Kendall County Times

For veteran state Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove), it’s not hard to figure out why hard-pressed taxpayers have finally had enough.

“When politicians make decisions that benefit them personally rather than making decisions that are based on the greater good of the people they represent, the taxpayers end up paying more money for less services,” Oberweis told the Kendall County Times. “There is a huge price to pay for political corruption and it is the people that pay that price.”

A new University of Illinois at Chicago analysis finds that the state’s culture of corruption annually costs taxpayers in the neighborhood of $556 million. Researchers also noted Illinois ranks as the second-most corrupt state in the country (behind Louisiana) and Chicago is the most corrupt city in the U.S., all of which goes a long way in crippling the state’s chances for economic growth.

Over the last two decades, researchers also found the state’s corruption price-tag easily tops $10 billion, or around $830 per resident.

This year alone, at least four state lawmakers have been indicted on corruption charges, adding to the state’s long and sordid political history that includes four governors having been sentenced to prison over the last five decades. Presently, longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan finds himself cast as a central figure in the ongoing federal probe involving utility giant ComEd and a pay-for-play scheme.

“Not only are there direct costs, but there are indirect costs as well,” said Oberweis, who is now running against U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Illinois) in the 14th Congressional District. “For instance, businesses that do not go along with the pay for play culture of corruption lose out on opportunities which hurt them and the people they employ. Businesses looking to locate in a state like Illinois will look elsewhere because they do not want to engage in the state’s pay-to-play politics. It is time to end the culture of corruption in Illinois. The cost of this corruption is simply too high for us to continue to pay.”