Will Illinois Dems pay the price for corruption?

Illinois has entered a golden age of corruption, with scandals raging at the state and city of Chicago level. All levers of power in Illinois—Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, Treasurer, Secretary of State, Senate and House are controlled by Democrats, as is the Mayor's office in Chicago. Yet the brand name of Democrats in this state has not suffered a great blow yet.

Part of the reason is that the scandals haven't fully blossomed. Another is that Republicans have been timid about pointing the finger at Democrats. The GOP state party is starting to change that, with press releases like this one last week, pointing out Democratic state senator Debbie Halvorson is part of the problem in Springfield. She is running for Congress in the 11th District, the seat held by the retiring Republican Jerry Weller.

While Halvorson is listed as a co-sponsor of ethics reform legislation languishing in the Senate, she is on record saying she doesn't support such reforms.

Coincidentally, Halvorson is also the chair of the Senate Rules Committee, the very committee where the package remains bottled up.

"As the Tony Rezko trial uncovers six years of pay-to-play politics oozing out of state government, Debbie Halvorson and Rod Blagojevich are intent on stonewalling real ethical reforms from ever seeing the light of day," said IL GOP Spokesperson Lance Trover. "It appears this is another instance where Senator Halvorson prefers standing up for Rod Blagojevich rather than the honest citizens of this state."

It will be interesting to see what price Democrats pay this fall for the mess its party has created.

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Chris Kelly, corruption, Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, Tony Rezko