The Blagojevich Museum of Public Corruption

History

After Governor Rod Blagojevich? was removed from office, the editors of RecallRod.org? and ImpeachRod.org decided to continue the fight to clean up Illinois politics. The best way we could think of to do it was to endeavor to shed light on political corruption state-wide. Let those precious few people in the state who really pay attention to what goes on in Cook County, Springfield, and beyond put together a concise guide to the public corruption that has pervaded our state's history and continues today.

We believe that the type of behavior of which Governor Blagojevich has been accused cannot exist within a bubble. He had to have been aided and abetted by other government officials and special interests throughout the state. Our thesis is that the culture of corruption in the state of Illinois is systemic and that virtually no unit of government within the state is immune from its influence. It is all related. Our goal is, with your help, to show it.

The Blagojevich Museum of Public Corruption is just a website. There's no actual museum building anywhere. But we like to imagine school children 20 years from now taking a "field trip" to learn about the darker side of the history of our state. And I would like to be able to say then that the systemic corruption that plagued our state for generations has been rooted out and exterminated.

This site is a Wiki, meaning that everyone is welcome to become a member and contribute. There are plenty of resources here on the site and around the web to teach you how to use a Wiki. And if you have any trouble with it, we'll have experts around to give you a hand.

Museum Wings

We have three primary wings in the museum. One is for Cook County and includes Chicago politicians. Then there is the Governor's Wing. If Governor Blagojevich goes to prison, 4 of our last 8 governors will have ended up behind bars. So creating a Governor's wing of the museum was sort of a no-brainer. Finally, there's the State-Wide wing. It covers everyone else. If someone started in Cook County and became governor (Rod Blagojevich, for example), he or she is on display int he Governor's wing. Likewise, a politician who started out in Cook County and grew his or her influence far beyond the confines of the Chicagoland area (Senator Roland Burris, for instance), is on display in the State-Wide wing.

We will try to show as many connections as can be verified between each of the people and events profiled in the museum, but we're going to need a ton of help.

Cook County	The Governor's Wing	State-Wide
Mayor Richard J. Daley?	Governor Rod R. Blagojevich?	Senator Roland W. Burris?
Mayor Richard M. Daley?	Governor George H. Ryan?

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