 Seven public officials in Illinois’ Metro East area were arrested Dec. 5 on
corruption charges as part of a federal investigation. Included in the arrests
are an East St. Louis councilwoman, two East St. Louis Township trustees and a
St. Clair County Board of Review member. The charges include official
misconduct, bribery, forgery and using public resources for personal gain. These
corruption arrests show why Illinois residents desperately need government
transparency and accountability.
June Hamilton Dean, an East St. Louis City Councilwoman, was among those charged
Dec. 5. She was charged with the intent to defraud for making a false letter of
employment for another person. She is also a financial consultant for the East
St. Louis Township, where her brother was supervisor, and where she took in
$33,000 in taxpayer-funded compensation.
In fact, these arrests come on the heels of a separate corruption case where
East St. Louis Township Supervisor Oliver Hamilton pleaded guilty to wire fraud
Dec. 1. Hamilton used the township credit card to pay for personal expenses,
such as a personal trip to Las Vegas. He also used public funds to pay for
building materials for his personal construction business. But not only did he
hold the position of Township Supervisor, he also sat on the St. Clair County
Board and East Side Health District. As part of his plea agreement, he was
forced to resign from all his government positions and is barred from employment
with any government entity in the future.
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 All of these instances of corruption show why Metro East
residents urgently need government transparency. In fact, East St.
Louis was audited in 2014 as part of the Local Government
Transparency Project and, unsurprisingly, received a failing score
for transparency. Government transparency is imperative in order for
residents to hold their public officials accountable because
transparency would make it more difficult for public officials to
engage in theft and back door deals. This is why the Illinois Policy
Institute supports legislation to encourage both transparency and
accountability.
In light of all these arrests, East St. Louis taxpayers are the
losers here. Taxpayers are stuck footing the bill for insider and
back-door deals, theft and mismanagement of public funds. Moving
forward, East St. Louis politicians need to take steps to ensure
theft and corruption do not occur in the future, like making vital
financial documents, taxpayer funded contracts and any public
meetings accessible for the public to view online.
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