Now They Tell Us…BBC Thinks Illinois is “So Often Corrupt”
If Rod Blagojevich serves jail time, he will be the fourth Illinois governor since 1960 to be sent to prison on corruption charges. Why are officials from Illinois and its largest city, Chicago, so often shady?
Political corruption and Chicago go together like fashion and Milan or surfers and Sydney: the association is deep, and it has shaped the city.
Most Illinois historians date the corruption back to 1869, when three county commissioners were convicted of fraudulently awarding a contract to paint City Hall with expensive long-lasting paint.
The contractor instead used whitewash, and split the handsome price difference with the three commissioners.
And then it rained. Suddenly the gleaming white City Hall didn’t look so spiffy.
Judging by the Blagojevich trial, although he was convicted on only one of 24 charges, not all that much has changed in a century.
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