Mainstream Media – Actually On a Case?

In the previous article in this series, we provided a brief review of the long train of corruption cases in Chicago and Illinois, and how they provide valuable perspective for some compelling national and international issues. 
Earlier this week, we had two indications that some elements of the City that Works may actually be working in a good way, and on matters related to international terrorism, drug trafficking, corruption in the city, state, and federal governments, and even the events of September 11, 2001.

On November 1, the Chicago Tribune reported how the City of Chicago’s “Corporation Counsel,� Stephen Patton, responded to a question about a dispute over the authority of the City Inspector General, Joseph Ferguson.  Ferguson has faced noncompliance with subpoenas he has issued to the city.  New mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Corporation Counsel has argued to the State Supreme Court that the city has the authority to enforce these subpoenas, not the inspector general alone, and the city also holds sole authority to hire outside counsel in matters at issue. 

This article did not identify any of the specific cases for which subpoena demands had been rebuffed.  But the fact that the City Inspector General has been issuing them is alone room for optimism. Read more È

The Ultra Secret FBI Criminal Files in the Chicago Field Office

In the first edition of their series of reports on corruption in Chicago, University of Illinois professors Thomas Gradel, Dick Simpson and Andris Zimelis included a good discussion of the evolution of machine politics over time.  They looked at the period with Mayor Richard J. Daley (1955-1976), as well as an equally-lengthy interval with his son, Richard M. Daley, serving as mayor (1989-2011).  The earlier regime drew its authority primarily from entrenched ties with ethnic communities, while the latter evolved a more sophisticated set of relationships with a variety of supporters including unions, corporations, and other special interest groups.  The report from the University of Illinois professors was written in early 2009, on the heels of the indictment of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.  And after listing a long train of successful convictions, they concluded simply that “corruption continues unabated in city, county, suburbs and state today.� 

The authors have gone on to write four more updates to this report, which are all available here.  The fourth edition was released in early 2011, following the last Daley term and the passing of the torch to new Mayor Rahm Emanuel.  This fourth report listed over 340 city officials convicted in public corruption cases in the past few decades, with little sign of any slowing in recent years.  The authors listed cases of “bribery, patronage, contract rigging, conflict of interest, nepotism/family ties, clout, and theft,� noting that they were pervasive across a range of agencies.

Chicagoans can be thankful for some prosecutors, but the “City that Works� and the state and federal government functions dealing with it haven’t earned a presumption of innocence.  A careful, cautious and even cynical perspective is warranted when considering the prospects for reform under new Mayor Rahm Emanuel, especially in light of the strong ties that helped lay the basis for his political career in recent decades.

And while thinking about the Chicago political environment and its relevance for the case of Sibel Edmonds, it is useful to be careful about distinctions between the two main parties in our political system.  We have Democrats and Republicans, on the one hand, and the rest of us, on the other hand.  The long train of scandals and convictions such as those laid out by the University of Illinois professors have entrenched bi-partisan roots, with Democrats as well as Republicans breeding disenchantment and suspicion.  The Edmonds case reaches across party lines, as well. Read more È

Burrowing Into Some Rabbit Holes

Chicago has a lot of strengths, along with a deserved, well, reputation. The City of Big Shoulders?  Perhaps.  But legal and illegal corruption have long greased the wheels in the City That Works.  Chicago is joined at the hip with the State of Illinois, with no shortage of its own symptoms.  Paul Powell, an Illinois Secretary of State who passed away while in office in 1970, just before $800,000 in cash (nearly $5 million in today’s dollars, given the inflation since then) was found stuffed in a shoebox and other places in his hotel room, along with 49 cases of whiskey.  George Ryan, a former governor still in jail on corruption convictions.  And they don’t seem to learn.  Rod Blagojevich was elected to the governor’s seat after Ryan, and Blagojevich now stands to be sentenced following his conviction on corruption charges earlier this year.

The longer-term financial consequences arising when public institutions are used to fleece the public can be seen in the fiscal status of the City of Chicago, as well as the Land of Lincoln.  Last year, interest rates and credit default swap costs for Illinois state debt climbed above California, suggesting the market considered Illinois the worst credit quality among the 50 United States.

The latest nasty recession hasn’t helped, but long-festering inefficiency and corruption have been a major factor in financial deterioration.  A recent study led by Dick Simpson of the University of Illinois/Chicago estimated costs of $350 million a year in Chicago arising simply from waste, theft, patronage, nepotism and contract rigging.  And speaking of waste, an illuminating symbol comes from the cost of garbage disposal in Chicago.  A recent Wall Street Journal article reviewed the city’s finances, and found Chicagoans paying far higher costs per ton of garbage disposed than any other city in the country, nearly twice as much as the second highest.

 

In light of the environment, and the seeming inability of public institutions to reform after scandal after scandal, the prospects for ethical and cultural renewal in Chicago in the new administration led by Mayor Rahm Emanuel might best be viewed cautiously. 

Here’s another reason for caution on that score.

A 2009 article/interview published in The American Conservative summarized some of Sibel Edmonds’ testimony in a court case in Ohio.  This venue allowed her to speak about topics where this former FBI translator had been silenced by a dubious legal constraint called the ‘state secrets privilege.’  The 2009 article included shocking material about corruption and influence peddling.  And the city of Chicago was surprisingly prominent, given the scope of her material. 

Edmonds closed her 2009 article / interview with the following observations:

As soon as Obama became president, he showed us that the State Secrets Privilege was going to continue to be a tool of choice. It’s an arcane executive privilege to cover up wrongdoing—in many cases, criminal activities. And the Obama administration has not only defended using the State Secrets Privilege, it has been trying to take it even further than the previous terrible administration by maintaining that the U.S. government has sovereign immunity. This is Obama’s change: his administration seems to think it doesn’t even have to invoke state secrets as our leaders are emperors who possess this sovereign immunity. This is not the kind of language that anybody in a democracy would use.

The other thing I noticed is how Chicago, with its culture of political corruption, is central to the new administration. When I saw that Obama’s choice of chief of staff was Rahm Emanuel, knowing his relationship with Mayor Richard Daley and with the Hastert crowd, I knew we were not going to see positive changes. Changes possibly, but changes for the worse. It was no coincidence that the Turkish criminal entity’s operation centered on Chicago.

In our coming series, we are going crawl into a few of these rabbit holes.

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