Marie Ragghianti

Marie Fajardo Ragghianti (born June 13, 1942) is an American parole board administrator, famous as the whistleblower who exposed Tennessee Governor Ray Blanton's "clemency for cash" scandal in 1977-79.

Ragghianti grew up as a beauty queen in Florida. She married a boxer, but her husband became alcoholic and beat her. Their son nearly died from a lung infection at the age of two. They divorced, leaving Ragghianti with three young children.

In 1971, at the age of 29, Ragghianti won a scholarship to Vanderbilt University, and earned a Bachelor of Science in English Literature and Psychology (1975). She was active in the Vanderbilt Young Democrats Club and caught the attention of newly elected governor Blanton's legal counsel, T. Edward "Eddie" Sisk. She was an Extradition Officer for the Tennessee Department of Correction (1975-76) and the Chair of the Tennessee Board of Pardons and Paroles (1976-77).

Ragghianti earned an M.S. in Management of Human Services in 1978 from Vanderbilt University, and an Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) from the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1992. She worked as a consultant to the Tennessee Legislature in 1979. From 1979 through 1997 she worked as a criminal justice consultant. From 1997 through 1999, she worked as the Chief of Staff for the United States Parole Commission.

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