What’s required is that elected officials commit themselves to cleaning up government. Again, naive? No. The dramatic sweep of this investigation and the timing, coming so close to an election, is a gift to the people of Chicago. No one running for office can pretend that the political culture here is saintly. Maybe the city isn’t inherently corrupt, but clearly something went wrong after Honest Abe left town with the Republican nomination for president in 1860. We’ve spoken with dozens of candidates, and when asked about how to defeat endemic corruption, they all accept the premise that Chicago needs to change. They all offer up ideas. Easy for candidates, of course.