Who is the Most Corrupt?

I still will back Todd Stroger and the Cook County board against all comers--to pay for all their political friends and relations on the bloated county payroll, they've given us a 10.25 percent sales tax, have put a once-fine teaching hospital on the critical list while endangering the health of millions of low-income county residents, have winked at corruptio, over-crowding and deaths in the county jails--but on the principal of "Family Hold Back," I have to say that there's a lot of competition out there.

R. Brawer's posting on New Jersey reminds me of Mike Royko's informal contest one year as to whether Chicago or New Jersey would have more elected officials under federal indictment by year's end. New Jersey won, by one legislator if I remember correctly--but that was the whole state against our city!

Still, I divide honors among Brawer's New Jersey, Doug Levin's Hatchetville, who win on fundraising ingenuity, and Janet Reid's Vernon, Ca.

Bribery helped in the process, of course, as did the old principal of voting early and often, and getting the dead to vote.

Mr./Ms. Brawer, Mr. Levin, Ms. Reid, if you e-mail me your addresses at viwarshawski@mindspring.com I will see that your prizes arrive in due course.

Sara Paretsky

P.S. I removed an anonymous attack on Libby Hellman from the original contest post. I think if we're going to attack people through this blog, we have to be adult enough to sign our opinions.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Who's the Most Corrupt of All?

Take this quiz, win big prizes, and find out who leads the pack!

I've been taking a course this summer in commercial fraud examination techniques. The instructor, who's with the Secret Service's white collar crime unit, says federal fraud investigators pant at the chance to work in Chicago because there's so much corruption here. In fact, in one of their newsletters, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners says, "Come to Chicago, where we have the hottest jazz, the coolest architecture, and the most indictable politicians in the nation!"

We're justly proud of our corrupt politicians here. Our nickname is Clout City, and the connections among the Mob, elected city and county officials, bribable businessmen, vote fixing, real estate zoning--I could write a book here on the Blog, but I won't--are legendary.



To celebrate the Outfit Collective's second anniversary, we're offering a little contest. Do you think your town or your city or county is as corrupt or more so than Chicago? Write a short essay, no more than 200 words, to say why, and you will win--not Karl Cassell's voice on your home answering machine--but even better--a basket of books by your favorite crime bloggers, the Outfit Collective!! Chicagoans: you can enter, too, of course. Historical corruption counts, too.

Contest will end on August 15, and winners will be chosen based on completely subjective criteria, although hanging chads will of course be a factor.

Sara Paretsky