Dick Simpson

Dick Simpson — Photo: Jenny Fontaine

Chicago is the nation’s capital of public corruption, according to an analysis by political scientist and former Chicago alderman Dick Simpson.

A frequent contributor to media coverage of city and state politics, Simpson is an authority on political corruption as well as on elections, legislators’ voting patterns, local government, budgeting, and neighborhood empowerment.

His research has influenced reform efforts in many units of government. Simpson is author or co-author of more than a dozen books, including “Winning Elections” (1996), “Rogues, Rebels and Rubber Stamps” (2001), “Inside Urban Politics” (2004), “Struggle for Power and Influence in Cites and States” (2011), “The City, Revisited” (2011), “Twenty-First Century Chicago” (2012) and “Democracy’s Rebirth: The View from Chicago” (2022).