Recounting all of our officials who have gotten into trouble

We're following up on yesterday's post about former State Representative Connie Howard.

The following officials were all in office at the same time for at least 6 tears (2006-2012). That’s 4 out of 5 of our local offices where there’s been at least a serious allegation or arrest, if not a conviction. (We don't have any official allegations for Aldermanic offices, at least east of the Dan Ryan and north of now 87th).

It is interesting to note that in several elections, these officials ran unopposed.

Office	Politician	Issue
1st Congressional District – U.S. Representative	Bobby Rush	Investigated by the House Ethics Committee
17th District – State Senator	Donne Trotter	Sentenced to one year of court supervision & 60 hours of community service after pleading guilty to misdemeanor reckless conduct for trying to bring a gun onto an airplane at O’Hare
34th District – State Representative	Connie Howard	Convicted of fraud. Sentenced to 3 months.
4th Cook County District – County Commissioner	William Beavers	Convicted of tax evasion.  Spent 6 months in Federal prison

How does that make you feel about our representation in our area? Will we have choices and accountability in the next election?

Rep. Bobby Rush

St. Senator Donne Trotter

Former St. Rep. Connie Howard

Beavers found GUILTY!

Photo from Chicago Magazine of soon-to-be-former
Cook Couny Commisioner Bill Beavers

Cook County Commisison William "Bill" Beavers has been found guilty of tax evasion. The jury took a mere 2 hours to find him guilty on all counts. You can see below for links which detail the suspicious financial dealings of the soon-to-be former commissioner.

Much if not all of the 6th Ward falls under Beavers' 4th District, so his representation covers much of our readership. And his now removal from the board opens up a power vacuum that doesn't have an immediate name.

We would also like to note that current 34th District Elgie Sims ran against Beavers in 2010, and lost by fairly close 55% to 45%.  A Green Party (NOT a Republican) member was on the ballot in November but lost 10% - 90%. We would love to hear form our readers if you recall voting for that office, why you cast your ballot.

Here are some articles which talk about the situation with Beavers:

 Cook County Commissioner William Beavers convicted of tax evasion in less than 2 hours (Chicago Tribune)


Mark Brown: Beavers’ biggest jackpot didn’t come out of a slot machine (Chicago Suntimes)


Bing Search of Beavers
  A few questions for you, the readers:

1. Did you vote for Bill Beavers in the 2010 primary and/or general?
2. Do you regret your vote?
3. Do you feel Bill beavers accomplished anything for our distirct?
4. Has Beavers or his staff ever appeared in your neighborhood meetings?
5. Do you believe Beavers was guilty and/or should be punished?
6. Who do you think should replace Bill Beavers? (If we have enough comments, we may do a poll on our Facebook Page.)

P.S. We apologize for the multitude of postings today, but felt this was too important to wait until the weekend.