She Loves It When They Act Dirty
Corruption is delicious and journalists in Chicago have been gorging themselves on it for generations. But there is always a new way to slice the shank, and in October of 1987 the Tribune served up what it would describe as something new: a City Council expose in the form of “a systematic investigation of the institution as a whole.”
“And in the City Hall press room . . . a radio station recorded that the typical response was: We knew this all along, even though we’ve reported little about it.”
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In its superbly thorough way, the Tribune then sought an expert explanation for this cynical behavior. It turned to an instructor of business ethics at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Vivian Weil, who “said this sneering attitude may be the biggest stumbling block to reform in Chicago.” The Tribune quoted her as observing: “One of the things that is important to remember is that there is a long-entrenched way of doing things in the city. It’s very hard to get out from under such revered practices.”
The morning of the day the committees met, the Tribune editorial page spoke. Predicting approval, the Tribune advised: “When aldermen become good-government converts, it’s wise to look at motives. . . . Some aldermen who normally wince at the mere mention of reform may be hoping to sidestep a lawsuit. . . . But let’s not be finicky. If the end result is a measure of accountability in the nation’s most irresponsible legislative body, why carry on about motives?”
“It’s not true that Chicago government isn’t ready for reform. It’s been ready a long time–ready to take any alleged reform measure and twist it into a new and more intricate way to bilk the public.”
We asked Wille about the affection of muckrakers for their muck.
“It’s the difference between moderate-minded people who hate corruption, and progressives. They never get to why things get passed,” Orr told us. When the council is finagled into doing the right thing despite itself, he wishes this political coup were reported as civic progress, rather than as just another sort of shenanigan.
