History

1920s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s-1990s | 2000-2004 | 2004-Present

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.