Illinois politics can be difficult to understand. From a perceived culture of pervasive political corruption to the rise of billionaire backers, shifting regional alliances, and the continued control of the so-called Four Tops — the legislative leaders in the General Assembly — it’s a confusing landscape.
But there is help. Illinois Politics: A Citizens’ Guide to Power, Politics, and Government has a new edition. The first update in 14 years is out Aug. 5 from the University of Illinois Press.
Lead author Melissa Mauritsen of the College of Dupage said the grouping of traditional regional power blocs of Chicago, the suburbs, and downstate has changed to Chicago and Cook County, the collar counties, and downstate.
“I think our traditional, sort of understanding of state politics was that Chicago was kind of an island unto itself, and that the suburbs were almost like this monolith,” Mauritsen said.
In reality, she said suburbs such as Berwyn and Cicero have a lot more in common with Chicago than they do with, say Naperville, on issues of interest and challenges they face.
“The suburbs are unique and distinctive,” Mauritsen said. “Those almost-micro contextual factors make a difference when we are trying to understand the politics that happen at the ground level, but also how then the state officials interact with each other in the General Assembly.”
Politics and demographics
Mauritsen and her co-authors Kent Redfield and James Nowlan note that Illinois has become a far more diverse state than it was at the time of the last edition of the book. And rising diversity from the growth of Latino and Asian populations has contributed to greater political polarization.
“The resource needs are just different. That’s caused a change within the [Democratic] party itself which isn’t always the same as the changes that’s happening with the party at the national level,” Mauritsen said. “What Democrats are arguing about in Kansas is not the same as what Democrats are arguing about here in Illinois.”
She said another consequence of increasing diversity is a shift in need for certain services on a regional level. The influx of Latino immigrants has strained some suburban governments in contrast to the City of Chicago.
“Because the city is prepared for it. The city has departments in the municipality. They have groups that work traditionally with immigrants such as Italians and Irish 100 years ago. But the suburbs are ill prepared to deal with a lot of this stuff. They don't have the resources. And in some areas, they just don't believe in it. It's not necessarily part of their political culture to do this sort of stuff,” said Mauritsen.
Corruption
Illinois politics is famously corrupt. Co-author Nowlan, served on the staff of three different Illinois governors and in his bio-blurb felt it necessary to note those three did not end up indicted or convicted. A well-known book about Illinois governors cited in Mauritsen’s new work is titled Mostly Good and Competent Men.
There was an apparent need to add the proviso "mostly."
Much of the reputation centers on the City of Chicago, but Mauritsen said that is misleading. She said the culture of corruption is wider and deeper than just the legendary Chicago machine and a bit of the state legislature.
“Several studies showed it's almost as pervasive in many suburbs, so we can't turn a blind eye and just say, 'Oh, that's a city problem,'” said Mauritsen.
The news is not all bad.
“Recent studies within the past two, three, four years have shown that corruption is actually on the decline in Illinois,” she said. “We still rank number one as a region, but if we look at year over year, we are starting to decline, so that’s a good thing.”
The authors acknowledge the 2006 convictions of both Illinois governor George Ryan and his campaign committee, the 2009 impeachment, removal, and conviction of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the 2023 Com Ed lobbying scandal, the 2024 conviction of Democratic Chicago alderman Edward Burke and the scheduled October corruption trial of former Speaker of the Illinois House and state Democratic Party of Illinois chair Michael Madigan might make the idea of an improving climate a difficult one to swallow.
Mauritsen said even when acts of corruption do occur only in one place, like Chicago, the effects are statewide.
“Two things: a physical consequence, a thieving of resources which leaves a neighborhood, a municipality, a community without….but the larger consequence is mistrust and disbelief that Illinois can provide proper governance because everyone just assumes, 'Oh, someone's on the take. The fix is in,'” said Mauritsen.
She said for Illinois to confront big challenges such as the generationally-present pension funding adequacy problem, the state will need trust in government and elected officials to do it.
In the book, Mauritsen, Nowlan, and Redfield write “there's never been a time when the political leadership of the state has come together, absent the pressure of a recent, major political scandal, and committed to a comprehensive effort to think about how a statutory and behavioral norm driven regime could be developed,”
There are a couple reasons for the lack of broad action, Mauritsen said.
“If you’re running for office, ethics is a great thing to run on, but when you get there you have so much stuff to do it’s not that ethics falls to the wayside, but ethics is more amorphous,” she said.
Gaining consensus on definitions of ethical behavior is trickier than one might think, too. For instance, some may view two brothers serving on the same park district board as a no-no. Others might have no problem with it.
“Also, I think it is because when our elected officials get into office, there is so much other stuff, there’s immediate problems that are confronting them that they have to deal with before a flood or a tornado or some other crisis,” said Mauritsen.
She noted there does seem to be a lack of political will at the highest levels of state government to address ethics reform in a systemic way.
“And what explains the lack of political will? You know, if we can find somebody who has that answer and then can turn it on and motivate them, they should be the next governor of Illinois,” said Mauritsen.
Billionaire backers
As populations have changed the dynamic of Illinois politics, so have the actors who fund the political apparatus. In the previous era, political parties were the major distributors of campaign money. In recent years, extremely wealthy individuals have sought to apply their political values to the entire state by backing specific candidates.
Former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, GOP billionaire funders Ken Griffin and Richard Uihlein, and current Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker are all examples of how cash boodles amplify a single voice in government.
“A particular sort of influence that has made a lot of other people look at the United States and say we’re more oligarchical instead of a democracy,” Mauritsen said. “If I run a campaign and I can get the support of a billionaire, then that’s all I need.”
The presence of billionaires has had an outside influence on state politics, she said. The absence of such a figure also has an effect when interest wanes, as in the case of the departure of Griffin and Rauner from state politics.
“I think we're seeing that sort of a little bit with the Illinois Republican Party now that some of the billionaires have left, and so the Illinois Republican Party doesn't have funding, and they can't get their message out,” said Mauritsen. “If I'm a Republican, even in a purple area, and I have a hard time getting my message out, it means that there's less representation.”
Nuts and bolts
In the book, there are new separate chapters on social policies or people services, where most of the state spending happens and on social regulation of individual behavior.
“What we had heard from people who had read our book or were familiar with our work was there was a particular interest in state regulation,” Mauritsen said.
She emphasized the book is not just for academics or political junkies. It’s a guide for those who want to understand Illinois politics.
“We've taken great care to make it not seem text-booky, to make it accessible to the average person…so that it's friendly and accessible and helps people understand," said Mauritsen.
"You know more about Illinois, we talk about government, but we also talk about politics so that you can have a holistic understanding. This is a citizen's guide. Do you want to be a citizen of Illinois? Here's a way to help you understand.”