The case against disgraced former Ald. Danny Solis has been tawdry from the start. It involved prostitution, free use of an Indiana farm once owned by Oprah Winfrey, doses of Viagra and illegal campaign contributions — all allegedly in exchange for official acts.

And the saga took an infuriating turn this week when prosecutors revealed that Solis, 25th, likely will one day see the case against him dismissed altogether. All he needs to do, prosecutors indicated in court, is testify truthfully and effectively against Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, former House Speaker Mike Madigan and perhaps others.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is outraged and for good reason. She even has sought the court’s leave to file a victim impact statement on behalf of the city.

Normally, such statements allow the victim to inform the judge, and the public, about the impact a crime had on their lives. They affect sentencing and sometimes prompt shame or contrition by the criminal.

Read more at the chicagotribune.com.

David Greising is the president and chief executive of the Better Government Association, joining the BGA in 2018. For nearly a century, the BGA has fought for honest and effective government through investigative journalism and policy advocacy.

Greising’s career started at the City News Bureau of Chicago, with stops at the Chicago Sun-Times, Business Week magazine, the Chicago Tribune and Reuters. He was a co-founder of the Chicago News Cooperative and worked briefly as a consultant to World Business Chicago. Today, Greising writes on government issues in regular columns for the Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business.

Under Greising’s leadership, the BGA has played a key role in uncovering public corruption amidst the wide-ranging federal probe, starting with an in-depth report about Ald. Ed Burke’s conflicts of interest before the federal charges against Burke. The BGA also has exposed waste and fraud at O’Hare and the proliferation of corruption and poverty into Dolton, Lyons and other Chicago suburbs. The BGA’s policy team has led calls for ethics reform in Chicago’s City Council and in state government.