Culture of corruption
Read the series on Illinois’ notorious political legacy
What makes Illinois so corrupt? In the coming weeks and months, the Tribune will explore and attempt to explain why corruption continues to poison virtually every level of government in our state, draining off tax dollars and robbing public service of its meaning.
The reasons are many, the Tribune found, beginning with the ambition and greed brought here by many of Illinois’ first European settlers. But numerous other factors contribute to Illinois’ shameful record: Loosely regulated big-money campaigns. Domineering mayors letting shifty aldermen run amok. Cozy interactions between lobbyists and public officials. A ballot process power brokers often use to exclude newcomers. The largest number of governmental bodies in the nation, offering endless opportunities for graft amid little oversight.
Dishonest politicians at all levels of Illinois government make a mockery of public service
Illinois nurtured the nation’s greatest president in Abraham Lincoln. It is the birthplace of iconic Republican President Ronald Reagan and the state where Democrat Barack Obama, the country’s first Black president, developed his political chops.
But Illinois is far better known for a more notorious political legacy: constant and persistent corruption. Four of its last 11 governors went to prison. Chicago, its largest city, is home to sweeping federal sting operations that put busloads of judges, aldermen, state lawmakers and other officials behind bars.
Even the state auditor — Illinois government’s financial watchdog — was once caught looting and squandering $2.5 million in public funds. One secretary of state famously amassed more than $750,000, including a shoebox stuffed with cash, that was found stashed in a hotel room after his death. Read part one of our series.
Big money floods Illinois campaigns with few rules and little enforcement
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the importance of money in national politics was clear, from the appeals made at fancy fundraisers to the unrelenting streams of video ads and text messages.
But in Illinois, big money is inundating politics at a pace that virtually puts government offices in the Land of Lincoln up for sale.
Few states invite politicians to raise and spend so aggressively as Illinois, where large infusions of cash led by billionaire Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and his billionaire Republican enemies are enabled by loose rules and feeble enforcement standards that tempt politicians to push the limits of campaign finance boundaries. Read part two of our series.
Code of silence, aldermanic prerogative fuel dozens of corruption convictions
In the half-century since Mayor Richard J. Daley presided over Chicago’s notorious Democratic machine at the height of its power, nearly 40 aldermen from across the city have ended up behind bars.
The roll call of aldermen convicted of corruption includes a father and son charged nearly 30 years apart, the two most powerful aldermen over the last five decades and a self-styled good government champion who was known to some as the “conscience of the council.”
From 1976 through 2021, the Chicago metropolitan area saw more than 1,800 federal corruption convictions, the most in the nation.
But in Chicago, it comes down to two main factors: a deeply ingrained culture where the ruling attitude toward corrupt actions is “you didn’t see nothin’,” and an unwritten power-sharing agreement between the city’s mayor and the council that has neutered the usual checks and balances on government actions at City Hall. Read part three of our series.
Illinois’ arcane election rules turn politics into a blood sport where only the most powerful and savvy survive
This wasn’t the speech Jose Wilson had hoped to give after making a run for Democratic committeeperson in Chicago’s 1st Ward.
Two months before votes were cast in the March primary, the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners booted Wilson from the ballot. Though Wilson had turned in nearly 1,700 signatures on his nominating petitions — knocking on doors for weeks last fall and winter — one of his rivals torpedoed Wilson’s candidacy by successfully challenging enough of those signatures to keep him off the ballot.
And so, at a sparsely attended January hearing inside a sterile government conference room, Wilson rose to deliver his last speech of the race, directing his frustration at a cutthroat Illinois balloting process a Tribune investigation found is overly complicated, limits voters’ choices and contributes to corruption that plagues government throughout the state.
“I don’t think it’s fair,” Wilson told election board members. “I don’t think it’s clear. I don’t think it’s transparent.”
It is, however, a system firmly entrenched in Illinois, one that makes it harder for people to qualify for the ballot than in many states and easier to get kicked off.
The system grants incumbents an inherent advantage over neophytes who are new to the arcane balloting rules, some of which were written by the same veteran politicians who now reap the benefits. Using a cadre of well-versed attorneys, insiders thwart challengers before the first votes are cast, often on questionable grounds.
It is, in essence, a way for the state’s political power brokers to control the options voters have to choose from even if they can’t control people’s actual votes. Read part four of our series.
Illinois has the most public bodies in the nation, multiplying opportunities for graft
Chicago may be justifiably notorious for its government graft as nearly 40 aldermen, a city clerk, a treasurer and countless City Hall employees have all ended up behind bars over the past 50 years.
But public corruption in Illinois knows no partisan or geographic bounds. That’s in part because there are just so many governments in Illinois in the first place — thousands of them, more than any other state in the nation. They range from counties, cities, villages, townships and schools to park districts, airport authorities, and agencies overseeing mosquito abatement, street lighting and even cemetery maintenance.
Behind those government entities are tens, hundreds and sometimes thousands of elected officials or public employees. By simple math, more officials mean more opportunities for graft. But Illinois’ glut of governments — long blamed for high taxes and bureaucratic inefficiencies — also makes it more difficult for authorities to exercise oversight and for citizens to hold their leaders accountable. Read part five of our series.
Lobbying is so ingrained in Springfield it’s practically a branch of government, but lawmakers are reluctant to regulate it
Unlike nearly every other state, Illinois until recently had no restriction on how soon former lawmakers could start lobbying their onetime colleagues, creating an environment that can tempt officials to legislate with an eye toward their future employment prospects rather than the public good.
The state finally enacted a revolving-door restriction last year, but good-government advocates say the cooling-off period between legislating and lobbying is too short, with a loophole that still allows lawmakers who finish out their terms to become lobbyists the next day, rendering the restriction mostly meaningless.
And while it’s clear there is good money to be made in the lobbying business, there’s no way for the public to know exactly how much is being spent to shape state law on behalf of powerful interests because, unlike the federal government, about half the states and even the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois doesn’t require lobbyists to disclose any information about their compensation. Read part six of our series.
Intentionally weak government oversight gives Illinois public officials cover for corruption
Carol Pope lasted only about two years as the Illinois General Assembly’s inspector general before quitting in frustration.
When Pope, whose job was to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by legislators and their staffers, asked for more autonomy amid a burgeoning corruption scandal in the legislature, lawmakers instead passed a law limiting her powers.
The legislative inspector general “has no real power to effect change or shine a light on ethics violations,” Pope, a former state prosecutor and judge, wrote in a scathing resignation letter in 2021. “The position is essentially a paper tiger.”
In Chicago, aldermen shut down the inspector general’s office charged with overseeing the City Council nearly a decade ago after the first occupant, attorney Faisal Khan, repeatedly butted heads with council members as Khan looked into complaints of misconduct.
Like Pope, Khan viewed the elected officials’ actions as thinly veiled attempts to protect themselves from scrutiny. Read part seven of our series.
Corruption has burdened Illinois since its earliest days. But change is possible. Here’s how.
The state’s sordid history may leave many residents feeling hopeless. But as the Tribune’s reporting shows, Gov. JB Pritzker and other elected officials across Illinois — from state legislators to township trustees — have the power to make a difference by shoring up weaknesses and closing escape hatches in the state’s laws. Read part eight of our series.
In Chicago, corruption is a source of both shame and perverse pride
On many nights during his long career as alderman of the 43rd Ward, Mathias “Paddy” Bauler would hold court in the North Avenue tavern that served as his headquarters from the 1930s into the 1960s. Often with a beer in hand, he would loudly proclaim, “Chicago ain’t ready for reform.”
He might as well have said or added, “Chicago is always ready for corruption.”
This city, and by extension the state, have long been and remain what a University of Chicago political science professor – and many others, from writers to late-night television hosts – have derided as “the only completely corrupt city in America.” As one local, the late Studs Terkel, charmingly put it in 1986: “Chicago is not the most corrupt of cities. The state of New Jersey has a couple. Need we mention Nevada? Chicago, though, is the Big Daddy. Not more corrupt, just more theatrical, more colorful in its shadiness.”
How did we get so “lucky”? Read more.
The Dishonor Roll: Public officials who helped build Illinois’ culture of corruption
The Tribune has compiled a list of roughly 200 convicted, indicted or generally notorious public officials from Illinois’ long and infamous political history.
Meet the small-town official behind the largest municipal fraud in the country’s history, the Chicago mayor with ties to gangster Al Capone and many more. See the full list.