December in Chicago and the "hawk" is back, which means the "Windy City" is buffeted by the wicked winds of winter -- the visceral impact of our moniker -- not the metaphorical winds that arose in the wake of our successful fight to win the 1893 World's Fair, after Chicago's "windbag" politicians lobbied Congress to pick Chicago over the other competitors.

Fast-forward to 2009, and it's about wind again because political reform is in the air, and the only question is whether it fades away, like a gentle breeze, or intensifies into a hurricane of real change.

Illinois has always been the Wild West of politics, one of the few states with no limits on campaign contributions and an indifferent approach to conflicts of interest. Politicians queue up for prison like kindergartners lining up for recess. Lawyers elected to represent taxpayers end up moonlighting as corporate shills and lobbyists who win tax breaks for their clients, which we end up paying for. Leaders bequeath coveted public positions to sons and daughters of dubious ability.

And the public shrugs. "You can't fight City Hall," they say. Or that's the price of "the city that works."

But the old attitude of helpless resignation is finally changing. A perfect storm that combines a national economic collapse with a meltdown at all levels of government in Illinois has created a climate for change and reform that may actually have as much staying power as a Chicago winter.

Residents are "mad as hell and not going to take it any more," like Howard Beale in the 1978 movie "Network." They watched the imprisonment of one former governor, George Ryan, for presiding over a licenses-for-bribes scandal; the indictment and impeachment of his successor, Rod Blagojevich, for allegedly trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama and, in the words of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, engaging in a pay-to-play scandal "on steroids" that would have made Abe Lincoln "turn over in his grave."

We've seen Roland Burris weasel his way into Obama's Senate seat, local Democrats elevate a bumbling political journeyman to his late father's post atop the Cook County Board, and "America's Mayor," Rich Daley, wallow in a sea of corruption, nepotism, tax increases and inept public policy initiatives.

Blagojevich was arrested by the FBI a year ago, and the transcripts of his profanity-laced bartering played out on late-night television for weeks, fueled by his narcissistic quest for notoriety and the media's insatiable appetite for the bizarre.

Illinois became an embarrassment, a national laughing stock -- the New Jersey or the Louisiana of the Midwest -- and people finally got mad. The voters -- the enablers who return the "usual suspects" to office time after time -- finally got engaged.

Civic groups and editorial boards teamed up with Attorney General Lisa Madigan to put teeth into the state's Freedom of Information Act. The Change Illinois coalition of civic and business groups finally forced state lawmakers to enact a semblance of campaign finance reform. Similar coalitions are successfully pushing back against the state's craven rush into the toxic world of video poker. And new efforts are under way to reform redistricting, pensions and tax increment financing districts.

Gov. Quinn, the ultimate grass- roots populist, sides with reformers when it doesn't jeopardize his relationship with Senate President John Cullerton and House Speaker Michael Madigan. And they've occasionally signed onto causes. To an extent.

So there's a growing feeling that much more is possible if the reform movement picks its battles wisely and fights them strategically. Ripe targets include consolidating branches of government to eliminate wasteful duplication. Requiring more financial transparency. And expanding the power of inspector generals.

All of this could still fail like a typical Cubs season. But I'm an optimist. I view the reform movement through the lens of sportscaster Al Michaels, who coined a memorable line after broadcasting Team USA's improbable 1980 hockey win over the Soviets in Lake Placid, N.Y.

"Do you believe in miracles?" Michaels asked when the final horn sounded.

Hawk Harrelson has the right answer after every White Sox win: "Yesssssssss."

Reform is in the winter air. It's chilling. But bracing. So let it blow. Let it blow. Let it blow.

Until we finally have a city, a county and a state we can be proud of.

Andy Shaw is executive director of the Better Government Association.