City of the Big Shoulders Shrugs Off Its Corruption Tax

CHICAGO - The late Paul Powell used to say that the only thing worse than a defeated politician was a broke one. That phrase should be chiseled on the facades of our public buildings.

In Chicago we know the drill. We dismiss it. The city with the big shoulders shrugs and goes to vote the felons back in office. The next guy may be worse.

We don't ask for much. We need the streets plowed so we can get to work. We want the firemen to show up if our house is burning and the cop to write the report, although we never expect to get our television back. We never expect the city crew to stop leaning on their shovels. We don't expect the aldermen to be honest.

Since 1970, 30 aldermen have been convicted of dipping their hands in the public trough. We've managed to convict 375 individuals statewide at all levels of government.

I've tried to keep score. I have had my #2 pencil ready in front of my television. After a couple of weeks, I lost track. One scheme to defraud us seemed to overlap with the next. How may counts of fraud against one individual could be tallied?

Fortunately the University of Illinois had their T.V. tray set up and their pencils sharpened too. They came up with $500 million as the total corruption tax that we pay in Illinois.

$500 million? That is just inconceivable to most of us. We play the lottery and if we win a $100 we go out to dinner. We win $5000 we go to Las Vegas. We have no idea what we could blow $500 million on. So we just shrug and go over to the church basement and vote for the guy that shook our hand by the el stop.

We've been around for a while, but our kids know what they'd do. $500 million is incomprehensible to them as well, but they know what they need.

In some neighborhoods kids ask the question, "what are going to be if you grow up?" They live in culture so pervasive with violence that most raise their hands when you ask if they know anyone who has been shot. They are growing up learning not only to shrug, but to duck. One wild weekend in July, 40 people were shot. One was a year old. The kids want to be safe.

Representative John Fritchey has suggested that we call up the National Guard. We are 2000 policemen short in our neighborhoods and the mayor says that he would like to have more, but he doesn't have the money. How many could $500 million buy?

"Lots," the kids would answer.

When they go to school this fall they will find less teachers too. There will be an average of 35 students in every class, up 7 from last year. Could that $500 million help there?

The city council reports a $600 million budget shortfall this year. We would almost have that covered, if we could just get our elected officials to do their jobs without stealing or getting sued, the kids might be able to do the math.

Of course, this is nothing new. In 1900, the New York Times said that if Chicago was a corporation it would be in the hands of the sheriff.

I guess that these big shoulders have been shrugging for a long time. It just might be time to stop. The kids would understand.