Lake County Gazette

GOP House hopeful Jim Walsh can think of at least 556 million reasons why he thinks more accountability is so desperately needed in Springfield.

“For at least the last 40 years, we’ve made it where the people are responsible to government instead of government being responsible to the people,” Walsh told the Lake County Gazette. “We did it by gerrymandering districts across the board and making sure there were no term limits anywhere. We desperately need term limits for leadership in any public body. You can’t have the same person running the show forever.”

All of it has come at a steep price, with a new University of Illinois at Chicago study concluding that the state’s culture of corruption costs voters in the neighborhood $556 million annually.  

In addition, the data also finds that Illinois rates as the second most corrupt state in the country and Chicago tops the list of most corrupt cities, thereby crippling the state’s chances for economic growth and all forms of investment. Since the turn of the millennium, researchers conclude that the state’s corruption price-tag easily tops $10 billion or around $830 per person.

“It’s disgusting how corrupt things have gotten,” Walsh said, as he runs against incumbent state Rep. Sam Yingling (D-Grayslake) in the 62nd District. “I tell voters it doesn’t have to be that way. We need to craft things to where districts are politically neutral. We need to change laws to where we can hold people accountable not by just voting if they do something illegal or untoward.”

This year alone, at least four state lawmakers have been indicted on corruption charges, adding to the state’s sordid political history that includes four governors having gone to prison over the last five decades. And then there is longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan, who currently finds himself at the center of an unfolding federal corruption probe involving ComEd and a pay-for-play scheme.

“I see Springfield a lot like the mob of the 1920s when they had the unions in their pocket and were willing to do anything to keep it that way,” Walsh said. “With Springfield, they kill the careers of the people they don’t want. Just as it took federal involvement to break up the mob, it’s the same with Springfield and I’m glad we’re now seeing that. It’s going to take the people backing them up to make it work.”