|
OUTGOING
CHICAGO FBI CHIEF HINTS AT MORE CORRUPTION INDICTMENTS, CALLS FOR TERM
LIMITS
Illinois Policy Institute/
Vincent Caruso
Chicago’s top FBI officer offered term
limits as one solution to Chicago’s culture of corruption, suggesting
more revelations are on their way, as he moves into an executive role in
Washington, D.C.
|
|
 Chicago’s top-ranking FBI officer accepted a position at the
bureau’s Washington, D.C., headquarters after leading a string of high-profile
corruption crackdowns in the city – and suggested there are more on the way.
Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Sallet, who has led the FBI’s Chicago field
office since 2017, has overseen federal investigations into some of Chicago and
Illinois’ most entrenched power brokers. During Sallet’s brief tenure, the
outgoing officer led a 14-count indictment against powerful Ald. Ed Burke, 14th
Ward, Chicago’s longest-serving alderman; and a series of federal raids on the
homes of high-ranking political insiders that appears to be circling in on
Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, the nation’s longest-serving Statehouse
speaker.
While Sallet’s role as Chicago’s top federal agent is ending, Chicagoans can
expect federal investigations into their city leaders to continue: “Chicago
should expect more to come,” Sallet told the Chicago Tribune in a Sept. 4
interview. “Our corruption program is extremely busy.”
Sallet, 48, started his 22-year career dealing with East Coast crime syndicates,
WGN-TV reported. “I’ve been to some of the most ethically challenged government
locations in the U.S., Chicago is an ethically and morally challenged government
area.”
One solution to Chicago’s endemic corruption problem? Term limits, according to
Sallet. The longer elected leaders remain in office, the longer they can
accumulate – and abuse – power, Sallet said in the WGN interview.
Because only 15 states impose term limits on state lawmakers, it remains a
question whether lengthy political lifespans breed corruption. But it is true
that the states that suffer corruption in its most severe forms are more likely
to be states without term limits.
[to top of second column] |
For example, seven of the 10 most corruption-prone
states, as measured by the States with Anti-Corruption Measures for
Public Officials Index, have no term limits on state lawmakers.
Among the 10 most corrupt states – a slightly different metric than
“corruption-proneness” – seven do not impose term limits, according
to a separate study by the University of Illinois, Chicago. That
study also ranked Chicago the nation’s most corrupt big city.
Nine of the 10 largest cities in the nation impose some form of term
limits on elected leaders. Chicago is the only outlier, according to
U.S. Term Limits. At the executive level, Illinois is one of just 14
states that does not have term limits on its governors. In 2017, the
Illinois Senate passed a 10-year term limit on its Senate president,
the state’s only term limit on a statewide office.
Sallet’s time in office saw more elected leaders ensnared by federal
agents than power brokers such as Burke and those in Madigan’s inner
circle. The unfolding investigation into Burke revealed former
Chicago Ald. Danny Solis had worn a wire to record Burke, in
cooperation with the FBI. Weeks following the Burke indictment, FBI
agents raided the ward office of Ald. Carrie Austin, 34th Ward; and
a federal court sentenced former Ald. Willie Cochran to one year in
prison on corruption charges.
In August, a federal indictment against state Sen. Tom Cullerton,
D-Villa Park, on embezzlement charges became the latest political
corruption bombshell to drop during Sallet’s tenure. Cullerton has
pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot both campaigned
on promises to fight corruption and clean up state and local
government, respectively. Lightfoot has moved the city closer to
those goals by empowering the city watchdog and limiting conflicts
of interest, as well as introducing reforms to the city’s
controversial workers’ comp program and ticketing-and-towing scheme.
Pritzker, himself the subject of an active federal investigation
into property tax appeals, has been inactive at best.
Click here to respond to the editor about this article |
