Illinois, Simpson says, is the nation's third most corrupt state.
Graft is expensive, $500 million worth, as CBS 2 Chicago explains:
It's essentially a corruption tax on citizens who bear the cost of bad behavior (police brutality, bogus contracts, bribes, theft and ghost pay-rolling to name a few) and the costs needed to prosecute it.Simpson says ridding Chicago of graft will take decades.
"We first of all, we have a long history," Simpson said. "The first corruption trial was in 1869 when alderman and county commissioners were convicted of rigging a contract to literally whitewash City Hall."
Corruption, he said, is intertwined with city politics.
Hmm...maybe not. Stiffer sentences--the 14-year prison sentence for Chicago Democratic ex-governor Rod Blagojevich was a step in the right direction--but 20 or 30 year stays in the house-with-many-doors would act as a stronger deterrent to any budding Tony Rezko types. Rezko, by the way, assisted President Obama in the purchase of his South Side mansion. The influence peddler is residing in the Pekin Federal Correctional Institution, where he is probably cleaning toilets as I write this entry.
The tentacles of crime are deep here. Take it from me: The "everyone does it" and "you have to play along to get along" mantras have a reach well beyond the public-sector and its suppliers.
Some things I simply just know...
Technorati tags:
Illinois 
Democrats 
Obama 
politics 
Barack Obama 
Chicago 
Tony Rezko 
corruption 
legal 
cronyism 
Rezko 
Blagojevich 
graft
1 comment:
From Alderman Dick Simpson -And who better to nod to the pigs than a lad with his snout deeply in the trough!
Post a Comment