Chicago "monument to corruption," Morgan Finley, died last week

Here's more proof that only the good die young.

Former Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court Morgan Finley, a Chicago Democrat, was called "a monument to corruption" by a judge, He died last week at 91.

Chicago and Illinois' corrupt nature didn't spring out of nowhere.

Mayor Richard J. Daley, the first Mayor Daley, was a mentor for Finley, who told him. "Never take a nickel. Just hand 'em your insurance card." Finley didn't stick with legal graft--he ignored Daley's advice.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Finley was the highest of 16 officials — including four aldermen — swept up in the Operation Incubator sting, where federal “moles” offered bribe money to politicians.

On Dec. 4, 1985, he was being served a stone crab lunch at Lake Point Tower by his friend, Michael Raymond, who handed a wad of money to Finley. Raymond, speaking clearly, for the benefit of the hidden FBI microphones, told Finley, "I got you the rest of the $25,000."

"For me?" Finley said, pocketing the cash.

At the trial, Assistant U.S. attorney Ira Raphaelson argued that Finley was "a hypocrite, a two-faced man, a man who had a dark side to his life, a man who sold his office."

Finley's legacy survives. Too bad.