Just curious - do other Illinois politicians have as bad a reputation/track record as the governors do?
If not, what is it about the Governor’s mansion that attracts so many convicts-in-waiting?
I haven’t done any formal study of the matter, but local politicians in and around Chicago do go to jail fairly frequently.
Granted I’m in Northwest Indiana, but I’m 10 miles from the border of Chicago so this qualifies as “Chicagoland”. A few years ago if I recall correctly about 2/3 of the city counsel of East Chicago was raised and arrested by the FBI, a Lake County politician who has served in various capacities (coroner, clerk, etc.) went to jail on Federal charges, and last local election a local Democrat candidate was found to have duplicate ID/residency based in Michigan and has apparently been forging her dead father’s signature on tax document for a number of years, possibly as many as 20. That’s just off the top of my head.
A LOT of politicians around here are corrupt as hell. Some serve time, a lot more never do. Natives say “it’s like that everywhere!” No, it’s NOT - Chicago has an usually high level of corruption. The natives are so used to it they think it’s normal.
WAPO
Illinois ranks third (behind NY and CA) in convicted officials, 1976-2010. Not a very helpful metric if not per capita (of course high population states win), although high for its population I think. Per capita it is listed as the 16th, although this also inflates low population states like the Dakotas.
Fortune lists it as #4.
Probably you could say that there is lots of corruption at all levels, but they aren’t the worst. Different cites give wildly different results, and it depends a lot on what metrics you’re interested in.