McHenry Times

State Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) wonders about the accuracy of the numbers detailed in a new study that puts the tab Illinois taxpayers are forced to pay in corruption costs each year at over $550 million.

“You have to remember the fact that someone actually put a number to any of this probably means they only considered the corruption they can actually trace,” Ugaste told the McHenry Times. “The sad reality is the numbers are probably much higher when you factor in everything that’s happening.”

As it is, the University of Illinois at Chicago study pegs the annual price tag at $556 million and at over $10 billion for the last two decades.

Ugaste argues it’s not easy to see why when you consider that over the last year at least four lawmakers in Springfield have already been indicted on federal corruption charges, adding yet another chapter to the state’s long sordid history of having seen four governors jailed on corruption charges over the last five decades.

And then there is House Speaker Mike Madigan, the state’s longest-tenured lawmaker, who finds himself at the center of an ongoing federal probe involving utility giant ComEd and a pay-for-play scheme.

“It leaves you speechless when you stop to think about all the services the state could pay for with those kinds of added resources instead of just going to line people’s pockets,” Ugaste added. “And again, this is just the corruption they can directly tie to taxpayer money and state funds. It doesn’t address a lot of other stuff like ghost payrolling and the like.”

To bring about the kind of change Ugaste insists many voters tell him they want to see, the veteran lawmaker is imploring them to take charge.

“All of it goes back to electing more republicans in the House,” he said. “If that ever happens, Madigan would no longer be House speaker and that’s a start in terms of voting for the ethics and pension reforms we need.”