I greatly enjoyed this piece by Chandler Lasch and John Hirschauer at RealClearPolitics about a pair of Illinois “watchdogs” who, according to the article are striking fear into the hearts of Illinois politicos:
Kirk Allen and John Kraft started Edgar County Watchdogs, a government-accountability nonprofit, in 2011. By appearance, it is a humble operation – Allen and Kraft are the group’s only employees. Edgar County is smaller than most Illinois townships.
In terms of impact, however, the Watchdogs punch well above their weight. Allen and Kraft’s investigative work has resulted in 186 indictments, 28 convictions, and the removal of 425 officials and bureaucrats from public office. They’ve successfully lobbied for a dozen new state transparency laws. They terrify the state’s most corrupt officials. For all their success, their approach is straightforward.
Their method is insidious and devilishly clever:
“We’re using their laws,†Allen said.
While I have little doubt that Chicago is the most corrupt city in the country, I would dispute the claim in the article that Illinois is the third most corrupt state in the union. Just during my lifetime four Illinois governors have done time in jail. I don’t believe any other state can equal that record. And have they never heard of “Operation Greylord”?
IMO the greatest threat to American democracy isn’t voter fraud or voter suppression or Donald Trump or any of the many other things that are pointed to. I think it’s political corruption. It’s so widespread and pervasive that corrupt politicians no long recognize that what they’re doing is corrupt. It’s just the way things are.
Yes.
And our new arrivals from south of the border find that very familiar, they’ll fit right in.
This does not bode well.