‘You Just Don’t Give it Away for Nothing’: Illinois’ reputation for corruption is another reason to be engaged and vote!

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State Matters

5 min readAug 8, 2018

Corruption, especially in government, is bad for everybody. It gets in the way of fairness, equal access, and representation. It lowers people’s trust in government, and encourages disengagement in the political process. It’s easy for people to be cynical about politics in Illinois because we have a lot of examples of elected officials who abused their power, going back to the earliest days of Illinois statehood. We also have a bunch of former Governors who have served time in prison. And Chicago has been particularly plagued by elected officials who were later convicted of crimes. But corruption is not insurmountable — if we the people are paying attention. There are a lot of organizations doing great work on exposing corruption, making ongoing improvements in access to public meetings and records, and, of course, voters play a crucial role at the ballot box. If these great organizations, the voters, and elected officials work together, Illinois can keep rooting out corruption and shady dealing!

Some organizations investigating politics and corruption in Illinois:

What sorts of corruption are people concerned about in Illinois? And what can we do about it?

1. Explicitly illegal activity:

Sometimes elected officials engage in undisputedly illegal behavior. Four of the last seven Governors in Illinois have done prison time (Otto Kerner Jr., Dan Walker, George Ryan, Rod Blagojevich) — though not all of them served time for offenses committed while in office. Illinois has also had a number of elected federal and state officials, and quite a lot of city officials in Chicago, convicted of criminal activity. While this is rightly very upsetting, it doesn’t mean the whole system is rigged, and you shouldn’t just give up and stop caring. In fact, it points to the opposite: the independent investigations that led to all of these prosecutions show our criminal justice system doing its job. And former Governor Rod Blagojevich was impeached (removed from office) by the Illinois General Assembly once his abuse of power became public knowledge.

Otto Kerner, Jr.: Governor 1961–1968, convicted in 1973 on a mail-fraud charge, under a law that was later ruled unconstitutional, then revised, and then watered down some more. He served 7 months of his 3 year sentence, and was released due to ill health.
Dan Walker: Governor 1973–1977, pled guilty in 1987 to charges of bank fraud, misuse of bank funds, and perjury, for actions after he left office, and spent 18 months in a federal penitentiary.
George Ryan: Governor 1999–2003, convicted in 2006 of racketeering, conspiracy, and fraud for taking bribes while serving as Illinois Secretary of State (maybe you’ve heard of the licenses-for-bribes scandal). He spent 5 ½ years in prison.
Rod Blagojevich: Governor 2003–2009, convicted in 2011 of corruption and extorting funds while in office as Governor, and sentenced to 14 years in federal prison.

2. Patronage politics:

When elected officials seem to favor some constituents (usually wealthy ones) over others (usually less wealthy ones), or give jobs or favors to their friends and family, it’s called “patronage politics.” While a series of federal court orders (the Shakman decrees) that instituted federal oversight of hiring in Chicago helped get rid of a lot of patronage politics, it hasn’t vanished entirely. For example, the current Cook County Assessor (an elected official who assigns property values), Joe Berrios lost the Democratic primary election in 2018 to Frank Kaegi after a series of investigative reports suggested that his office had been systematically undervaluing corporate property tax rates for big corporations in Cook County. Not only was that an unfair tax break for the corporations, it also put a greater tax burden on small business owners and individual homeowners in Cook County. Berrios’ office was also under federal oversight for its history of hiring friends and relatives, a.k.a. classic political patronage. Democratic primary voters didn’t like Berrios’ track record, and they voted him out of office. Your vote matters, whether it’s a primary or a general election!

3. Unethical behavior:

When elected officials are accused of doing something improper, an ethics review board generally investigates. The ethics enforcers have to be independent for that process to be trustworthy. For a long time, the Legislative Ethics Commission that helps keep the Illinois General Assembly honest had to get approval from leadership (ie. the Speaker of the House) in order to investigate a claim. But, it just got a lot more independent, thanks to a new law passed with bipartisan support. Increasing public dissatisfaction after an investigative report on the Legislative Ethics Commission helped drive the change! Supporters argue that politicians perceived as untouchable because of their oversight of the ethics process are more likely to be investigated now. Some hope that will apply to the Speaker of the Illinois House who has been criticized for earning money from a law practice that helps businesses in Cook County lower their property tax rates. That’s not illegal, though some argue that it is a conflict of interest. There’s progress in Chicago too. In 2017, Chicago enacted a new ordinance that lets the city inspector general investigate claims of sexual harassment by elected officials including Aldermen and the Mayor.

4. Dubious use of taxpayer money:

Sometimes folks are referencing questionable use of taxpayer money, like the golden parachutes awarded to a number of state employees who left their jobs under a cloud. Or that members of the General Assembly have been able to use public funds as hush money to pay off people bringing sexual harassment accusations against them. The good news here is that in 2018 the Illinois General Assembly passed bills outlawing both of these practices and sent them on to the Governor — change is possible!

5. Police discrimination and corruption:

There are some very serious problems with police conduct in Illinois. In 2017, the U.S. Justice Department concluded that the police force in Chicago has a systemic problem with discrimination and civil rights violations, allegations that a Chicago cop framed 15 people have caused a wave of exonerations, and there is a disturbing lack of review or oversight of lethal use of force by police in the Chicago suburbs, just to name a few. So, how do you change these practices and restore public trust? First off, the Illinois Attorney General’s office, the City of Chicago, and the Chicago Police Department are working out a consent decree that will change policies governing police training and conduct and provide an independent monitor for the Chicago PD. The consent decree is still in the public comment period, and won’t be finalized until at least 2019. For everyone outside of Chicago, there’s positive movement too. The Illinois General Assembly sent a bill to the Governor requiring all police forces in the state to investigate after an officer-involved shooting. And Highland Park adopted new policies (developed in coordination with the NAACP) to help restore trust in police.

There’s a lot to do and a LONGGGG history of wheeling and dealing in our state, but we know that the people of Illinois can help make a change if we get to the polls. You can register to vote online. If you’re not sure whether you’re registered, you can check your registration status online too.

Read More! UIC Report on Chicago Corruption