# Who has embarrassed your state the most? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 29, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417 "2007-08-29T21:34:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/121 "2007-09-03T13:27:09Z")
[QUOTE=mks57] For Maryland, I nominate: Spiro Agnew – Governor, VP, Crook Marvin Mandel – Governor, Crook Peter Angelos – Ambulance Chaser Tommy Broadwater, Jr. – State Senator, Crook [/QUOTE] To **Festus** and \*\*mks57 \*\*list of dishonorable “notables” I would add **John Wilkes Booth** who I see as trumping all of the above including Agnew. Both the Surratts, David Harold, Michael O’Laughlen and George Atzerodt were all born and more or less raised here too – whether they \*\*all \*\*beat Agnew I am not saying but of the true actual Lincoln conspirators before the deed, only Alabaman Payne/Powell was not from the Old Line. Roger B. Taney – Supreme Court Justice who wrote the Dred Scott decision deserves a dishonorable shout out for that too. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/122 "2007-09-03T14:30:53Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] I also lived in NY for 25 years, and I’d have to say it’s a tossup between “Boss” Tweed and Alfonse D’Amato. [/QUOTE] There’s also [Tawana Brawley](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawana_Brawley), Al Sharpton, Alton Maddox and C. Vernon Mason ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/123 "2007-09-03T14:40:06Z")
Favorite embarassments from a few of the states I’ve lived in: “Mr. SafeAuto”, former South Dakota governor/congressman [Bill Janklow](http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/01/22/janklow.sentencing). Texas: Tom DeLay. Worst congressman I’ve ever had, and there have been doozies. Ohio (current state): In the spirit of bipartisanship, former Democrat congressman and felon [James Traficant.](http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/04/11/traficant.trial/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/124 "2007-09-03T14:48:30Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] Iowa, where nobody ever gets the national attention that is a necessary prerequisite for embarrassment. [/QUOTE] Eventually you will have both – Captain Kirk will be born in Riverside, Iowa. [Riverside, Iowa - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside,_Iowa) ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/125 "2007-09-03T17:21:30Z")
**Illinois** : George Ryan, hands down. Rod Blagojevich is in second, but it’s not close. John Wayne Gacy is a distant third. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/126 "2007-09-04T07:30:17Z")
[QUOTE=garygnu] It’s kinda hard to embarrass the whole state of California these days. [/quote] Not since the OJ trial. OJ and everyone else involved with that trial, down to and including the prosecutor’s hair dresser, created a whole new class of embarrassment that may never be exceded. The only one who’s even come close (and who was also a Californian, by the way) was **Dick Nixon**. OK, maybe that Bill and Monica episode was also up there embarrassment-wise, but definitely in third place. > [@](#): > > However, I’m an Oregon native, and Bob Packwood and Tonya Harding have done enough. Tonya was much more embarrassing than Packwood. No question Oh, and as for Washington state, **Ted Bundy** comes from there. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/127 "2007-09-04T07:58:41Z")
Tennessee: Andrew Jackson ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/128 "2007-09-04T08:24:17Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] I’m having trouble with this question, because the 2 states I’ve lived in the longest are: a) New York, which is too big, powerful, and blasé to ever be embarrassed about anything, and b) Iowa, where nobody ever gets the national attention that is a necessary prerequisite for embarrassment. [/QUOTE] I’m having trouble for reason a, too. If you live in a state that is so diverse, you know that no one person can represent it by doing something embarrassing. As for cities, I don’t know how you can say an area of 12 million people is “embarrassing,” considering the diversity. Overall, Los Angeles is not what Woody Allen would have you think. As for Iowa, I’d be embarrassed that such a small population thinks it should have such a large influence on presidential elections. Who do they think they are? The voice of the nation? Hardly. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/129 "2007-09-04T08:28:04Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] Tennessee: Andrew Jackson [/QUOTE] **Zoe** , I don’t know. I have trouble seeing Andrew Jackson as a complete scoundrel. I don’t pretend he was what modern Americans would consider a moral man, any man who would claim that his two great [regrets](http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson) in life were: “I did not hang [Calhoun](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Calhoun) and shoot Clay,” is someone I will speak up for. He was a racist bastard, a hard man, and unforgiving to a degree that horrifies me. He also was a [staunch champion](http://www.aju.edu/ajackson.htm) of the poor, and saw the issues of his day more clearly than many more respectable figures of the day. For that matter, assigning all the blame for The Trail of Tears to Jackson is a cop-out. The forced removal of the Indians from their land would never have happened simply because Andrew Jackson decreed it. And preventing it would have taken the use of the Army and deadly force. Continentalism was still a real factor in national politics, and [Manifest Destiny](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifest_Destiny) - something I see as the logical successor of Continentalism - was only about 10 years in the future at that time. What happened was something that was done by Americans, not just any single American. Even those who spoke out against it were unwilling to consider the measures that would have been necessary to prevent the relocation of the Indians. Of course, what’s interesting to me, is the possibility that had Jackson lost at New Orleans, that would have killed Continentalism, and left Manifest Destiny stillborn. I’d still like to see someone else’s face on the $20 bill. Whether Andrew Jackson is solely to blame or not, he is still the person who was Commander-in-Chief when it happened, and so accrues the credit and blame for it. I just don’t like that so many people want to paint Andrew Jackson as solely a villian. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/130 "2007-09-04T19:55:40Z")
Although he hasn’t been in the news much recently, Oklahoma’s has got to be Oral “600 foot Jesus” Roberts. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/131 "2007-09-04T20:41:49Z")
[QUOTE=racer72] First for the state of Washington. **Dixey Lee Ray** , one of the most inept governors ever, any state. **Brock Adams** , Senator disgraced by a sex scandal. **Ryan Leaf** , not originally from the state but quarterbacked WSU for 3 years. **Kurt Cobain** , poor little rich boy that killed himself. **Jim McDermott** , current US Congressman, open mouth, insert foot. **Rick Neuheisel** , ruined a perenial top 10 college football program. [/QUOTE] > [@dtilque](#): > > Oh, and as for Washington state, **Ted Bundy** comes from there. I know you’re just trying to distract from the real answer; but, c’mon, everyone else is airing their dirty laundry. **Mary Kay Letourneau** ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/132 "2007-09-04T21:03:06Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] b) Iowa, where nobody ever gets the national attention that is a necessary prerequisite for embarrassment. [/QUOTE] Don’t forget our Congressman from the Sahara Desert district, Representative Steve King. Here is a man who was genuinely born 150 years too late. While not necessarily a national player he is proudly carrying on all the traditions of both the Know Nothing Party and the Country Club Republicans. Our current governor, however, has lots of potential, he being really big, not too bright and completely dominated by a pit bull lawyer wife. Give him time and he could become a major league doofus. ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/133 "2007-09-04T21:07:41Z")
I think my fellow Kansans and I win the thread with **The Phelps Clan.** ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/134 "2007-09-05T00:36:12Z")
[QUOTE=Dewey Finn] I’m from Connecticut, so George W. Bush would have to top the list. (The city of New Haven used to have signs along the highway identifying it as the birthplace of the current president, but after they were vandalized twice, the city gave up and got rid of them.) But I’d also add the previous governor, John Rowland, who went to prison for corruption. [/QUOTE] Another Connecticut politician who is appropriate for this list is Philip Giordano, former mayor of Waterbury, who sexually abused two girls (provided to him by a woman who was the mother of one girl and the aunt of the other). Giordano, as well as a couple of previous mayors of Waterbury, took bribes (and it’s the hometown of John Rowland, whom I mentioned above). I’m happy to say that I’m not from Waterbury. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/135 "2007-09-05T04:23:29Z")
Hey, for you New Yorkers, how about **Amy Fisher** and the **Buttafuocos**? Can’t get too much more embarrassing than them. And for Virginia, wouldn’t you say the **Bobbits** are a cut above the other contenders… ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/136 "2007-09-05T21:24:42Z")
[QUOTE=Robot Arm] I know you’re just trying to distract from the real answer; but, c’mon, everyone else is airing their dirty laundry. **Mary Kay Letourneau** [/QUOTE] Just like in our SDMB poker game, I’ll rudely and grimly call your Mary Kay Letourneau, and go all-in with [this guy.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson) ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/137 "2007-09-05T21:34:24Z")
[QUOTE=SanibelMan] I think my fellow Kansans and I win the thread with **The Phelps Clan.** [/QUOTE] SanibelMan wins. While there are no doubt more psychotic people than the Phelps, no one could be more embarrassing. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/138 "2007-09-05T21:39:13Z")
[QUOTE=Yeticus Rex] Just like in our SDMB poker game, I’ll rudely and grimly call your Mary Kay Letourneau, and go all-in with [this guy.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson) [/QUOTE] Well, now it looks like I improved my flush to a straight flush by drawing [this other guy.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ramirez) ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/139 "2007-09-05T22:39:05Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] Oh yeah. And Jim Traficant’s _hair_. That hair deserves a post of its own. [/QUOTE] And so does that of [Don King,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_King) another inductee in my native Buckeye State’s Hall of Shame. Sure, the kids know all about Maurice Clarett, but I’ll go old school in the Ohio State football division by bringing up [Woody Hayes.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Hayes) And speaking of sports, my current home of Indiana is known by my mom (not exactly the world’s biggest college-basketball maven) as “the place where that awful [Bobby Knight](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Knight#Controversies) was coach”. Although I’ve never lived in Georgia, I can’t resist adding the name of [Lester Maddox](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_Maddox) to that state’s candidates. Also, my mother tells me of the days when her father wore an “Oust Bilbo” button, inspired by Mississippi’s U.S. Senator [Theodore Bilbo.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Bilbo) After you read the article, I think you’ll agree that Grandpa was more than justified in his stance. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417/140 "2007-09-06T01:16:58Z")
[QUOTE=KRM] SanibelMan wins. While there are no doubt more psychotic people than the Phelps, no one could be more embarrassing. [/QUOTE] I’m not sure if they embarrass the state because I don’t think most people could tell you were they are from. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-embarrassed-your-state-the-most/417417.md?page=8)