PAYING THE PRICE FOR CORRUPTION

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STANDARD

By LesLey R. Chinn

The following is the first of a threepartseries on the impact of corruptionon taxpayers in Illinois and inChicago as Americans face tougheconomic times. This week, theCitizen focuses on how minoritycommunities suffer when corruptionoccurs, particularly as it relatesto social programs that helpstrengthen communities. In parttwo, well examine corruption inhigher education and focus on whathappens when minority applicantsare shut out of the admissionsprocess when getting accepted intoa college or university is based onpower and clout. Finally, an analysisof political corruption and theprice local communities pay inurban areas will encompass partthree of this report.

Instead of using funds appropriatedby the state to pay for importantsocial programs that help build communities,taxpayers are paying millionsof dollars annually for the priceof corruption.

A recent Chicago Sun-Times articlepointed out that $2.7 million wasreportedly wasted in state grants thatcould have gone towards helpingcommunities with social programsincluding job training services forhomeless men, youth services forAfrican-Americans and literacytraining for others.

While a Chicago Coalition for theHomeless report recently noted thatIllinois should invest $2 million intransitional jobs programs with atherapy focus for people living insupportive housing facilities to helpthem move out of poverty and homelessness,Thomas J. Gradel, the coresearcherof a study entitled, CuringCorruption in Illinois: Anti-Corruption Report at the Universityof Illinois said, Youre not only rippingoff the taxpayers, but the homelesspeople that could have got thetraining. The people who were supposedto get the training, [didntreceive] access to a job. The businesseswould have benefited from thetrained employees. So theres awhole ripple effect caused by takingmoney to provide training and notproviding it, Gradel said.According to the Coalitions report,less than one percent of the $270 millionspent on workforce developmentin Chicago in 2004 targeted thehomeless. The report pointed toanother UIC study in 2001 on homelessnessin the city and stated that ofthe 1,300 homeless adults in the collarcounties, 19 percent were militaryveterans; 31.4 percent had beenincarcerated, 46.3 percent were substanceabusers and 13.8 percent werementally ill.

In addition to groups like the homeless,its the children who end up payingthe price through school dropoutsand incarceration when funds fail toreach the people it was supposed tohelp, said Marrice Coverson, founderof the Institute for Positive Living, anon-profit organization that helpsfamilies solve educational, social andeconomic problems.

While 63 percent of Black male studentsin the Chicago Public Schoolsfailed to graduate in 2005-2006according to a study conducted bythe Schott Foundation for PublicEducation based in Massachusetts,Coverson said, Were going to lookup and were not going to have qualitypeople to run our hospitals orbanks.

But the cost on taxpayers is just ashigh than it is on society overall. Inthe report Curing Corruption inIllinois, UIC researchers found thattaxpayers have paid an estimated$500 million a year, tallying scandalsthat have included:

*Gov. Blagojevichs well-publicizedcorruption case that lowered thestates bond rating and cost morethan $20 million extra for the laststate bond;*Unused hired trucks that cost thecity $42 million in the 2004 HiredTruck Scandal;

*Sale of truckers licenses for bribesin the 1994License for BribesScandal at a taxpayer cost of almost$5 million and;*Silver Shovel of 1996 cost $5.4 millionin taxpayer dollars. The investigationinvolved public officials misusingtheir offices by allowing illegallandfills and other environmentalabuses to occur.

The cost of these scandals is notfunny and its not free, said Gradel,who added corruption pushes theprice of everything up from food andgas to other services while citizensend up paying the price if they wantto receive basic services they needjust to live in the city. In turn, theyreceive less of a benefit for their taxdollars than they actually deserve, hesaid. For the people who are caughtup in these corruption cases, itsgoing to cost [them] more than whatits worth, Gradel added.

But Coverson said indirectly, otherorganizations that are trying to do theright thing, also suffer when theirorganizations reputations are jeopardizedas a result of unethicalbehavior. People make a generalassumption that the majority of nonprofitsare not doing what they aresupposed to be doing with the fundsand that is not true, Coverson stated.When non-profits get funding,Coverson suggested that they shouldbe prepared to be monitored andevaluated.

Although Gradel believes that someoperators do what they say they aregoing to do with state grants, its alsoa question of oversight, he said. Thecity doles out so many grants perward and no one pays attention tohow effectively the programs arebeing run, he added. Minority communitiesare susceptible to being,ripped off, by operators becausethe majority community, tends tolook at distributing grants in theseareas as a way to win favors with thecommunity. So in turn, Theres noreal effort to scrutinize it closely tomake sure its working, he continued.

Accepting the evidence of corruption,Gradel believes will lead to thereality that changes need to be made.Some of those efforts have includedthe City of Chicago InspectorGeneral and the Office of the U.S.Attorney General investigating casesthat have led to the arrests of numerouselected officials. Once citizensbecome informed about corruptionactivities, Gradel said that they haveto make sure wrongdoers getcaught and punished for theiractions. As soon as the players realizethat its going to cost more than itbenefits, then the behavior willchange, he said.

Efforts to reduce corruption havebeen passed by the Illinois legislaturethat involve a series of ethics reformsincluding new requirements for quarterlyreporting of contracts greaterthan $25,000; the right for the state toaudit programs receiving grants; andthe ability to suspend grants for noncompliance.This measure is currentlyawaiting Gov. Pat Quinns signature.

Additionally, since January 2009,the state has obtained nearly $2 millionin wasted grants, according toDepartment of Commerce andEconomic Opportunity spokesmanAshley Cross. Anytime that welearn that taxpayer money wasntspent appropriately, we take that seriouslyand [take] whatever steps [necessary]to get that money back,Cross said.

John Paul Jones, an Englewoodcommunity resident, said that ethicsreform is not going to be a quickfix because the challenge lies inbroadening the communicationbetween elected officials and knowledgeabout how government works.Those issues are not discussed incommunity settings. Until we get tothat point where people can be comfortabletalking about those thingswith their state officials withoutbeing blackballed, were going tohave a disconnect of having statereform, he said.

Lisette Livingston contributed tothis story

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