9. Ray Blanton
In 2012, Ray Blanton, the number 9 on the list of most corrupt politicians in US history was among the top ten corrupt politicians of all time. Back in 1975, Blanton was elected to be the Governor but, he was under a lot of pressure because he pardoned a murderer who killed two people. Shortly after the pardon, it was found out that the father of the killer was a county chairman for Blanton. When the re-election time came, Blanton knew he wouldn’t be elected, so he decided not to run again. In the meantime, while the re-elections were near the end, the FBI arrested three state employees of which two were from Blanton’s office. The FBI charged them with extortion and conspiracy to sell paroles, pardons, and commutations. However, the most serious act of corruption that Ray Blanton did was when he pardoned 24 murderers and 28 prisoners in exchange for money. Marie Ragghianti tried to tell the authorities about the crime, but she was fired and sued by Blanton for reinstatement. There is a book for this story as well as a movie called “Marie.”
