Corruption, graft entrenched in Illinois politics

Jay Stewart, head of the Better Government Association, believes efforts to downplay corruption are wrongheaded.

"I don't look at convictions in our state and argue there are just a few bad apples," he said. "The public believes there's a problem and it's a systemic problem. But they feel powerless and unable to change it. ... I think people view it as blood sport ... and they throw up their hands and say it's just entertainment."

There have been reforms in the state, most notably a new ethics law designed to limit the impact of money in politics. It was approved only after Obama, a former state senator, called his one-time mentor, Senate President Emil Jones, and urged its passage.

Blagojevich vetoed it, and the Senate overrode him. But in a strange twist, prosecutors say that the law may have been Blagojevich's undoing, alleging that he carried out many of his misdeeds to beat its Jan. 1 implementation.

Illinois has long been known as the "Wild West" of campaign finance, with virtually no limits on who can contribute and how much. The new law prohibits people with state contracts of $50,000 or more from contributing to the politicians who administer them, or to their opponents in an election year.

But Redfield, the political science professor, acknowledges the measure is a narrow prohibition and reflects how hard it is to make sweeping reforms.

"Instead of comprehensive changes that really change the system, the prevailing attitude in the legislature often is what's the minimum we can do to fix it," he said.

Corrosive power of unlimited donations
The power to make unlimited donations can be corrosive, said Scott Turow, a novelist who also was appointed by Blagojevich to a state ethics commission. "Even if you're a moderately, well-intended human being who doesn't have the scruples of a priest, if someone starts handing you $50,000,-$100,000 contributions, you can't say it's not going to have an effect," he said.

Turow also points to another possible reason corruption has flourished. With the state capital in Springfield, he said, there isn't much scrutiny by the media. "The state legislature really allowed us to operate in a state of mild secrecy," he added.

Michael Shakman, the attorney whose challenge of Chicago's patronage system nearly 40 years ago led to a decree that bans most political hiring and firing, also said the practice of reserving city payroll jobs for political appointees has contributed to corruption.

"Jobs are plunder," he said. "It makes it easy for villains to get elected and hard for the reformers to do anything about them."

Shakman also blames the lack of enforcement by anyone other than the feds. "When's the last time you heard of the state's attorney indicting an alderman?" he asked. "It's so rare as to be nonexistent. Part of the reason is political, part is resources."

As the Blagojevich case winds its way through the legal system, some experts say this will bring about reform.

But Lockwood, the retired judge, isn't so sure.

"I'm not optimistic," he said. "These things have been going on since before Capone. It hasn't changed anything before. I'm not just going to get my hopes up."

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