Brennan Center for Justice

Political corruption scandals have emerged in recent months in
various offices and states across the country. 
But nowhere are they more conspicuous than in Illinois, a state that has been plagued by political
corruption for more than a century.  From
the arrest of former Governor Rod Blagojevich and his subsequent impeachment
and removal from office, to the revelations this week that Senate appointee
Roland Burris's involvement in raising contributions for the Governor may have contradicted
sworn statements to Illinois lawmakers, there
is no denying that Illinois'
longstanding wound has been re-opened.

An independent
poll conducted by Belden, Russonello & Stewart (BRS) and released last
month by the Illinois Campaign for
Political Reform demonstrates just that. 
The research firm queried 802 adults in Illinois on their present attitudes toward
government and political reform.  Several
of the questions tracked public sentiment in previous surveys conducted in 2006
and 2008.

The survey found that corruption in state government was the
singular proposed issue about which the public was most concerned - garnering a
greater percentage of "extremely concerned" than economic or budgetary
issues.  Sixty-one percent of respondents
were extremely concerned with corruption and fifty-four percent with money in
state politics (compared with fifty percent for the economy).  Many others ranked corruption and money in
state politics nearly as dire.  This is
unsurprising, given that Illinois
is one of only five states without any contribution limits whatsoever. 

Equally staggering is the pervasive belief that political corruption
in Illinois
is not isolated to a few "bad apples," but rather infiltrates all levels of
government.  A combined fifty-eight
percent of respondents replied that former Governor Blagojevich's "unusual and
extreme" case of corruption is either somewhat or strongly common among elected
officials in Illinois, indicating that the
appearance of corruption - a phenomenon as deleterious in many ways to the
health of democracy as actual corruption - is alive and well in Illinois.

While the recent scandals have undoubtedly exacerbated the
public's perception of corruption, they are by no means the sole instigators.  Indeed, forty-nine and forty-six percent of
respondents found corruption and money in politics, respectively, just as
serious in mid-2008.  A report
released earlier this month by political scientists at the University of Illinois
at Chicago, which provides a lurid account of
public corruption in Illinois
since the 1860s, offers good reason. 
Since 1970 alone, 1,000 Illinois
public officials and businessmen were convicted of public corruption.

The report points to a "[l]ack of a strong reform movement and
notoriously weak campaign finance laws in Illinois" as the underlying reason
for the perpetuation of corruption, and wisely recommends full public financing
for all major state and local offices, including judicial campaigns, as a
crucial reform to the existing political culture.

And Illinois
citizens are clearly hungry for such reforms. 
Nearly ninety percent of respondents in the BRS poll said that their legislator's
support for legislation to reduce money in politics would be an important
factor in their decision to re-elect him or her.  Additionally, seventy-one percent support a
law limiting the amount of money Democrat and Republican legislative leaders are
able to contribute to other candidates, and sixty-five percent support
additional use of public dollars to keep money out of politics.

Without meaningful campaign finance reforms in Illinois, its scars may
never heal.  Lawmakers should act swiftly
to enact not only what the voice of the public requests, but also what is in
the best interests of their state.