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Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as Illinois ethics

"Dear Columnist: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no such thing as ethics in Illinois. Papa says, 'If you see it in the Daily Herald, it's so.' Please tell me the truth: are there ethics in Illinois?" - Virginia Feduptohere, Libertyville.

Yes, Virginia, there are ethics in Illinois. Just as sure as there is a Santa Claus.

Admittedly, the land of Honest Abe has taken an ethics hit recently. Gov. Rod Blagojevich - arrested in what Feds called "a political corruption crime spree" - has become a walking punch line and the international poster boy for unethical politicians. Meanwhile, George Ryan, the crooked governor before Blagojevich, is trying to get out of prison early.

"The Daily Show" suggested that murderers have a 48 percent chance of getting arrested, convicted and sentenced to prison, while 50 percent of recent Illinois governors have gone (or could soon go) to prison.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said allegations that Blagojevich was trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat "would make Lincoln roll over in his grave."

Not sure what Lincoln's body is doing, but a bust of his head sits in the office of University of Illinois ethics officer Donna McNeely - winner of the Illinois Executive Ethics Commission's 2008 Abraham Lincoln Ethics Award.

"It's really heavy and it looks kind of copperish," says McNeely, 42, who trains, informs and sets the ethical standards for 45,000 university employees. "I'm very proud of it in my office."

I could make a joke about how much you'd have to contribute to an Illinois executive to win an ethics award, but McNeely has heard a few jokes already.

"Every once in a while someone will ask if ethics training applies to everyone in the state," McNeely says. But she is glad that ethics are getting attention.

She gets out the word about what is allowed (a gift of a $20 letter opener from a vendor) and what isn't (any pay-to-play nonsense), and also encourages university employees to ask questions about ethics before making a poor decision.

"It's hard to go backwards if you've already made a decision," McNeely says. "We receive a large number of calls in that way, because employees do want to do the right thing."

But ethics in Illinois could be much better if the state's ethics laws had teeth.

"On closer review, it doesn't even have a worn set of dentures," says Jim Brennan, a Wheaton lawyer who serves on the Illinois Executive Ethics Commission. "We've been pretty outspoken in the years of our existence that this ethics act isn't getting the job done."

Brennan, 43, a former seminary student and father of four, works as director of compliance for Reyes Holdings LLC., a food and beverage distributor headquartered in Rosemont. He and his fellow commissioners - the position pays about $37,000 a year - want more transparency and rules that crack down on more than minor violations.

"How much strength does that have when you have these wholesale, uncontrolled campaign contributions into the political process?" asks Brennan, a former chairman of the commission. "Boy, we're really eager to see something more substantial."

Brennan, who notes that he was appointed as a Republican by Blagojevich, says commissioners such as author and lawyer Scott Turow and Catholic priest John Cusick have helped make the ethics commission very ethical.

"I'm proud to be on it. It can be seen as a punch line, I'm well aware of that," Brennan says. "But our defense is that, if nothing else, we are very sincere. We're doing our best-We think that ethics can be strongly improved."

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