Falls from grace

It’s not just Illinois’ governors. Between 1976 and 2013, 1,982 public servants were convicted of corruption- related charges statewide, according to the most recently available Justice Department figures compiled by professor Dick Simpson of the University of Illinois at Chicago. The list includes employees and elected officials at virtually all levels, from state government to school districts. And even though judges constantly send messages of “enough is enough,” the convictions keep coming.

March 19, 1980

Illinois Attorney General William Scott is convicted of federal tax fraud. He is sentenced to one year in prison.

Aug. 5, 1987 Former Gov. Dan Walker

( right) pleads guilty to bank fraud and other charges related to his business activities after leaving office. He is sentenced to seven years in federal prison.

June 27, 2011

A jury in the retrial of former Gov. Blagojevich finds him guilty on 17 of 20 counts in the corruption case. He is later sentenced to 14 years in prison.

April 27, 2016

Former U. S. House Speaker

Dennis Hastert is sentenced to 15 months in prison for skirting financial laws in an attempt to conceal his past sexual abuse of teenage boys while a coach at Yorkville High School. U. S. District Judge Thomas Durkin called Hastert a “serial child molester.”