Shed cynicism and demand change
"Some people," reflected Chicago inspector general David Hoffman, "aren't cynical."
It's those people that the Illinois Reform Commission needs as it tries to sell a sweeping plan to curb corruption in Illinois politics.
Hoffman's comment came in a response to Managing Editor Madeleine Doubek as he and reform commission Chairman Patrick Collins previewed the group's proposals - officially announced Tuesday. Doubek wondered how the commission thinks its ideas will play to a populace practically enfeebled by weariness from decades of corrupt politicians.
Almost as much to underscore the formidable challenge of the state's political culture as to demonstrate its effect, Hoffman, Collins and other commissioners offered a video clip at their Tuesday news conference showing what a laughingstock the state has become. So, the elephant-in-the-room question hulking over the entire effort is, do we have the will to make a change?
Hoffman, obviously believes so, and Collins, who told our editorial board he's "not going to accept that nothing happens out of all this," clearly wants his group's efforts to bear substantial fruit. But achieving even the most rudimentary of the commission's aims will require a public outcry like little the state has ever seen before.
Consider the reaction from state Senate President John Cullerton earlier this year in a separate meeting with the Daily Herald editorial board. Cullerton said flatly he thinks everything is fine with Illinois' disclosure-based system of oversight.
His counterpart in the House, Democratic Speaker Mike Madigan, has likewise made no secret of his opposition to any effort to substantially alter the way money fuels politics in Illinois.
Gov. Pat Quinn, who while still lieutenant governor, set up the Illinois Reform Commission, is presumably more inclined toward reform, but even he kept his cards close to his vest after the commission's Tuesday news conference.
So, the issue for reform in Illinois politics isn't just whether the commission's ideas are valid. Almost universally, they are. They would increase accountability in campaign fundraising, significantly improve transparency, limit the impact of big-money contributors and increase the public's controls over the entire process.
The issue is whether we as citizens have had enough of suffering both the humiliation and the practical expenses of living in one of the most corrupt states in the union or whether we are so inured to the culture that we can't muster the resolve to demand change.
Our political leadership not only lacks that resolve, it lacks the fundamental interest. So, we are left to place our faith in Hoffman's cryptic observation that some people are not cynical. In them - and we count ourselves among the group - we must find the energy to effect change.