The once great state of Illinois has been known to wink at the hijinks of its politicians.  The presidential election of 1960 was won by Democrat JFK because of vote fraud conducted by the administration of Chicago mayor Richard Daley. 

In 1968 Mayor Dailey turned against the Democrats for their rejection of his police during anti-Vietnam riots that destroyed the chances of Democratic party nominee, Hubert Humphrey.  In recent years three Illinois Governors have done jail time: Dan Walker served time for bank fraud after serving a term from 1973 to 1977.  Otto Kerner was convicted in 1973 for bribery and most recently George Ryan is serving a 6 ½ year term for racketeering and bribery. 

Now comes impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich, his brother, Robert, and former chief fundraiser, Christopher G. Kelly.  Below them in the pecking order of Illinois politics is the current mayor of Chicago Richard M. Daley whose close associates have been indicted, tried and convicted for skimming from city contracts and manipulating local real estate markets.  The inevitable conclusion is that Illinois politics are dirty. 

Joseph Bast, president of Illinois’ Heartland Institute addressed a meeting of the conservative State Policy Network by reporting that after ten years the Heartland Institute has given up attempting to educate the Illinois state legislature.  The legislative process is too corrupt, Bast said.  In Pennsylvania the Commonwealth Foundation surveyed the Commonwealth’s legislature and found that only 20% of elected officials were interested in public policy.  In Massachusetts, a member of the Pioneer Institute comments that the state legislature is in the control of the state’s education association.

What is a nation to do when state and local governments are corrupt?

The Progressives decided to seek an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States that provided for the direct election of U.S. Senators.  Previous to the Seventeenth Amendment ratified on April 8, 1913, the state legislatures chose their state’s Senators.  It was not unusual for special interests to focus their attention on achieving control of state legislatures in order to control the U.S. Senate.  It was also the case that distinguished citizens were chosen to be Senators from states other than where they lived.  After the civil war persons who distinguished themselves in military engagements were often invited to serve as U.S. Senators.

Though intended to thwart corruption the Seventeenth Amendment also reduced the importance of state legislative service.  One avenue for advancement to federal service was removed thus lowering the value of service in a state’s legislature.  Why seek service in your state legislature when the venue for election to the United States Senate is popular election?

Is there a better solution than repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment?  One may want to try that for ten years just to see if there is an improvement with the provision that at the end of ten years the process of election to the U.S. Senate will revert to direct election.  Another alternative is to “professionalize” legislative service by increasing the salaries of legislators to comparable executive salaries in industry:  $150,000 per year for lower house service and $250,000 a year for Senate service.  Or, how about life imprisonment for elected officials convicted of fraud, bribery and racketeering?

The current “Illinois Three”-- Rod Blagojevich, his brother, Robert, and former chief fundraiser, Christopher G. Kelly—are reminiscent of the three members of the Greek Junta who were sentenced to life in prison upon rejection of the Greek Colonels by Greeks who had had enough.  One died in prison in 1999, a second is still in prison and the third Colonel has been lost from historical memory—probably still in some dank cell with a view of the Acropolis.