The Latest Breaking News from Dick Simpson

Calculating the true cost of corruption on Illinois residents is a complicated task wrapped in contradiction. A WBEZ analysis shows people may be more cynical, government more expensive, but voter interest in state elections only increased. 

Political science professor Constance Mixon’s testimony about government operations will be crucial to helping jury understand the racketeering case against former City Council member Ed Burke, prosecutors say.

On March 31, 2003, bulldozers sent by Mayor Richard M. Daley destroyed the runway at Meigs Field. The move was seen then and now as an example of mayoral overreach.

U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber noted that “emphasizing the history of corruption and election fraud that marked the early years of the machine could prejudice defendants.”

“Some of these guys have made out like bandits,” the former Illinois House Speaker was allegedly recorded saying of associates who benefited from what prosecutors describe as a scheme for jobs and contracts. He’s far from the first Chicago pol to trip over a federal wire.

Objections to nominating petitions reach a 40-year low in this year’s municipal election cycle. “I think everybody was surprised at how few challenges there were,” said longtime Chicago election attorney Michael Dorf.

The City Hall exodus needn’t be cause to panic. Chicago has experienced turnover before, and our city survived and emerged even stronger.

From June 12, 2019 through March 23, 2022, Lightfoot survived 131 divided roll calls, according to the new study by the University of Illinois at Chicago. That’s compared to just 54 during the last of Richard M. Daley’s six terms and 67 divided roll calls during the first of Rahm…

CHICAGO — University of Illinois Chicago professor Dick Simpson has lived a life in Chicago’s political and academic spheres for more than 50 years: 44th Ward alderman from 1971-1979; executive board member of the Illinois Political Science Association, a former congressional candidate, political consultant, author and has served on transition…