Chicago-style politics

Chicago-style politics

Chicago-style politics is a byword used to designate a set of characteristics associated to the less commendable aspects of the recent political history of the American city of Chicago, Illinois, (i.e., corruption, patronage, nepotism, authoritarianism) which is often cited as an example of blatant corruption.[1] A study conducted by the University of Illinois has found that since 1972 three governors before Governor Blagojevich, and a total of 1,000 public officials and businessmen have been convicted of public corruption since 1970.[2]

The administration of the city under mayor Richard J. Daley is believed to incarnate this style at its worse, several of Daley's subordinates being jailed for corruption. However the most significant systemic trait of Daley's Administration, regarding Chicago-style politics, was its extended reliance on a heavy political machine, the so called Chicago Machine, with all its venal implications,[3][4] which not only served to seize the power but also to exert control and to perpetuate political hegemony. Sociologists have demonstrated that this kind of political organization antedates Daley's mandate and can be traced as back as 1928[5], being in fact a long political habitus, whose roots and scope go well beyond the formal political party sphere and affect the social structures at community levels.[6]

In more recent times the successive cases of Governors, George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich, convicted in 2006 and 2010 respectively, have attracted worldwide media attention to the City's political ethos.[7][8][9] During the Ryan's scandals a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield told The New York Times: "George Ryan is quintessential Illinois politics: power-oriented, jobs-winning, control kind of politics," "This is not a bad person corrupting a good system. He is clearly a product of what is a very broad political culture here".[10] Ironically Blagojevich, Ryan's successor, and his 2002 campaign focused on the theme of "ending business as usual" in state government.[11] Ending corruption was in fact the central issue of that election: a poll showed that 9 in 10 voters said corruption was an important factor in electing a new governor.[12] Following his electoral victory, the new elected governor and later-to-be convicted Blagojevich, told the media: "Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, Illinois has voted for change.”[13]

In recent years the term has been employed by politicians and pundits to characterize an offensive “tough, take-no-prisoners approach to politics”,[14] thus the Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-Ohio) during a weekly press briefing, stated that: "Chicago-style politics is shutting the American people out and demonizing their opponents".[15].

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Engber, Daniel (9 Dec 2008). "Why Is Chicago So Corrupt?". Slate Magazine. http://www.slate.com/id/2206364/. 
  2. ^ "Curing Corruption in Illinois: Anti-Corruption Report Number 1". University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Political Science. 3 February 2009. http://www.uic.edu/depts/pols/ChicagoPolitics/Anti-corruptionReport.pdf. Retrieved 26 January 2011. 
  3. ^ Granger, Bill. Lords of the Last Machine: The Story of Politics in Chicago. Random House, 1987.
  4. ^ O’Connor, Len. Clout: Mayor Daley and His City. McGraw-Hill/Contemporary, 1984.
  5. ^ Gosnell, F. Harold. Machine Politics: Chicago Model. University of Chicago Press, 1937, p. 27.
  6. ^ Guterbock, Thomas. Machine Politics in Transition: Party and Community in Chicago (Studies of Urban Society). University of Chicago Press, 1980, p. 33-35, 173.
  7. ^ Arreola, Veronica (1 October 2009). "Olympic headache for Chicago". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/oct/01/olympic-games-2016-chicago-obama. 
  8. ^ "The Chicago way". The Economist. 11 December 2008. http://www.economist.com/node/12775558. 
  9. ^ "Former Illinois Governor charged in fresh corruption charges". The Hindu. 5 February 2010. http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article101126.ece. 
  10. ^ Davey, Monica (17 April 2006). "Ex-Governor of Illinois Is Convicted on All Charges". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/us/17cnd-ryan.html?_r=1. 
  11. ^ Saulny, Susan (9 December 2008). "Portrait of a Politician: Vengeful and Profane". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/10/us/10blago.html. 
  12. ^ Lin, Joanna (10 December 2008). "ILLINOIS CORRUPTION SCANDAL: PROFILE AND CHARGES". The Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/10/nation/na-gov-profile10. 
  13. ^ Fountain, John W. (6 November 2002). "THE 2002 ELECTIONS: Illinois; Office Returns To Democrats". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/06/us/the-2002-elections-illinois-office-returns-to-democrats.html?src=pm. 
  14. ^ MacAskill, Ewen (4 June 2010). "Republicans accuse White House of 'Chicago-style politics'". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/04/colorado-andrew-romanoff-democrats-senate. 
  15. ^ Silva, Mark (23 October 2009). "Obama's Chicago-style politics:' Boehner". Chicago Tribune. http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2009/10/obamas_chicagostyle_politics_b.html. 

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