Shifting Ethical Sands

All sorts of folks are hoping that the conviction of former Governor George Ryan might signal a change in ethics for the Illinois political class and the bi-partisan political combine that John Kass so aptly tagged.

Having been in and around the political arena since 1966, I remember only one shift in ethical standards in the last forty years.

The shift so shocked me that I even remember when I learned about it. I was driving by former McHenry County Sheriff and Recorder of Deeds Harry Herendeen’s home across from the Dole Mansion when Crystal Lake Mayor Lou Goossens told me.

I had invited him to accompany me to the DuPage County Republican Party golf outing when, at the last minute, a newly minted attorney and high school friend decided not to come.

That was 1969, the year of the first Earth Day.

I don’t know whether or not there was any connection with the emerging environmental activism, but I started noticing things changing ethically.

Mayor Goossens worked for Crystal Lake’s biggest developer, Ladd Enterprises. In 1969, the attitude was pretty much, “Everyone has to work somewhere.”

About 1970, the Crystal Lake Jaycees did a fire safety project in the back end of Ladd’s Coventry subdivision. The committee found that a fire engine could not get down the street if cars were parked on both sides.

All of a sudden, it made a difference where the mayor worked.

At the state level, when re-apportionment came along in 1971, lots of house and senate members decided it was time to retire. For years afterward, indictments of the new 1972 crop were non-existent.

(That did end, maybe with the surprising indictment and conviction of State Rep. Larry Bullock, who is now a minister in Schaumburg’s Living Faith African Methodist Episcopal Church. I think he was found to have owned an interest in the building where he rented his legislative office.)

In 1974, the Illinois Campaign Disclosure Law was passed, taking effect, of course, after the fall elections.

And, now, Rich Miller reports that House Speaker Mike Madigan is making phone calls on a cell phone in the hall outside of his office.

Something is clearly happening.

Could it be another shift in ethical standards?

Has the sand liquefied into quicksand? Will the political establishment struggle enough to sink Illinois’ corrupt political system?

For more information about what happened in Crystal Lake and where the State Seal came from, go to McHenry County Blog.