Prairie State Wire

Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski believes that while Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan's (D-Chicago) grip on state government may be loosening, the culture of "legalized corruption" he has built over the past three decades will be much harder to dismantle.

"His ability to direct patronage, laws and the future of this state is in jeopardy, whether he gets indicted by the Feds or not," Dabrowski wrote on Wirepoints.org. "While that’s a cause for celebration, the party should be brief."

Dabrowski wrote that the infrastructure Madigan has created over the past 30 years – not just the alleged illegal activity – needs to be taken apart piece by piece.

Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski | File photo

"I’m talking about the legally corrupt system Madigan has constructed to maintain power," Dabrowski wrote. "The real machine is the relationship between the statehouse and the public-sector unions, the cost of which has impoverished and chased out ordinary residents, transformed the state into a fiscal basket case and brought it to the brink of junk."

Dabrowski noted that because Illinois has some of the nation's most general pensions and benefits that are constitutionally protected, "the machine" is made up of thousands of interconnected government entities. He wrote that whoever takes over for Madigan can just continue the way the House Speaker has because even if the man leaves, the power of the office will remain.

Part of the reason, Dabrowski wrote, is because Illinois has the most units of local government in the entire United States. There are hundreds of thousands of local workers who will continue to serve as part of the machine, with long-term contracts that will continue to lock in raises.

"For sure, there’s much more that perpetuates Illinois’ legal corruption: control of the courts, control of the legislative map and a denial of popular reforms like term limits and ethics laws," Dabrowski wrote. "Unwinding all those laws that favor the system over ordinary Illinoisans has to be the ultimate goal. Ending Madigan's reign is the first step in that process."

The more Illinoisans that understand the depth of the state's political corruption, the better the chance of taking it down, Dabrowski said.