Suffer more evil or change the government?

While ousting the Governor of Illinois from office seems inevitable, permanent and useful reform isn't.

Our indignation and disgust are appropriate emotional reactions, but they are not solutions. Government in Illinois isn't experiencing a crisis; Illinois is a crisis.

The crisis that is Illinois is partly the result of pitiful constitutional language that anoints the governor with "supreme executive power." This is the type of power that tingles the spine and helps to corrupt absolutely.

Because any person is capable of adulterating the office of governor, there is much the General Assembly can do to limit a governor's sovereignty by eliminating the power that is too alluring and unnecessary.

The authors of the Declaration of Independence identified our instinct to do nothing - even in a crisis. They wrote that mankind is "... more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."

Sadly, based on Illinois' recent history, it seems our destiny will be to suffer yet another evil.

Moving to solution, these same authors wrote "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People to alter or to abolish it ... ."

The institutionalized accomplice in the crimes against the citizens of Illinois includes the current form of state governance that makes it easier to lie, cheat and steal.

In Illinois, there already exists a recognized and constitutional model for good government. This model is generally known as the council-manager form of government. It can be molded to fit state government.

Here are three changes that should accompany this reform.

First, all directors of administrative agencies of the state must be selected based on merit and report to the General Assembly - not the governor. This step could be refined by having department directors appointed by an administrative head who monitors performance and not political loyalty. A governor does not need to intrude into the work of an administrative agency that follows the laws and policies of the General Assembly. Rebalancing the balance of powers is imperative.

Second, no single elected official, especially the governor, should have the power to award or influence a contract - not even for office supplies; this restriction should be extended to grants as well. All allocations of taxpayer funds must be overseen by an independent board or an administrative team that answers to the General Assembly. If the governor cannot award or influence a contract, there is far less of a reason to pay to play.

Third, the governor must be prevented from making any decision that alters the level of government service received by a citizen or business. Equality and equity in government service must be managed with rigor. Decisions regarding roads, for example, must be based on statewide priorities and not which legislator voted with the Governor.

Without a commitment to deep change and reform, the current episode of corruption in Illinois will pass with a resignation or two, the rotation of political chairs, a few lengthy trials, cries of outrage and not one bit of meaningful difference. Let's hope for a change in Governors and the laws of government.

• Peter Burchard is the former city manager of Naperville and village manager of Hoffman Estates. He now works with a medical management company in Georgia.