A new book called Corrupt Illinois: Patronage, Cronyism, and Criminality maintains that Illinois is one of the most corrupt states in the union. And Chicago is “undoubtedly the most corrupt city in our nation,” says authors Dick Simpson and Thomas Gradel.   Sure, four of our last nine governors went to jail, but I think many of us fellow Illinoisans have come to see that as our own special retirement plan.  And Chicago?  We’ve been hearing that since the days of “Hizzoner”, Richard J. Daley the first.  I remember watching a newscast when I was in my teens and some reporters were asking Daley about illegally influencing his son’s career and his answer was: “Hey, enough about that stuff.  You’d help your kids right?  I don’t want to hear any more about it.” And that was pretty much the last of it.  That’s power.

Now Chicago’s current mayor, Rahm Emanuel is facing a runoff election on April 7^th against Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, who has been an elected official at the city, county, and state levels, and been highly regarded at each.  Many people were surprised that President Obama’s former chief of staff failed to get the majority he needed after winning handily four years ago.  The former congressman, who served in both the Clinton and Obama administrations, captured the most votes in a crowded field but wasn’t able to garner the 50% plus one vote required to win a second term. With 94% of precincts reporting, Mr. Emanuel held 45.4% of the vote, according to preliminary results.  Consequently, he will face an April runoff against Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, who was the second-place finisher with 33.9%.  Many were stunned that Emanuel didn’t win the majority especially considering that he vastly outspent his opponents and got campaign help from President Barack Obama.  How did it happen?  A lot of it has to do with the backlash from the mayor closing nearly 50 schools and six of Chicago twelve mental health clinics.

At the moment Mayor Emanuel holds a 14-point lead over his rival  according to a new Chicago Tribune poll released Friday.  The poll shows Emanuel leading Cook County Commissioner Garcia, 51 percent to 37 percent, with 11 percent of voters still undecided. In the first round of voting on Feb. 24, Emanuel led Garcia, 46 percent to 34 percent.  Emanuel is buoyed by continued gains among African-American voters, who were primed to cost him a second term before the mayor’s multimillion-dollar television ad blitz. Now, Emanuel holds a 21-point lead among black voters, 52 percent to 31 percent. That’s equal to Emanuel’s advantage among white voters.  Garcia does have a 24-point lead among Hispanic voters, 58 percent to 34 percent, the poll shows.

When it comes to money for the campaign there is no way that Garcia can compete, but there’s quite a few people who think that this election is not going to be decided by money.  After all, despite having the advantages of incumbency and near-universal name ID, despite spending $7 million of his $15 million war chest on TV, despite having President Barack Obama stump for him … Emanuel still got only 45 percent of the vote, with his opponents racking up a combined 55 percent.

Garcia began his political career as a campaign manager for Rudy Lozano when Lozano ran for 22nd Ward alderman in 1983 against the machine incumbent in Little Village. Lozano, a 31-year-old union organizer and community activist, narrowly missed forcing the incumbent into a runoff. Four months later, he was shot to death in his home on 25th Street near Pulaski by a young gang member. (The motive was never clear.) Lozano’s supporters pressed Garcia to carry on the antimachine fight. Word is that he was a “terrible” speaker at first but grew into his public role. Garcia was elected Democratic committeeman in the ward in 1984, and alderman two years later. Mayor Harold Washington considered him “princi-pled and trustworthy,” and he served as the ranking Latino in Washington’s City Council coalition. In 1992, Garcia became the first Mexican-American to be elected to the Illinois state senate. “He’s never been a guy with a big ego, he’s always willing to help other people,” Cook County clerk David Orr told Linda Lutton in 1998, for a Reader story. Orr, who served with Garcia on the City Council, called Garcia “one of the most outstanding elected officials in the state.

By the time of Lutton’s story, however, he was no longer a state senator: Lutton was writing about the forces aligned with Mayor Richard M. Daley, who’d managed to defeat Garcia.  After that loss in 1998, Garcia stepped out of politics. He founded Enlace Chicago, a nonprofit community development organization in Little Village, and taught political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He got back on the ballot in 2010, winning a spot on the Cook County Board, where he currently serves as floor leader for president Toni Preckwinkle.

There’s a lot of people in and out of the state of Illinois that don’t believe an honest election is possible in Chicago.  Maybe that’s true, but at the moment, it sure looks like the real thing.