“It’s important that we take a strong stand against pay-to-play politics, especially in Illinois where four of our last eight Governors have gone to federal prison for public corruption.”
? From an Aug. 8, 2019, statement by Illinois’ five Republican members of Congress.
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We’ll say this for the GOP congressmen and their outreach to President Donald Trump: They spelled Illinois right. As for their inaccuracies, well, we’re here to help.
Now that Trump evidently has set aside (but for how long?) his flirtation with freeing Rod Blagojevich, let’s all agree on how to word one footnote in the lavish history of Illinois public corruption.
Journalists who have trouble with math, politicians out to score a point and people who argue in taverns often mistake just how reprehensible Illinois’ record of governor-criminals really is. Whenever Blagojevich’s situation resurfaces, some people get that footnote to history wrong.
A day or so after we read that four-of-our-last-eight-governors line from the congressmen, we heard a talk radio host trumpet that four of Illinois’ last 10 governors had gone to prison. And we read that four-of-the-last-10 suggestion in The Washington Post.
Not exactly. Here’s a list of Illinois’ 11 most recent governors. We’re boldfacing the names of the four who did federal time. (Note to cynical readers: The dates here reflect years of gubernatorial service, not of federal imprisonment.)
Otto Kerner, 1961-68
Samuel Shapiro, 1968-69
Richard Ogilvie, 1969-73
Dan Walker, 1973-77
Jim Thompson, 1977-91
Jim Edgar, 1991-99
George Ryan, 1999-2003
Rod Blagojevich, 2003-2009
Pat Quinn, 2009-2015
Bruce Rauner, 2015-19
J.B, Pritzker, 2019-
But note that not all four of the federal felons were found guilty of corruption in office. A decade after his term ended, Walker copped to bank fraud, misapplication of bank funds and perjury in connection with his savings and loan business.
Why do people often give wrong answers to the straightforward Blagojevich is which federal felon among how many governors? Two guesses:
* Many Illinoisans don’t recall “Smiling Sam” Shapiro’s 237 days as governor, from May 21, 1968, to Jan. 13, 1969. Shapiro, Illinois’ lieutenant governor, stepped up when Kerner resigned in 1968 to become a federal appellate judge. Six years later, Kerner — paradoxical nickname: “Mr. Clean” — resigned from the bench to serve a sentence for mail fraud during his time as governor.
* Because the phrase “four of the last 10? sounds more damning than “four of the last 11,” some people may not count the current governor, Pritzker, in their calculation. But that’s sophistry for dramatic effect. Anyone who wants to say that “four of Illinois’ 10 most recent former governors were convicted” is free to do so. But who would ignore the obvious — the governor now in office — to frame the statement that way?
Here’s your copy-and-save or clip-and-save moment: Until another governor is found federally felonious, or until a new chief executive succeeds Pritzker, let’s all agree that: Four of Illinois’ last 11 governors have been imprisoned for federal crimes.
Let this editorial be the rock upon which you win arguments with family and friends.
Why do we bother to set the rock in place?
Because Sam Shapiro deserves to be counted. He served as governor of Illinois, yet didn’t get indicted. That’s always noteworthy.
And because J.B. Pritzker, too, deserves to be counted. He’s right here, right now, serving as the 43rd governor of Illinois.
