Hail to the Chief
Logans Run 2010
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28141995/
MSNBC.com
Illinois has long legacy of public corruption
At least 79 elected officials have been convicted of wrongdoing since
1972 msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 1:36 p.m. CT, Tues., Dec . 9, 2008
Illinois� official slogan is the �Land of Lincoln,� but an equally apt
descriptor would be the �Land of Greased Palms.�
The state, Cook County and its governmental seat, Chicago, have a long
history of corruption by elected and appointed officials.
The culture of corruption dates back to the late 19th century, when a
gambling-house owner named Michael Cassius McDonald created the city's
first political machine, establishing a model in which officials would
distribute contracts, jobs and social services in exchange for
political support, according to a scholarly history of organized crime
in Chicago by Robert Lombardo, a sociology professor and former Chicago
and Cook County police officer.
Its persistence was documented in Sept. 7, 2006 by the Chicago
Sun-Times, which reported that at least 79 current or former Illinois,
Chicago or Cook County elected officials had been found guilty of a
crime by judges, juries or their own pleas since 1972. The paper
provided this tally of the tarnished: three governors, two other state
officials, 15 state legislators, two congressmen, one mayor, three
other city officials, 27 aldermen, 19 Cook County judges and seven
other Cook County officials.
The article noted that so many aldermen had been jailed that the
newspaper ran a front-page-story in 1991 when the year passed with none
being indicted or convicted.
Serving time
The ranks of imprisoned pols include three former Illinois governors �
George Ryan, Dan Walker and Otto Kerner Jr.
Ryan, a rare Republican in the heavily Democratic state and Gov. Rod
Blagojevich�s predecessor, is serving a six-year prison sentence after
being convicted in April 2006 on racketeering and fraud charges. A
decade-long investigation began with the sale of driver's licenses for
bribes and led to the conviction of dozens of people who worked for
Ryan when he was secretary of state and governor.
The probe began when federal investigators looking into a deadly crash
in Wisconsin that killed six children uncovered a scheme in Ryan's
secretary of state's office in which unqualified truck drivers obtained
licenses through bribes. As the Associated Press reported upon his
conviction: "The probe expanded over the next eight years into a
wide-ranging corruption investigation that eventually reached Ryan in
the governor's office."
Walker�s crimes were committed after he served as governor from 1973 to
1977. The Democrat and World War II and Korean War veteran was
convicted of fraud related to his stewardship of the First American
Savings & Loan Association of Oak Brook. News reports at the time
indicated that he received more than $1 million in fraudulent loans for
his business and repairs on his yacht, the "Governor's Lady."
The federal government later bailed out the bankrupt S&L and Walker
served 18 months of a seven-year sentence in federal prison.
Kerner, a Democrat who was governor from 1961 to 1968 and later served
as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals, was found guilty in 1973 of
bribery, conspiracy, perjury and related charges for taking payoffs
from a racetrack operator in exchange for choice racing dates and two
expressway exits to funnel fans to the horse races.
The scandal erupted because Marge Lindheimer Everett, manager of
Arlington Park and Washington Park racetracks, deducted the value of
the stock she gave on her federal income tax returns under her own
theory that bribery was an ordinary and necessary business expense in
Illinois.
After resigning his judgeship, Kerner was sentenced to three years in
federal prison and fined $50,000.
A history of graft
Chicago, with its long history as a center of vice and organized crime,
has had its share of official graft.
One of the most notorious alleged recipients was never convicted of any
crime.
William �Big Bill� Thompson, who served as mayor from 1915 to 1923 and
again from 1927 to 1931, was the last Republican to serve as mayor of
the �City of Broad Shoulders.� He returned to office the second time
with the support of gangster Al Capone, pledging to clean up organized
crime in the city but instead targeting reformers.
Upon his defeat in 1931 the Chicago Tribune leveled the harshest
accusations against Thompson in an editorial:
�For Chicago Thompson has meant filth, corruption, obscenity, idiocy
and bankruptcy,� the newspaper said. �.... He has given the city an
international reputation for moronic buffoonery, barbaric crime,
triumphant hoodlumism, unchecked graft, and a dejected citizenship. �
He made Chicago a byword for the collapse of American civilization."
Upon his death, two safe-deposit boxes in his name containing nearly
$1.5 million in cash reportedly were discovered.
The Daley legacy
Investigations of possible mayoral misbehavior have been commonplace in
recent years.
Current Mayor Richard Daley's administration has been investigated for
corruption. In a federal probe that is ongoing, Robert Sorich, Daley's
patronage chief, was convicted in 2006 for rewarding the mayor's
political allies with city jobs and promotions. Daley has not been
accused of wrongdoing.
His father, the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, built the once-mighty
machine that doled out jobs and favors in exchange for support for
Democrats on Election Day. He was never charged with criminal
wrongdoing, but several of his high-ranking aides were sent to prison
for political patronage.
Other state officials have apparently prospered from their positions of
public trust without ever facing trial.
A large cache of cash surfaced in 1971, shortly after the death of
Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell, who served 30 years as a state
legislator before assuming his final post.
Time magazine reported afterward that the executor of Powell�s estate,
John S. Rendleman, found that the 68-year-old Powell, who never earned
more than $30,000 a year during his career in public service, left
behind an estate worth more than $2 million, including $800,000 crammed
into shoe boxes, briefcases and strongboxes in the closet of his hotel
suite in Springfield, Ill.
Congressional scandal
Criminal charges also have followed Illinois politicians to Washington.
Former Illinois Rep. Daniel Rostenkowski, who long served as the
Democratic chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee,
pleaded guilty in 1996 to mail fraud in connection with a scheme in
which he traded postal stamps for cash, padded his payroll with
nonexistent workers and used his account at the House stationery shop
to buy gifts. He served 15 months in prison and paid a $100,000 fine.
Rostenkowski was pardoned in 2000 by former President Bill Clinton.
Msnbc.com's Mike Brunker and the Associated Press contributed to this
report.
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panjandrum
message
news:240920091936062133%rec...@thecarousel.lastday...
Here's the lie, just as expected from the rightwing
Ignoricans; the vast majority of Illinois governors and US
representatives have been Republicans. Further, the very
list of the indicted this goon cites underlines that fact.
When you get to the Pearly Gates, are you going to say;
'...but it was all for family values?'
Or are you gouing to say; 'I was a Democrat?'
> citizenship. S
Lugans Run 2010
<som...@ilwp4c.com> wrote:
Independent as most Americans are
http://www.gallup.com/poll/120857/Conservatives-Single-Largest-Ideologic
al-Group.aspx
Have voted for both Democrats and Republicans, don't have the ideology
worship that you display nor the hatred of one party or all the
politicians belonging to it. Since when does one parties bad
politicians justify the other parties crooks. If you think Rumsfeld was
bad as secretary of defense, just do a google search for with his name
and the words aspartame nutrasweet, he and the Republican party brought
us this sweet poison. Hope your not a heavy diet soda drinker.
The pendulum swings both ways on election day, the moderates decide the
election as much as either party.
The corruption of the parties in Illinois holds no party bounds, the
corruption cost taxpayers hundreds of millions.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/30/crooked-politicians-costi_n_180
807.html
snip
Someone put in a government job because he knows the right people isn't
likely to work hard for his paycheck. In extreme cases, he might not
show up for work at all, instead becoming what's known as a ghost
payroller. One Cicero "health inspector" got $133,000 in salary and
benefits for a job he never performed. He also got a one-year prison
sentence.
Likewise, a company awarded a city contract through bribery isn't going
to worry about performance; a lousy job won't jeopardize contract
renewal.
Just look at Chicago's "Hired Truck" program, where the city outsourced
hauling jobs to private firms. Many companies, some with Mob
connections, paid bribes to get contracts then collected taxpayer money
while doing little or no work. A federal investigation has resulted
dozens of corruption convictions.
--
vtc
Must be the new republican strategy. Kind of like the way Glenn Beck
wants everyone to believe that he's not a far right wing loon. Pretty
pathetic & when they get called on their BS they will attack claiming to
be independent.