Breaking news! Illinois is the most corrupt state in the United States of America! Okay, this isn’t really breaking news. Illinoisans have elected some crooked politicians over the years. From Daniel Rostenkowski to Rod Blagojevich to Fred Roti, Illinois has a long history of politicians abusing their power for money.
Now those were some of the biggest names that have screwed Illinoisans over and those are names that we haven’t heard in years. Some names that aren’t mentioned as often are Karen Finley, Martin O’Malley, and John Bills. These three gained their notoriety by making under the table deals with red light camera companies. The latest name to be added to that list is Martin Sandoval.
According to Illinois Policy, Sandoval took $250,00 from companies like SafeSpeed LLC. In exchange, he would push for bills that favored the company and ignored the bills that opposed red light cameras.
Approximately one billion dollars was generated from red light cameras over the course of ten years in Chicago alone. Outside of the city, more and more cameras continued to pop up from 2008-2018 generating more than fifty-six million from drivers.
With a history of shady politicians taking money from red light camera companies, Sandoval, and evidence confirming red light cameras are enforced for money instead of safety; the call for a crackdown on shady politicians is becoming louder and more assertive.
ABC7 News released a qu ote by Governor JB Pritzker from his state of the state speech. He states “It’s no longer enough to sit idle while under-the-table deals, extortion, or bribery persist.”
ABC7 legal analyst Gil Soffer was quoted saying “The U.S. Attorney’s office here has been particularly creative, and particularly aggressive in prosecuting public corruption cases and very successful in doing it.”
“You can legislate good behavior to a certain degree . At some point, the voters have to make clear and strong desires to see an ethical government.” Voting in the local elections matter and research goes beyond the party a politician represents, but the corruption in Illinois won’t end with voting alone.
Politics is about who you know more than what you know. People earn positions because of their friends and family. While they do have to get an education, that’s for the public not for the people that actually work in the offices.
The Chicago Suntimes released an article offering two ways to end corruption. First, our officials can release a hidden report that indicates vital wrongdoing by a legislator. Second, they can get rid of a despicable system that allows lawmakers to cover up ethics complaints.
Complaints are swept under the wrong by the Legislative Ethics Commission because the Inspector General isn’t as independent as they claim to be. The Inspector General has to go through the Legislative ethics Commission before a report is submitted and they make it their mission to protect their friends.
Illinois will continue to have corrupt politicians until those politicians are exposed the second they consider screwing the state over.