Posted on 02/03/2010 1:55:45 PM PST by STARWISE
Like father like son. Chicago Alderman Isaac “Ike” Carothers has pleaded guilty to corruption and faces 28 months in jail. His father, former Alderman William Carothers, was convicted of attempted extortion in 1983.
Here’s how Chicago’s WGN TV News announced the 31st Chicago City Council Alderman since 1973 – but, hey, who’s counting – to be convicted of crimes that include paying a bribe, taking a bribe, extortion, attempted extortion, tax fraud, tax evasion, racketeering, and ghost-payrolling schemes.
Ike was formally charged with fraud and bribery last May by U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the legal beagle who has former Governor Rod Blagojevich facing trial this summer. That is, unless Blago does enough talking to turn a plea deal. And that’s a potential factor that makes the Carothers’ case particularly interesting.
You can catch up on the details of Ike’s misdeeds in the Chicago print media here *below*
Let’s piece together lines from two of those articles. First, the Chicago Sun Times piece:
He [Carothers] wasn’t shy during the eight-month period between his indictment and conviction. Carothers continued to show up regularly at City Hall, chairing Police and Fire Committee meetings and rising on the City Council floor to participate in debates.
Okay, so Ike kept involved in Machine business after his indictment. Guess what he was doing during that time? WGN News tells us.
As part of his cooperation with the government, Carothers has secretly worn a wire in corruption investigations. Prosecutors have been mum about what other shady arrangements Carothers has been involved in, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Fox told U.S. District Judge Robert M. Dow Jr. during the plea hearing that the alderman has been helpful in ‘at least two matters.’
Oh, oh, Ike wore a wire!
Once upon a time, the Machine relied on a code of silence. If you got caught, you paid your penalty and the Machine cranked on. But Ike wore a wire. This summer, an even bigger fish, Blagojevich, could have many more things to say based on his intimate knowledge of the Machine.
How long do you suppose it’ll be before U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald is ‘promoted’ out of the Northern District of Illinois?
FLASHBACK: Here’s how Fitzgerald presented his cast against Blago at the time of the governor’s arrest. Watch the whole thing:
Fitzgerald Chicago/Blago Video
Chicago print media references:
Chicago alderman would be 28th City Council member found guilty of wrongdoing since 1972
~~Ching!
“Another Daley Alderman Heads to the Slammer: Are the Wheels Coming Off the Chicago Machine?:
No.
The organized crime gang known as the Chicago Democrats has had hundreds of its dirtbags perp walked for 150 years with no effect.
LOL ...
~~Ping!
After the election last night, I wonder if Daley time a Mayor is limited: No longer controls the head of CIty Counsel....OTOH ALex is his guy.
So what do the rest of us Americans do about corrupt places like Chicago or Illinois in general? Well I don’t know about you, but as of today, I will not step foot in that cesspool of a state. Are they going to miss me? Not likely. But they might, over time, miss you...or you...or you...
Several years ago when Bill Clinton uttered those immortal words, “that depends on what the meaning of is is”, I said then and there that it will take generations for the U.S. to recover from the effects of that statement. Turn the clock forward and I will claim that articles like this one corroborate what I predicted. Think about it. Picture all the budding corporate executives at that time hearing no less than the president of the United States playing semantic games to cover his own wretched ass. And then think about the decisions many of them made to sell bogus securities and game the system. No connection??? I’m sure the bleeding liberals will deny that there is. But we know differently, don’t we.
*IL ping*
Who should run for mayor, in 2011?
Zero ?
But these are small change, want the meat of Luis, then we know the masheen is being disassembled
Only the Daley Machine wheels. These wheels are being replaced by the Obama Machine, a bigger and more powerful entity.
The political machine of Chicago Democrats was first assembled by Anton Cermak in the late 1920s + early 1930s. In the decade prior, dat toddlin’ town was run by Mayor Big Bill Thompson, a Republican.
And yet, Chicago Alderman have concealed carry and we don’t . . .
Beats me.
Chicagolady maybe? :D
Who do you suggest?
I agree that Rosanna Pulido should run for mayor of Chicago. Yesterday, I emailed her and asked her to run.
She’d get my vote. That’s a good start.
She told me that she’s concentrating on helping a candidate. I hope that William Kelly will run for mayor. He was the most conservative comptroller candidate, and he received 22%. In his speeches, he said that he’s strongly anti-corruption and pro-government transparency.
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