Yes, Virginia, Illinois Really Is That Corrupt
Today, Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested. People call what he does “pay for play.” In other words, you have to give him something he wants in order for you to get what you want.
In my neck of the woods, that’s business as usual.
I do want to say that I’m a strong proponent of “innocent until proven guilty.” For me, the governor should be treated as an innocent man until his possible conviction in a court of law. But, treating someone as a legally innocent man and knowing (as in: I don’t have any proof, but it’s so true.) that he is guilty can be two separate things.
In a democracy, we always get the government we deserve. I would extend that to the last two terms of George W Bush as well. Former governor Jim Edgar agrees with me.
In Chicago, everyone who pays attention to government knows that our top three executives, Governor Rod Blogojevich, Mayor Richard Daley, and Cook County President Todd Stroger, are as crooked as they can be. Chicagoans, however, are still realistic. Some of the ways they wheel and deal are accepted. Some are even praised. But the fact that they’re dirty, it’s understood.
It’s a thing that is always there in the background.
That’s why the Feds’ press conference today was so ugly to my ears. No matter how bad I thought things were, it was still a huge shock to have all his laundry laid out like that. I’m mad. I’m embarrassed. But I can’t say I didn’t see it coming.
In that way, as much as the pundits will say that the governor has let his state down, I will say that we let ourselves down. Just watch Daley and Stroger get reelected next time.
To be fair though, Chicago totally depends on the machine to operate. If we tried to clean things up, everything would stop working. Almost everything around here depends on relationships and the trails of money.
We need our city to work so why not have the best machinists in place to run it? Rich Daley has been a central cog for so long, he’s probably the Final Cylon.
Yes, I know. It sounds hollow to my ears too.
The bottom line is, we’ve seen this before, and we’ll see it again. In the Presidential election, the country decided that things have gotten too bad to let continue on the same path. I don’t think we’ve hit that point in Chicago yet. Let’s see what happens when they raise the sales tax again.