Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley declined to comment on whether former Gov. Rod Blagojevich should resign after his arrest and corruption charges. Daley also declined to comment on how he felt after the impeachment proceedings. And now, he has declined to comment on whether Burris should continue to represent Illinois in the Senate. Daley, one of the most unabashed mayors in Chicago’s history, is uncharacteristically keeping us in the dark.

Then we have our new governor, Pat Quinn, who appointed his much-needed chief operating officer, Jack Lavin, on Feb. 11. Lavin was once a Blagojevich appointee who worked for convicted fundraiser Tony Rezko. If we thought Burris’ nomination was tainted, this is taking it to the next level.

And there’s more. Burris has admitted he had conversations with Blagojevich allies.

It’s all starting to add up, and it doesn’t look good. But then again, it doesn’t look any different than it did a few weeks ago, or for that matter, a few months ago.

What did we expect? We expected for Illinois politics to change. We expected that with the impeachment of Blagojevich, Illinois politics could start off with a clean slate, that corruption would be a thing of the past, that clouds wouldn’t be over our politicians’ or our heads and that we could trust again. We might have expected too much, but that’s because it’s our job to expect more. For us to hold our politicians and state leaders accountable, we need to expect more and demand more.

Last month, we said the same thing: to hold our politicians more accountable. And what’s changed? Nothing.

The minute we find out Burris had conversations with Blagojevich allies or Quinn appointed a man who has close ties to a convicted fundraiser who also worked for Blagojevich, we just look the other way and go with the flow because that’s what Illinoisans are used to doing. We’re used to shady politics.

But that just can’t happen anymore. Our politicians can’t try to plug up the holes that have left Illinois a laughing stock. Our politicians can’t keep us in the dark anymore; they can’t lie to us; and they can’t just try to smooth things over any longer. As citizens, we can’t be passive anymore either. We need to demand more from our elected officials.

Daley could have taken his time and prepared a statement for the media about the Burris ordeal, but he chose not to. Quinn could have appointed someone else as his chief operating officer, someone who didn’t have ties to Blagojevich, but he chose not to. And Burris could have told the whole truth during Blagojevich’s impeachment trial, but he also chose not to. It’s decisions like these that mean the difference between Illinois politics changing for the better or worse.

If our politicians can’t make the right decisions, then it’s time for us to do it for them.