WBEZ | corruption

Cook County Commissioner William Beavers corruption trial off to slow start

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:04:00 -0500

Cook County Commissioner William Beavers’ corruption trial got off to a slow start Monday.

Beavers and his attorneys appeared in court to go over some last minute details of the case. Some of the discussion was about jury selection, which now is scheduled to start Tuesday. Prosecutors also said they intend to bring up the commissioner’s 2005 tax returns in their opening statements.

Judge James Zagel says he wants the jury to be anonymous until after the verdict because of the media attention.

After the hearing, Beavers told reporters he wants to testify because prosecutors quote “tell some tall tales” and he wants to straighten them out.

“The problem here is you all think the government is so smart, that they can defeat everybody,” Beavers said. “Their thing is if you plead guilty. They try their best to get you to plead guilty. They don’t win that many cases. They get people to plea. I’m not pleading.”

Beavers is charged with not paying taxes on campaign funds that he allegedly used for personal expenses.

Chicago's 2nd district has history of corruption

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:32:00 -0600

They elected a Harvard-educated Rhodes Scholar and ended up with a congressman who was convicted of having sex with an underage campaign worker. They voted for the son of a famous civil rights leader and got someone who illegally spent campaign funds on everything from furniture to Bruce Lee memorabilia.

Call it Chicago corruption at its worst or simply uncanny coincidence, but residents of Illinois' 2nd Congressional District haven't been represented in Congress in more than three decades by someone who didn't end up in serious ethical or legal trouble. That hangs over them as they go to the polls Tuesday for a special primary to begin picking a replacement for disgraced former U.S. Rep Jesse Jackson Jr.

It began with Gus Savage, who took office in 1981 and was defeated a decade later after allegations of sexual misconduct with a Peace Corps worker while on a congressional visit abroad. Then there was Mel Reynolds, who won office in 1992 and was convicted of fraud and having sex with a minor. This past week, after 17 years in office, Jackson pleaded guilty to spending $750,000 in campaign money on personal expenses.

"They all drank from the same cup," said Charles Hill, an unemployed father of five. The Chicago resident once supported Jackson, but the legal drama has left him so drained he's not even paying attention to the batch of nearly 20 candidates vying for the spot. "It's a sad commentary."

Even by Illinois' corruption standards — where four of the last seven governors were sent to jail — troubles in the district are astonishing. The attempts to explain it — among voters, experts and the most recent candidates vying for the seat — range from a culture of corruption to pure coincidence.

Corruption in Chicago politics dates back to at least 1869, when city commissioners were snagged in a scheme over City Hall paint contracts. More than 1,000 Illinois public officials, most in the Chicago area, have been convicted of corruption since the 1970s, according to Dick Simpson, a University of Illinois at Chicago professor. In a study, he ranked Chicago as the No. 1 in corruption among U.S. metropolitan areas.

Jackson's grip on the 2nd District seat — winning each election since 1995 in a landslide — created conditions ripe for wrongdoing, Simpson said. Even so, he's slightly baffled by why more problems seem to exist in this district than in others with similar demographics and longtime congressmen.

"Unfortunately, the 2nd Congressional District seems to be an epicenter for these mistakes by public officials," he said.

The district includes part of Chicago's South Side, south suburbs and some rural areas.

Talk of ethics has been a secondary issue among the candidates after jobs and guns, as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's political action committee has poured money into ads criticizing candidates it deems too weak on gun control. The candidates include 14 Democrats and four Republicans. The district is largely Democratic, and the winner of Tuesday's Democratic primary is widely expected to sail through the April 9 election.

The only hint of an ethics scandal has involved former state Rep. Robin Kelly, a front-runner who's been attacked by other candidates over accusations that she misrepresented hours she worked as a top aide to former Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias in 2010. The Chicago Tribune obtained a report by the chief investigator in the treasurer's office through an open records request. No action was taken against Kelly because she had already left state government.

Kelly has denied wrongdoing and dismissed the allegations as "political silly season."

As for the region's troubles with ethics?

"I think it's coincidental," she said. "I don't think the district has any whammy over it."

Those who agree with her include Reynolds, who's running for the seat again. He says the corruption issue has been blown out of proportion, and his campaign signs read, "REDEMPTION."

"An aberration is what happened in my life," he said. "It was not a determination of my character."

That hasn't kept the issue from the headlines, especially with Jackson's legal proceedings playing out in federal court. Jackson and his wife, former Alderman Sandi Jackson, both pleaded guilty Wednesday in the scheme.

Another candidate, former U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson, has emphasized the issue, saying it's a time for a clean slate. She unsuccessfully challenged Jackson in last year's primary, even as he was plagued by questions over ties to imprisoned ex.-Gov. Rod Blagojevich and reports of an extramarital affair. Blagojevich was convicted on corruption charges that included trying to sell President Barack Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat.

"People want to close this door to unethical behavior," she said. "We've had enough. This district has been plagued for far too long."

The third front-runner, Anthony Beale, a Chicago alderman whose ward overlaps with the district, said the fact that neither Reynolds nor Jackson held public office before Congress was likely a factor in their ethical problems.

"They were not homegrown to know what the district needs," Beale said.

Savage was defeated by Reynolds after the House Ethics Committee determined he made improper sexual advances to a female volunteer. Then Reynolds was convicted in the sex case and sent to prison. Later, while still behind bars, he was convicted of federal wire and bank fraud charges. President Bill Clinton commuted his sentence in 2001.

The district's history has fueled cynicism among some voters.

Grocery store worker Pnakara Nealy, 32, of Calumet Park, supported Jackson in the past, but now she's disillusioned with politics.

"He's not the only one doing it," she said of Jackson. "He just got caught."

Judge denies Derrick Smith's request for hearing into key witness

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:26:00 -0600

A federal judge in Chicago has put the brakes on attempts to investigate whether federal agents lied about a key witness in the case against an Illinois lawmaker.

Prosecutors allege they caught State Rep. Derrick Smith, a Chicago Democrat, on tape accepting a $7,000 bribe. Smith’s attorneys say FBI agents didn’t disclose the 20 prior arrests of the person who secretly recorded Smith. Victor Henderson, Smith's attorney, has said he wants the 27 secret recordings thrown out before the trial. He's argued in court filings that separating the source's background from the tapes gathered against Smith is no easier than separating the yolk from an egg.

"It makes a big difference when you're starting a case out whether you have a nun or a Sister Bertrille who's at the center of it, or a confidential informant who's got a criminal history that's 40 pages long," Henderson said leading up to the judge's decision on Thursday.

But Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ruled Thursday there’s enough evidence to continue the case against Smith, even if the source's credibility is an issue.

"The source's credibility plays no role in establishing that the words were spoken," she wrote in her decision, referring to the alleged secret recordings of Smith.

Smith’s trial is scheduled to start in October.

Credibility of key witness against State Rep. Derrick Smith is questioned

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 05:00:00 -0600

The bribery case of an Illinois lawmaker may take a rare step this week. Attorneys are scheduled to debate whether federal authorities lied about the background of a key witness who secretly recorded Illinois State Rep. Derrick Smith.

Prosecutors allege they have Smith on tape saying he wants a $7,000 bribe in cash so there would be no trace of the money. Much of the prosecutors’ initial complaint relies on secretly recorded conversations Smith had with an unnamed source.

Now, that anonymous source has become the subject of scrutiny.

Victor Henderson, Smith’s defense attorney, said federal authorities didn’t disclose the criminal history of that source. Early on in the case, federal investigators said the source had one prior arrest and had been paid $1,200 by the FBI for work in other cases.

But both prosecutors and the defense now say that was wrong. The source actually had 20 prior arrests and had been paid $2,100 by the FBI.

“It makes a big difference when you’re starting a case out whether you have a nun or a Sister Bertrille who’s at the center of it, or a confidential informant who’s got a criminal history that’s 40 pages long,” Henderson said.

Henderson is calling for the anonymous source and federal agents to testify in a hearing into whether the evidence could be used in Smith’s trial, which is scheduled to begin in October.

Meantime, prosecutors argue in court documents the hearing isn’t necessary because the witness’s background doesn’t change what Smith said on tape.

Since the charges were brought against Smith, his fellow members of the House of Representatives voted to kick him out of office. But voters in Smith’s district on Chicago’s west and northwest side voted him back into his old seat in November after a contentious election. At one point during the campaign, the politically powerful Secretary of State Jesse White, who had once supported Smith, told a crowd of ministers that Smith was no longer welcome on the West Side of Chicago.

"Someone told me that when you take money, make sure you take enough so you can afford a lawyer," White said, mocking the $7,000 Smith is accused of illegally accepting.

Shortly after Smith won election, Henderson held a news conference in which he told reporters Smith would be an independent voice in Springfield who would stand up to the legislators who expelled him from public office.

“There were a lot of ministers who didn’t want Martin Luther King up here in the '60s because he said he was causing problems. Look what good he did. People wanted Nelson Mandela to be quiet. People wanted Jesus to be quiet,” Henderson said in November.

Lawmakers in Springfield have abandoned attempts to kick Smith out of office again since the state constitution forbids a legislator from being expelled twice for the same reason. Republican State Rep. Jim Durkin, who helped expel Smith last year, has said Smith will have a hard time doing his job since so many House found him unfit to hold public office once before.

"He will have a very difficult time legislating and, quite frankly, I think that members of the legislature are going to be suspicious of him and some of them will be just downright offended that they’re serving with him," Durkin said.

Judge wants hearing into main witness in bribery case against Illinois lawmaker

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:46:00 -0600

Defense attorneys for an Illinois state representative facing bribery charges scored a victory Wednesday in their attacks against the credibility of the prosecutors’ main witness.

While State Rep. Derrick Smith was in Springfield for a House session, his attorney, Victor Henderson, was winning an argument in front of a federal judge in Chicago.

Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ruled she would hold a rare hearing into whether law enforcement knowingly gave false information about a main witness in the Derrick Smith case.

Prosecutors say the source, whose name has not been made public, secretly recorded Smith in 27 conversations, including one in which the Chicago Democrat allegedly asked for a $7,000 cash bribe. Prosecutors say Smith is heard on tape saying he wants the money in cash because, he allegedly said, "I don't want no trace of it." In exchange for the money, prosecutors say Smith wrote a letter of recommendation for a grant application.

Early on in the case, federal investigators said the source who secretly recorded Smith had one prior arrest for domestic assault. Investigators also said the source had been paid $1,200 by the FBI for work in other investigations.

But Smith’s defense attorneys call that witness a con man who has actually been arrested 20 times.

Prosecutors concur the source has been arrested for a range of offenses, including burglary, theft, drug offenses and weapons offenses. They say the witness has been convicted twice: once for a 2004 drug conviction and once in 1978 for burglary. The source was sentenced to probation for both offenses.

Smith’s attorneys also say the witness has not been paid $1,200 by the FBI, but $2,100.

The hearing scheduled for next month will look into what investigators knew about the witness, and that could impact the evidence allowed at trial.

Smith’s attorney would not comment after the judge’s decision on Wednesday.

Smith was first appointed to represent parts of Chicago’s West and North Sides in Springfield in 2011. His fellow House of Representatives members kicked him out of his seat last year after he was arrested. But Smith won back his House seat in November’s election, even though several high-ranking Illinois politicians supported his third party opponent.

Some of the same representatives who voted to kick Smith out of the House have said he will have a hard time representing his district with the criminal charges hanging over his head. They have said Illinois’ constitution forbids legislators from being kicked out of the House twice for the same offense.

Smith’s trial is scheduled to start in October.

Ex-Illinois powerbroker 'King of Clout' reports to Indiana prison

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 13:32:00 -0600

A man once known as the King of Clout for the enormous behind-the-scene influence he yielded in Illinois politics reported to prison Tuesday to start a yearlong sentence for trying to extort a Hollywood movie producer.

William Cellini reported to the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Ind., around 1 p.m. local time, said Bureau of Prisons spokesman Chris Burke said. It's the same prison where former Illinois Gov. George Ryan is completing a 6 1/2 -year corruption sentence.

Cellini, 78, will stay in the minimum-security section of the facility.

Jurors convicted the multimillionaire Springfield businessman in 2011 of trying to shake down Thomas Rosenberg for a $1.5 million political contribution that was intended for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich's campaign. Rosenberg is the Oscar-winning producer of "Million Dollar Baby."

Cellini, a longtime Republican, joins an ignominious list of prominent Illinois residents imprisoned for corruption.

Blagojevich, a Democrat, is serving a 14-year sentence for multiple corruption counts in a Colorado prison. Ryan, Blagojevich's Republican predecessor, is wrapping up his sentence.

Cellini had asked to go to a prison in Montgomery, Ala., in part because it was thought to have good medical facilities to deal with his illnesses, including heart ailments. It wasn't immediately clear why Cellini was assigned to the prison in Indiana.

Cellini was initially supposed to report to prison on Jan. 4 but was granted a two-week extension.

Hoping to get his sentence over with, Cellini in November withdrew his request to remain free pending appeal of his corruption conviction. A one-page filing withdrawing the request cited the stress the case put on his family and Cellini's health.

Researchers release study on Chicago Police Department corruption

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:07:00 -0600

From gang activity to civil rights violations to illegal drug dealing, 300 Chicago police officers have been convicted of crimes since 1960 - and a third of those convictions happened since the year 2000.

Researchers from the University of Illinois-Chicago on Thursday released the report entitled “Crime, Corruption and Cover-ups in the Chicago Police Department,” which details police corruption and offers remedies.

Vice in the police department dates back to prohibition and the early days of the mob, which was linked to Chicago machine politics. The report says in later decades, street gangs cut deals with dirty cops. And as the War on Drugs escalated, so did corruption.

“The question on everyone’s mind is why is the gang problem so serious in Chicago. And the gang problem has always been serious in Chicago, in part, because the problem of police corruption has always been so serious,” said John Hagedorn, a criminal justice professor who helped write the report.

The report says the CPD “has at the very least a culture that tolerates police misconduct and corruption.” It says a “blue code of silence” and the failure of state’s attorneys to prosecute wrongdoers contributes a climate of tolerance.

The corruption has also left taxpayers footing the bill of tens of millions of dollars. Recent high-profile cases have been settled - from Anthony Abatte, the officer who attacked a bartender on videotape, to former commander Jon Burge, who was convicted of lying under oath about torture of mostly black detainees.

The authors outline case studies of prominent corruption since the 1970s. There were the “Marquette 10” in which police officers on the West Side were convicted for protecting drug dealers in exchange for money. In 2001, Joseph Miedzianowski, a member of the gang crimes unit, was convicted of running an interstate drug ring between Chicago and Miami. That same year CPD Chief of Detectives Edward Hanhardt was convicted of using secret police information to direct a mob-connected jewelry theft ring.

Beyond going down Chicago corruption memory lane, the report outlines several recommendations: extensive ethics training for officers, more accountability for police supervisors and a new police board system.

Study co-author and former alderman Dick Simpson said the current appointed police board doesn’t work. It should be changed in one of two ways, he said.

“It can either be an elected police board or we can simply replace this entire police board with appointees that come from different backgrounds: good government advocates, civil rights advocates, former prosecutors, former inspector generals, former judges that are looking specifically at the problem of police crime and corruption and the rules and regulations that need to guide them,” Simpson said.

Illinois lawmakers predict tough road ahead for indicted state representative Derrick Smith

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:38:00 -0600

Illinois state lawmakers were sworn in Wednesday. Among them is a state representative who faces a trial later this year for allegedly taking a bribe.

Derrick Smith has had quite a journey to end up back where he started. The Chicago Democrat was arrested last year for allegedly taking a $7,000 bribe in exchange for office services.

After his arrest, Smith’s fellow House of Representatives kicked him out of office. And despite all that, he was elected to his old seat in November’s election.

Republican State Rep. Jim Durkin called it surreal that he took the same oath of office as the indicted Smith today.

Durkin said lawmakers can’t oust a sitting state representative twice for the same reason. He said he would not try to kick Smith out of office again unless the U.S. Attorney's office files a superceding indictment to Smith's pending charges.

"How he interacts with us will be important because, again, recognizing that he does have a constituency to represent, it'll be entirely up to him to proceed in a manner where he can continue to be a representative for his district," said State Rep. Will Davis, a Democrat.

Approached before the inauguration, Smith refused to answer questions about how he expects to work with lawmakers. He also wouldn't answer questions about his legislative priorities.

Two other state legislators sworn in Wednesday, State Sen. Donne Trotter and State Rep. LaShawn Ford, also face criminal charges. But those charges do not pertain to their official office duties.

Federal trial set to begin for outspoken Cook County Commissioner

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 09:00:00 -0600

Jury selection is slated to begin Monday morning in the federal tax-evasion trial of an influential Cook County commissioner.

William Beavers is accused of diverting more than $226,000 from campaign coffers for personal use without reporting it as income on his returns. Prosecutors say the 77-year-old Democrat used nearly $69,000 to boost his city pension from his time as a Chicago alderman, and they also allege he spent a lot of the money on gambling.

Potential jurors will fill out questionnaires Monday and then face one-by-one questioning in court by the presiding judge, James Zagel.

Among the questions on the questionnaires is whether would-be jurors were ever audited by the IRS. Another question asks if they have strong feelings about gambling.

In a pretrial hearing on Friday, federal prosecutors revealed they plan to make Beavers' gambling a central part of their argument.

"We're gonna show his gambling losses," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Mattew Getter, though he didn't specify how much money Beavers allegedly lost at Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind. "He lost a lot of money gambling," Getter added, saying Beavers went "very frequently."

Since being indicted in February, Beavers has maintained his innoncence, and says he's only being prosecuted because he refused to wear a wire on fellow Cook County Commissioner John Daley, the brother of Chicago's former mayor.

Federal Judge James Zagel has said Beavers and his lawyers won't be able to make that argument during trial. But the judge has said the defense can argue Beavers made an honest mistake when he failed to pay taxes — that is, if the colorful Cook County commissioner takes the witness stand himself.

Beavers' lawyers point to amended tax returns and bank documents to show Beavers tried to make good on his failure to pay taxes, but prosecutors say he only did that after he learned he was under investigation.

Lawyers have said a jury could be in place as soon as Tuesday. Once they're impaneled, attorneys would deliver their opening statements. The trial is expected to last about two weeks.

Accused lawmaker’s former patron pushes for Illinois House punishment

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 05:00:00 -0500

The former political patron of state Rep. Derrick Smith (D-Chicago) says Illinois lawmakers have not moved fast enough to punish him for allegedly taking a bribe.

Secretary of State Jesse White said Wednesday he was “happy” a panel of Smith’s colleagues had decided to advance a case that could eventually oust him from the House.

“I think there is a price to pay,” said White, a longtime 27th Ward committeeman who is backing a third-party candidate in an attempt to unseat Smith in November’s election.

A federal indictment accuses Smith, 48, of accepting $7,000 for supporting a childcare center’s application for a $50,000 state grant. The deal turned out to be an FBI sting.

A seven-page report from a special House committee, a bipartisan panel chaired by Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook), says Smith “abused the power of his office by participating in a scheme to obtain a personal benefit in exchange for his official acts.”

The disciplinary case now moves to another committee that will decide whether to recommend punishment to the full House. The lawmakers could exonerate, censure, reprimand or expel Smith.

“Personally it saddens me,” Nekritz said, “to go through this process with one of our members.”

An expulsion would make Smith the first member ousted from the House since 1905, when Frank Comerford (D-Chicago) lost his seat on charges he damaged his colleagues’ reputations by complaining about corruption among lawmakers.

Smith’s attorney, Victor Henderson, said Wednesday the House should not take evidence from the feds at face value. “This is J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI,” Henderson said. “This is the same FBI that wiretapped Martin Luther King.”

Henderson labeled a federal informant at the case’s center a “con man” and said the House disciplinary process was moving forward without enough information. Henderson said the lawmakers should wait for the criminal case to play out.

Despite the bribery charge, Smith won his March primary in a landslide vote. Ousting him from the House would not remove him from the November ballot or block voters from returning him to the seat.

In that event, the state constitution would protect Smith from a second expulsion “for the same offense” but he could apparently face another disciplinary process.

Nekritz said she and other committee members were pushing for discipline now because they did not know how long the federal prosecution would take. “Our duty,” she said, “is to respect and protect the integrity of the House and the members that serve there.”

“The committee felt unanimously that it was . . . important to proceed on the basis of the information we had,” Nekritz said.