CHICAGO — On Wednesday, top FIFA officials were arrested in Switzerland for alleged widespread corruption in a scandal the Justice Department called the "World Cup of fraud."
Another way to describe the ongoing bribes, kickbacks and and backroom deals that allegedly went down among FIFA leadership for decades? "Chicago politics on a global scale." At least that's how soccer expert and sports journalist Roger Bennett described it.
When asked by CBS why FIFA President Sepp Blatter has avoided arrest thus far, Bennett said Blatter has used investigations by British papers into FIFA wrongdoing to "rally his base."
"This is Chicago politics on a global scale ... that's how FIFA works," Bennett says. "It's a medieval fiefdom. There's no democratic process, no transparency."
Who could blame Bennett for the reference? It seems that every time there is a big scandal involving political corruption, everyone busts out the "Chicago-style."
While President Barack Obama was running for office in 2008 and 2012, his Chicago ties were repeated, and repeated and repeated by opponents, who said Americans should be wary of policies coming "straight out of the Daley playbook."
During the 2012 election, Slate broke down how those who throw "Chicago-style politics" around as a way to describe Obama didn't actually know what "machine politics" were, or how things worked when the city was at its most corrupt.
"'Chicago-style politics' is mainly just a way for [opponents] to call Obama corrupt without coming out and saying so," Slate's Jacob Weisberg declared.
"We’ve heard charges of “Chicago politics at its worst,” “classic Chicago-style politics” and even “gutter politics of the worst Chicago sort.” A generic slur — nasty, but all wrong.
Time was the term “Chicago politics” or “Chicago-style politics” had a special meaning based on our history from the Al Capone years through the regime (1955-76) of one Richard J. Daley, aka Da Mare. Nowadays, like our unique political lexicon, it seems to have become a generic insult for just about any politics one disagrees with."
"Chicago Style"-bombs have been dropped regarding nearly every political scandal in recent memory. Chris Christie's "bridgegate" scandal? Chicago-style! The IRS/Tea Party scandal? The Chicago Way! A small political fight in Pulaski County, Arkansas? "Desperate Chicago-style, partisan politics!"
Are we offended? Kinda. But sometimes the truth hurts. We're a city where even some reform-minded aldermen end up in federal prison. And according to a study released Thursday by the University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago is still the most corrupt major city in the country.
It's not all bad though, as Greg Hinz of Crain's reports:
"On a per capita basis, Illinois is in seventh place. The District of Columbia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alaska, and North and South Dakota rank higher than Illinois."
So how 'bout it? Let's start playing with "that is SUCH an Alaska move!" or "you're SO South Dakota."
Yeah, Chicago-style sounds much better.
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