assured that we still live in a state more crooked than any other, including Illinois.

In a recent article titled “Most corrupt state: Louisiana ranked higher than Illinois; Blagojevich made U.S. news, but graft is old hat in the Big Easy,” Tribune correspondent Howard Witt proves that, when it comes to jobbery, Louisiana trumps the other 49 states in the union. He does this by employing rock-solid mathematical reasoning to irrefutably and quantitatively illustrate the home of the Kingfish is still the kingdom of corruption.

“The beleaguered residents of Illinois may be squirming over their newfound visibility in the pantheon of corrupt states,” Witt wrote. “But for genuine, savory, infused-in-the-gumbo style public venality, Louisiana still has Illinois, and most of America, beat. Ranked according to corruption convictions per capita from 1998-2007, Louisiana is No. 3, well ahead of Illinois at No. 19. (Only Washington, D.C., and North Dakota ranked higher — and in North Dakota’s case, the results were skewed because of its extremely small population.)”

There you have it. Because Illinois has more John Q. Publics to dilute its Blagos than Louisiana has to mitigate its Edwin Edwardses, we still carry the mantle of most corrupt state in the nation. (Keep in mind, Witt arbitrarily, yet rightfully, excluded the Sioux State from contention due to its exceedingly diminutive populace. Plus, D.C. is not a state.)

In an environment where newspapers around the country are folding like, well, newspapers, it’s great to see the formerly self-styled “World’s Greatest Newspaper” remind us all how valuable the Chicago Tribune and its diminishing daily brethren are to keeping America informed. While the new media are busy twittering and pecking out snarky blogs, people at the Tribune like Witt demonstrate an unwavering dedication to solid news reporting and unbiased journalism.

Perhaps the Tribune could use Witt’s remarkable, population-based, mathematical method to quantify other subjective comparisons between Illinois and Louisiana. For instance, the sports department could run a story showing how, per capita, the New Orleans Saints suck so much harder for never winning a Super Bowl in their 42-year history than the Chicago Cubs, who haven’t won a World Series in over a century.