Nothing Ado About Much -OR- I'm Sure There's a Plausible Explanation

The tribulations and trials of local, regional and state level organized, errr, legalized errr, crime POLITICS in Illinois are too fast, too furious for the average crook to comprehend. It's not accidental that the Marquee names hold advanced degrees in Law or Divinity or sometimes BOTH.

Campaigns typically kick off with pomp and fanfare soundbites about "Makin' Stuff Better", "Fixin' Stuff", Gettin' "Rid of the Crooks in Office". Law and Order. Restoring Integrity. yada yada yada.

Folks elsewhere who hear tales of allegations, indictments, convictions and plea bargains, government informants, moles, wiretaps, andonandon, must wonder how the voters can LET this happen. Legend has it that there is a machine that cranks out these miscreant cogs and that somewhere there is a master, a capo, a board of directors who CONTROL this criminal political enterprise.
Would that it were that simple. The opposite is actually closer to the correct answer. NOBODY'S in charge. EVERYBODY'S running their own little Ponzi scheme, supporting them in a lifestyle others can aspire to as well, get in line, observe where the weak points are and plug your own little spigot into the pipeline. Chances are good that Nobody will notice.

The sheer volume of access points doesn't just limit accountability, it prevents accountability. At EVERY point of the process there are pockets of parasites. Funding is the food. It rains, it pours, it puddles, it evaporates. No worries. It will rain again tomorrow. "Water water everywhere, so let's all have a drink. - Homer Simpson

The following are analogous of the process: scattering feed for the chickens, purchase/distribution of tickets for over-hyped concerts, shows and sporting events.
You can't hope to assure fairness and you know that some are doing better than others because of their position in the pecking order, but you have to keep tossing it out there.

The politicians, like the chickens, who get fattest off of the feed are the most likely to find themselves on the chopping block.

Like This GUY.
"As pressure mounts on one of Cook County's top school officials, Regional Supt. Charles Flowers is nowhere to be found.

A day after the SouthtownStar broke the news that Flowers - head of the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education - is under criminal investigation by the Cook County state's attorney's office, he was not at work in the Westchester office or at his Maywood home."

Unless you're a teacher looking for verification of your teaching credentials, you don't know, nor care, about the West Cook County Regional Office of Education, Dr. Flowers or the little fiefdom he controls. If you are a teacher whose credentials are in need of updating, you have the plausible excuse that the Regional Office has dropped the ball. Sure you can bitch, moan and complain and MAYBE a local reporter within the Sun-Times News Group (tm) will write about your plight. Maybe the former occupant of the office will comment about the fall-off in service under the new guy.
In the end, the politics of a purely political creation like a regional office of education are just a drop in the ever growing, ever leaky bucket.

In sum, we're all ancient Mariners.

"Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink."