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Illinois Sat Apr 25 2009
How To Start Cleaning Up Corruption In Illinois
The Economist looks at efforts to curb Illinois corruption through campaign finance reform. The thrust of the piece is basically that it's a good idea, a good start, the right direction to go in, but a hard goal to accomplish. I think that's partially right, fixing corruption in Illinois means ending under-the-table-financial-transactions but it also means stopping other ways to pay people off, like giving them high paying jobs (as we've seen both Blago and most recently our new senator).
And in that, the Shakman Decree is a step in the right direction too. The patronage system IS Chicago politics. It's so deeply rooted in the city's culture that it's implied that any politician that's come through Chicago has some dirt on his hands. Even Obama, one of the cleanest politicians of our time (for whatever that's worth), had Rezko. So campaign finance reform is a start but even overhauling it would be a baby step. Think bigger.
