As part of the series “ Culture of Corruption ,” the Tribune has compiled a list of roughly 200 convicted, indicted or generally notorious public officials from Illinois’ long and infamous political history. We’re calling it “ The Dishonor Roll .” On this page you can read about those who served in statewide offices.
This list isn’t meant to be exhaustive, and the Tribune will be updating it as warranted. “The Dishonor Roll” draws heavily from the vast archives of the Tribune, including photography and pages from the newspaper on the days these public officials made headlines. Read more of “The Dishonor Roll” below: Federal officials General Assembly Downstate and suburban officials Judges Cook County officials Chicago officials Former Gov.
Rod Blagojevich waves as he leaves his Chicago home for a federal prison in Colorado in 2012.(William DeShazer/Chicago Tribune) Rod Blagojevich was elected governor in 2002 and served until 2009 when he became the first Illinois governor in history to be impeached and removed from office. The impeachment occurred after Blagojevich was arrested in late 2008 by federal law enforcement on a series of corruption charges, including attempting to sell the U.
S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama. At Blagojevich’s first trial, he was convicted of lying to the FBI but the jury was hung on other charges.
Rod Blagojevich saga timeline: From arrest to Donald Trump’s commutation to the end of his supervised release At his second trial, in 2011, Blagojevich was found guilty on the more widespread allegations, including the Senate seat charges, trying to shake down a children’s hospital leader in exchange for sending money approved for pediatric services, and seeking a $100,000 contribution from a horse track owner in exchange for signing favorable legislation. In 2020, President Donald Trump, a Republican later convicted of felonies himself, commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year sentence to about 8 years served. Former Illinois Treasurer Jerry Cosentino leaves the Dirksen Federal Building after pleading guilty to a U.
S. bank fraud charge in 1992. (Carl Wagner/Chicago Tribune) Jerry Cosentino, who served two separate four-year terms as Illinois’ treasurer, pleaded guilty to bank fraud in 1992, after leaving office.
He later was sentenced to nine months of home confinement and five years’ probation and fined $5,000. Cosentino admitted writing millions of dollars in bad checks to keep his trucking company in business. The company later went defunct.
Former state Auditor Orville Hodge, center, appears at the U.S. courthouse in 1957.
(Chicago Tribune) Orville Hodge was a former state representative and Illinois’ auditor of public accounts from 1953 to 1956. As auditor, Hodge embezzled looting and squandering more than $2.5 million in public funds.
He had a lavish lifestyle, including purchasing two private planes, multiple automobiles and luxury homes in Illinois and Florida. Once the scandal broke, Hodge resigned, pleaded guilty and went to prison in 1956. He served nearly 6 1/2 years in prison and paid restitution.
In a letter to Illinois Gov. William Stratton, former Illinois Auditor Orville Hodge said he would make restitution for the missing funds by liquidating his holdings. (Chicago Tribune) The Chicago Daily News won a Pulitzer Prize for its work in revealing Hodge’s crimes, and the state created separate treasurer and comptroller positions to replace the single auditor in order to keep better track of the state’s money.
Former Gov. Otto Kerner, shown at O’Hare International Airport in 1975 after his release from federal prison, was found guilty of bribery and other crimes. (Frank Hanes/Chicago Tribune) Otto Kerner, who was governor from 1961 to 1968, was accused of secretly buying stock in 1966 in the Arlington Park and Washington Park horse racing tracks.
The former governor, whom some called “Mr. Clean,” got the stock at a steep discount allegedly in exchange for political favors. Kerner, who had resigned as governor to become a judge in the U.
S. Court of Appeals in Chicago, was found guilty in February 1973 of bribery, conspiracy and income tax evasion. Former Illinois Gov.
Otto Kerner, then a U.S. Court of Appeals judge, was convicted with former state revenue director Theodore Isaacs in 1973.
(Chicago Tribune) U.S. Attorney James Thompson, who later became governor himself, alleged Kerner profited from a deal in which he purchased stocks at low prices from Marjorie Lindheimer Everett , the leading figure in Illinois racing at the time.
Kerner then sold those same stocks back to Everett at higher prices. In exchange, Kerner made favorable decisions regarding racing matters. He became the first sitting U.
S. appellate judge to be convicted in the nation’s history and also perjured himself before a federal grand jury. He was sentenced to three years in prison and fined $50,000.
Kerner denied any wrongdoing. Gov. Joel Aldrich Matteson’s portrait hangs in the Hall of Governors at the Illinois State Capitol.
(State of Illinois) Joel Aldrich Matteson was Illinois’ 10th governor, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was also the first chief executive to reside in the Illinois Governor’s Mansion in Springfield, which was completed in 1855. The namesake of the south suburb was accused of defrauding the state of $388,528 in 1859, after serving his term as governor.
An investigation was dropped after Matteson promised to pay the state back, even though he maintained his innocence. State Auditor Oscar Nelson is flanked by defense attorneys David Joslyn, left, and R.K.
Welsh in a Woodstock courtroom in 1931. (Chicago Tribune) Oscar Nelson was both Illinois treasurer and auditor of public accounts from 1923 to 1933 (he announced in 1932 he would not seek reelection ). Nelson was accused of misfeasance on a charge that he had failed in his duty by delaying the closing of the Waukegan State Bank long after he knew of its poor financial condition.
During the nine months Nelson left the bank open, the bank’s assets dissipated. After two weeks of trial, Illinois Auditor Oscar Nelson was acquitted on June 30, 1932, when a judge ruled the courts had no jurisdiction in the matter. (Chicago Tribune) But a Lake County judge directed the jury to acquit the auditor, saying the courts had no jurisdiction to try a state officer for misfeasance or other dereliction of his official duties.
A prosecutor called the ruling a “legal technicality.” Secretary of State Paul Powell, center, leaves the DuPage County Courthouse after appearing before a grand jury in 1966. (Frank Fusco/Chicago Tribune) A former speaker of the Illinois House, Paul Powell was Illinois secretary of state from 1965 until he died in 1970 in Rochester, Minnesota.
He became one of Illinois’ most notorious politicians after about $750,000 was found inside his Springfield room at the St. Nicholas Hotel after his death, providing an enduring symbol of the shady side of Illinois politics. The Tribune reported Powell’s executor said the money was found in a shoe box, two leather briefcases and three steel strongboxes hidden behind old whiskey cases and mixed among the old clothing in the closet.
From hero to bum in a flash: How an Illinois politician’s shoebox of money exposed the rot of corruption Even though his annual salary never topped $30,000, Powell’s estate after his death was deemed worth more than $3 million as a result of his bribe taking, investigations later determined. Powell during his life was famous for his folksy sayings, including, “There’s only one thing worse than a defeated politician, and that’s a broke politician.” Andrew Russel, a former state auditor, around the late 1920s.
(Chicago Herald and Examiner) Andrew Russel, who served two terms as state treasurer and was the state’s auditor from 1917 to 1925, died in prison on the day his application for a presidential pardon was received in Washington. With a long career in politics and banking, he was vice president of Ayers National Bank in Jacksonville when it failed in 1932. Russel’s overdrafts had reached more than $1.
3 million. He was indicted for misapplication of bank funds. He served three months of an 18-month sentence for violations of the National Banking Act.
Photographers and reporters surround former Gov. George Ryan outside the Dirksen U.S.
Courthouse after jurors found him guilty of corruption charges in 2006. (Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune) George Ryan was governor of Illinois from 1999 to 2003. He chose not to run for a second term amid a brewing scandal and ongoing federal investigation related to his time as Illinois secretary of state.
Ryan was convicted in 2006 on 18 felony counts, including racketeering conspiracy, tax and mail fraud and lying to the FBI. After a historic trial, a federal jury in its 11th day of deliberations found former Illinois Gov. George Ryan guilty on all 18 counts.
(Chicago Tribune) Prosecutors accused him of receiving illegal cash payments and gifts during his time as secretary of state and governor. The former governor was given a 6 1/2 year prison sentence. He spent more than five years in a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, and was released from home confinement in 2013.
Former Illinois Attorney General William Scott talks to reporters at the Dirksen courthouse in 1982. Scott was convicted of income tax evasion. (Roy Hall/Chicago Tribune) William Scott was Illinois treasurer and attorney general from 1969 to 1980.
He resigned after he was convicted in 1980 of converting political campaign contributions to personal use without paying income taxes on the money. After 46 hours of deliberations, a federal jury found Illinois Attorney General William Scott guilty of filing a false income tax return. (Chicago Tribune) A day before his conviction, Scott lost the 1980 GOP primary for U.
S. Senate against Lt. Gov.
Dave O’Neal. Scott was released from prison in 1982 after serving seven months of a 366-day sentence . Gov.
Lennington “Len” Small in an undated photo. (Chicago Tribune historical photo) Lennington “Len” Small, a Kankakee farmer, was elected governor in 1920. Just seven months after taking office, the former state senator was indicted on charges of conspiracy and embezzling state funds, later tabbed at $1 million, while he was state treasurer.
The attorney general charged that Small deposited state funds in an inactive bank near Kankakee and then lent the money to Chicago meatpackers, collecting about 6 percent interest. Small would then refill state coffers at about 3 percent interest, according to the charges. He never accounted for the difference.
Len Small: Perhaps the dirtiest Illinois governor of them all Small testified at his trial and was acquitted — after just an hour and a half of deliberation — which allowed him to continue as governor until 1929. Six of the jurors in Small’s trial were rewarded with state jobs or in other ways, the Tribune reported in 1932, raising suspicions of jury tampering. Though still insisting he didn’t owe the state any money, Small later settled the state’s claim against him for $650,000 .
Former Gov. William Stratton, center, walks with his wife, Shirley, in 1965 after Stratton’s acquittal on tax evasion charges. (John Austad/Chicago Tribune) William Stratton was Illinois’ governor for two terms from 1953 to 1961.
Four years after he left the Governor’s Mansion, Stratton was indicted on charges of violating income tax laws, related to the way he spent some of his campaign cash. He was acquitted of income tax evasion in 1965. William G.
Stratton, who served two terms as Illinois governor, was found not guilty on March 11, 1965. (Chicago Tribune) Former Illinois Gov. Dan Walker was sentenced in 1987 to seven years in prison after being convicted of misusing funds from his failed savings and loan association.
(Frank Hanes/Chicago Tribune) Dan Walker was elected governor in 1972 after spending much of his campaign walking 1,197 miles from Brookport on the state’s southern border to South Beloit on Illinois’ northern border. In just a few years, Walker went from obscurity to pulling off an against-all-odds political upset to being a has-been. He served only one term and was succeeded as governor by James Thompson.
Former Illinois. Gov. Dan Walker pleaded guilty on Aug.
5, 1987, to federal charges that he improperly received nearly $1.4 million in loans, some of them from a savings and loan association he owned. (Chicago Tribune) Ten years later, on Aug.
5, 1987, a day before his 65th birthday, Walker pleaded guilty to bank fraud in connection with $1.4 million in loans from his failed First American Savings and Loan Association of Oak Brook. The money was used to help finance a chain of quick oil-change franchises and for personal expenses, including operation of an 80-foot luxury yacht, the Governor’s Lady.
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