The 1920’s
In 1923, Chicago was “wide open.” City Alderman, who maintained offices through massive vote stealing and ballot box stuffing, ran illegal gambling houses and brothels. Mayor William “Big Bill” Thompson, recently named the worst mayor of any major city at any time in the country’s history, was openly in cahoots with the infamous Al Capone mob. It was the Prohibition Era, and yet more than 5,000 taverns and speakeasies thrived in Chicago. The City was an icon of corruption and disrepute.

In May of 1923, a small group of clergymen, lawyers, editors and businessmen, under the guidance of E.J. Davis, Director of the Anti-Saloon League, formed the Better Government Association to fight the corruption. They believed that “public officials under close scrutiny would serve the public better, that the best voter was an informed one and the best citizen was an involved one.”

Through the 1950’s
For the next 34 years, through the administration of E.J. Davis and a merger with the Legislative Voter’s League, the BGA worked to educate voters and to encourage efficient municipal spending. In 1957, a new executive director, George Mahin, sought a new role for the BGA.

The 1960’s
In 1961, George Mahin and BGA Board Member Charles Percy launched a new program entitled Operation Watchdog, which was designed to allow any reporter in town to come to the BGA for help investigating waste and corruption in government. The media partner’s paper or station would then get first crack at the story. These inspired partnerships would put unprecedented pressure for reform on local and state level politicians and public officials.

The findings of the BGA’s first investigation were made public in 1962. Chicago Tribune reporter George Bliss worked with BGA investigators to uncover massive corruption at the Metropolitan Sanitary District. The investigation was a huge success, forcing the firing of corrupt employees and the resignation of their political bosses. The investigations rocked Chicago’s infamous political machine.

By 1969, the BGA had revealed massive vote stealing, election fraud, ambulance shortages, nursing home abuses and numerous instances of tax-gobbling waste, fraud and abuse. After producing a number of award-winning stories as a media partner, George Bliss came to work for the BGA.

Bliss stayed on at the BGA’s chief investigator through Mahin’s retirement, through Richard Friedman’s brief tenure as executive director (1969-1971), and into J. Terrence Brunner’s first years at the BGA, only to return to the Tribune as the head of a special investigative task force in late 1972.

The 1970’s
When J. Terrence Brunner joined the BGA in 1971, the organization had earned a national reputation for its powerful investigations and had helped its media partners to win two Pulitzer Prizes along with countless other journalism awards. Soon after Brunner’s arrival, the BGA exposed election corruption in Mayer Daley’s political machine, winning the Chicago Tribune another Pulitzer and causing Daley to accuse the BGA of being “an arm of the Republican Party.”

Under Brunner’s guidance, the BGA again expanded its focus and raised its profile, partnering with local and national television media to create even more massive pressure for reform. The BGA continued its work with the Chicago Tribune, Sun-Times, Daily News, but it began to work with national newsmagazines like CBS’ 60 Minutes and ABC News 20/20.

In 1977, the BGA worked with CBS 60 Minutes and the Chicago Sun-Times to produce the landmark Mirage Tavern investigation. The plan was more audacious than anything the group had tried before. The BGA and the Sun-Times bought a run-down tavern in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood and put cameras in the wall to record what became a parade of bribe-seeking inspectors and employees. The incendiary investigation caused a national sensation, a spate of firings and new reforms.

In 1979 the BGA opened offices in Washington, D.C. and Springfield, Illinois to expose national corruption. Though the program was extremely successful, producing more than 20 hard-hitting investigations in just five years, the expense of the program was draining the BGA. The D.C. office was closed in 1984.

In addition to expanding the organization’s reach and profile, Brunner expanded the BGA’s capacity to push for reform. He developed a top-flight legal program, which put a new role of teeth in the BGA’s investigative findings, and a nationally recognized investigative internship program, which has trained literally hundreds of future lawyers, journalists and civic activists.

The 1980’s to 1990’s
In the 1980’s and 1990’s the BGA continued to produce an astounding number of local and national news stories. The BGA exposed fraud in the Chicago Public Schools, which led to a reform of the whole school system; lax security at O’Hare International Airport, which led to heightened security measures; investigations into local police departments led to reforms resulting in the formation of multi-jurisdictional task-forces in Illinois.

In 1999, the BGA filed a lawsuit against George Ryan seeking to hold him accountable for the massive corruption that occurred during his tenure as Secretary of State. Ryan was eventually indicted by the U.S. Attorney and significant ethics reforms were enacted by the state in response to Ryan’s misdeeds.

2000 to 2004
In the new millennium, the BGA exposed the public to a network of insiders who were obtaining concession contracts at O’Hare. Most notable was Oscar D’Angelo, a longtime Daley friend and debarred attorney who worked as an unregistered lobbyist to broker the deals. As a result, the city revamped Chicago’s lobbyist ordinance to tighten its lobbyist registration requirements.

After nearly 30 years as Executive Director, Brunner retired and former BGA general counsel Terrance Norton took the helm. Under Norton’s watch, the BGA expanded its ongoing investigations into George Ryan’s fundraising practices; released a comprehensive nursing home guide as well as the BGA Integrity Index ®, the nation’s first comprehensive analysis and ranking of each of the 50 states, government transparency and accountability laws. The Index, published in the fall of 2002, received nationwide coverage and spurred many states to improve their laws.

The BGA also filed a lawsuit contesting the placement of a riverboat casino in the village of Rosemont. The lawsuit contends the law that allowed the defunct East Dubuque riverboat to move to the Chicago suburb was unconstitutional special legislation designed to benefit only that license. The case went to the Illinois Supreme Court, the court updated the law, but the Attorney General is seeking to revoke the license.

In 2003 Sue Walker replaced Norton as Executive Director in an interim capacity, sustaining the BGA’s mission and “keeping the doors open” during a time in which many non-profit organizations faced overwhelming fundraising challenges. The BGA weathered the transition and, in 2004, former BGA staff attorney Jay Stewart became the new Executive Director.

2004 to Present

Shortly after Stewart’s arrival, the BGA recruited new staff, hiring the first chief investigator in many years and moved to its current location at 11 East Adams Street. Grants were secured from the Richard H. Driehaus and Nathan Cummings Foundations, restoring the BGA’s landmark investigative program, whose resources had diminished as the organization’s policy and research work expanded.

Under the leadership of Dan Sprehe, the BGA’s investigative program was quickly back on its feet, reestablishing valuable media partnerships and bringing important issues to the public’s attention.

In the spring of 2005, the BGA participated in a joint investigation with the Residents Journal, revealing Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) contractors had contributed more than $250,000 to the 17th Ward Democratic Organization, a political committee in the ward where CHA CEO Terry Peterson formerly served as Alderman and Committeeman.

Not long after Peterson assumed leadership at the CHA, his 17th Ward successors and related campaign committees began receiving contributions from businesses with CHA contracts. The catch: there are no public housing developments in the 17th Ward. The story ran on the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times and was covered on Chicago Public Radio. In response to the investigation, Peterson says he'll reconsider his close involvement with the political committee in the future.

While investigating the campaign contributions to the 17th Ward Democratic Organization, the BGA discovered numerous donations from what appeared to be 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations. Upon further investigation, the BGA found that more than 400 political contributions from such organizations had been given in Illinois since 1999. Although there is no law preventing candidates and campaign committees from accepting these contributions, tax-exempt organizations (under IRS tax law) are prohibited from engaging in making campaign contributions to candidates or party campaign committees. As a result of the investigation, several campaign committees returned the contributions they received from tax-exempt groups and the Attorney General is working to remind non-profits to refrain from making contributions.

In addition to working with the Resident’s Journal and the Chicago Sun-Times, the BGA recently partnered with CBS-2 reporter Pam Zekman in uncovering a disturbing pattern of inaction, poor communication, and mismanagement within the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation (IDPR). As a result, Executive Director Stewart has testified in front of the senate committee on the inefficiencies within the IDPR.

In the areas of policy work and promoting transparency the BGA has hit the ground running in 2004 and 2005. In an effort to ensure that the City of Chicago’s Public Arts Program is run in an transparent and accountable fashion, the BGA and Scott Hodes, a Chicago attorney who is a founding member of Lawyers for the Creative Arts, filed a lawsuit against the City, alleging a history of gross mismanagement in the distribution and recording of funds for Chicago’s capital projects. The suit was settled and the City agreed to comply with the Open Meetings Act, post more information regarding the Public Art Program on the Internet and improve its financial reports.

The BGA joined a coalition of reform groups to unveil a blueprint for reforming the Illinois campaign finance system. The groups have urged legislators, the Governor and all constitutional officers to work together on a comprehensive package of legislation that will reduce the influence of special interest lobbies and restore the confidence of citizens in all branches of state government.

After a number of City building inspectors were charged with falsifying work histories, the BGA demanded that the city, which had planned to issue the maximum administrative fine of $500, file a lawsuit under little know state law that would allow them to recoup three times the inspectors $49,548-a-year salaries. The City listened and has since filed the lawsuit.

In the fall of 2004, in an effort to recognize the vital work of investigative journalists and to pay homage to former BGA investigator George Bliss, the BGA, through the generous support of the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, established the George Bliss Award for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. The Award recognizes the best in government-related investigative reporting from across the Midwest region. The 2004 recipients of the award were Tim Novak and Steve Warmbir of the Chicago Sun-Times for their outstanding series on the City’s Hired Truck scandal.

Since that time, the BGA has been honored to have distinguished speakers at its annual awards receiption and benefit, including Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who in 2003 established the Public Access Bureau and appointed a Public Access Counselor to ensure compliance with transparency laws, such as the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Open Meetings Act.

Most recently, the BGA presented its 2007 Civic Achievement Award to United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Chicago Office. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and Special Agent in Charge Robert Grant were on hand to accept the awards on behalf of their respective offices, which have worked tirelessly to prosecute corruption at multiple levels of government in Illinois.

Today the BGA's investigative program still holds true to its original mission: to seek out and expose waste, fraud, corruption and inefficiency in government, and to promote transparency. In response to several denials to a FOIA request filed with the Office of the Governor, the BGA filed suit in early 2007 to gain access to the numerous subpoenas served upon the Blagojevich administration. In January 2008, the BGA was victorious in Sangamon County Circuit Court, and that ruling was upheld by Judge Patrick Kelley on March 3, 2008. Several days prior, the Governor's office released two subpoenas but refuses to disclose the remaining documents.

Pending appeal, the Governor's office has been ordered to disclose all subpoenas requested by the BGA. This will ensure Illinois taxpayers can freely view details relating to the very serious criminal investigations of activities taking place within the walls of their government.