Illinois has long history of corruption among governors

KSDK -- While Governor Blagojevich's arrest was stunning, it was just the latest in a long line of Illinois governors who have been arrested while in office or after.

Taylor Pensoneau, a former political reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has written books about two former governors. He said seven of Illinois' 40 governors have been indicted.

Otto Kerner was governor for seven years before he resigned in 1968 to accept a Presidential appointment to the federal appellate court. He was later convicted of providing political favors to the owners of horse racetracks. In 1973, he was convicted of bribery, tax evasion and other counts. He ended up serving less than a year of a three year sentence.

Former Governor "Walkin' Dan" Walker had left office more than 10 years before pleading guilty in 1987 to fraud charges in connection with the operation of a savings and loan.

Pensoneau spent a lot of time with Walker. He believed that Walker's legacy was affected by the sentence, even though he was not in office directly before. A popular governor, he spent 18 months in prison.

Republican George Ryan took office in 1999. At the time, Illinois had an extremely healthy budget. It had a $1.5 billion surplus. A few months into his term, he proposed "Illnois First," a plan to raise state revenue by increasing license plate prices. The investigation that brought Ryan down ironically began with the sale of drivers licenses for bribes. His career came to an end in 2006. He would be known as a career politician adept at cutting deals. But eventually his luck ran out.

Currently he is in prison serving a six and a half year sentence.

Governor Rod Blagojevich would use Ryan's demise to drive home the promise of reform. After Ryan's conviction on racketeering and fraud charges, Blagojevich issued this statement: "The George Ryan convictions prove once more that a culture of corruption and mismanagement was tolerated during his administration. It's further evidence that the old way of doing things cheated the people of Illinois."

Those convictions may not have lasted for long. Investigators have been looking into the operations of the governor's office for quite some time.

"It's left everyone wondering what's happening in lllinois politics and whether there is any way for the state to dig out of this latest mess," Pensoneau said.

While three governors have spent time in prison, a fourth, William Stratton, was later indicted for income tax evasion. Stratton served as governor from 1953 to 1961. He was acquitted.

Taylor Pensoneau's books are available at all local Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores.