As of December 2012, Illinois ranked fifth in the nation for unemployment, worse than Ohio or Pennsylvania or Wisconsin or New York. (Michigan ranked fourth.)
But in addition, Illinois has generated a uniquely toxic political culture, one that systematically produces bad governance. This is a state where both the current governor’s predecessors went to prison. (One was a Republican; the other a Democrat: bipartisanship, Illinois-style.) Antique institutions and obsolete practices are frozen in place by family dynasties beholden to public-sector unions: the father-and-son mayorship of the two Richard Daleys; the Madigan family, where father Michael is speaker of the Illinois House and daughter Lisa holds the powerful job of attorney general. (Not only is Michael the top fundraiser in the state, most of it from unions, but when Lisa first ran for AG, in 2002, she was able to raise more than any candidate for governor that year: $1.2 million.)
Organized crime has deeply penetrated Illinois political culture as well. A former high-office holder in the state once joked to me that the three most important jobs in Illinois are, first, mayor of Chicago; second, governor; and third, U.S. attorney: the person who decides which Illinois politicians to prosecute.
Gov. Patrick Quinn campaigned as a reformer. He has a long record of fighting for positive changes in his state. But Illinois has an even longer record of defeating and defying reform. Will this time be different? The results to date are far from encouraging.