McHenry County Blog

From Dennis Bryne's Monday Chicago Tribune column:

At least from Democrats we now hope that some candidates recognize that Illinois needs a good scrubbing with the wire brush of citizen outrage, if there’s any left. Every day, there’s another story—or two, or three—about new cases, in both political parties, of corruption, graft, dishonesty, favoritism, abuse, cynicism, bossism and various creative felonious behaviors. More than school finance reform or a balanced budget, Illinois’ No. 1 issue is graft and corruption. It steals our money, creates flawed public policy and puts the squeeze on worthy government programs. Only in this climate would the oxymoron of “honest graft" be confused with wisdom…

Fortunately, in Illinois, we’ve got a good way to tell if it is true: Only trust candidates that disavow the bipartisan political establishment that runs this state: The Reublican and Democratic “leadership,” big business, big labor, big lawyers, big doctors and the rest of “the bigs.”