Where Corruption Lives: Visit the Sucker State!                        July 2002

Illinois, my mother told me many times while I was growing up here, is nicknamed the "Sucker State" because you would be a sucker (fool) to leave it. But is it so any more? It seems as if the citizens of Illinois may have become the suckers as the federal indictments pile up in the licenses-for-bribes scandal. In case you missed it, a web of corruption was spun in the 1990s when public officials from the bottom-to-the-top in the Secretary of State's  (SOS) office headed by now Governor George Ryan mixed money, politics, and the issuance of drivers' licenses to wannabe truck drivers. And, on the dark side, nine persons lost their lives in accidents with truckers holding illegally issued drivers licenses. The laundry list of the 51 persons indicted and 43 convictions to date is shocking.

Here it is: 3 high ranking officials in the Secretary of State's Office, 7 license facility managers and supervisors, 7 road test examiners, 5 other SOS employees, 3 employees in the Illinois Department of Transportation, 10 owners or instructors of driving schools, 3 owners or employees of trucking companies, 5 "middle men" neither employed by the sate or a trucking company, 2 private businessmen and 1 lobbyist, 3 road test examiners in Florida, 1 person with the "Citizens for Ryan" re-election campaign group, and 1 construction company owner.

Visit the sucker state where corruption lives!

Source: Chicago Tribune, May 22, 2002