12 Comments - The Broken Heart of Rogers Park - Thursday, Apr 6, 06 @ 8:04 am: Boo- Hoo, poor Aunt Jan. I was going to add you to my Creamer goes to pookie links, but this is lame. - Backyard Conservative - Thursday, Apr 6, 06 @ 9:05 am: My congressperson, Schakowsky, signed the fraudulent tax returns. http://backyardconservative.blogspot.com/ 2006/04/hero-of-common-man.html - Veritas - Thursday, Apr 6, 06 @ 9:50 am: Schakowsky said she was disappointed her husband’s sentencing included jail time. Interesting that she’s NOT disappointed her husband broke the law. - Randall Sherman - Thursday, Apr 6, 06 @ 10:38 am: I already made some biting comments on ILLINOIZE on this subject. But since I could be accused as being biased against Creamer, his wife (AKA my sorry excuse for a Representative in Congress) and my worthless Alderman, Joe Moore (who has never told the truth when a lie could serve him better), I am asking you, Mr. Miller, to do the following when you get some time. Go over to the office of the State Board of Elections and check out the D-2 campaign disclosure reports for Joe Moore’s campaign committee for the years 1997 and 1998 (since this was before electronic filing, you will have to go there in person). Check out the loans made by Moore’s campaign committee to Creamer’s organization,and the series of repayments made in return (almost as if Moore’s committee was an ATM machine). The net result was that on Moore’s Semi-annual Report, his committee showed what appeared to be some $30,000 or more in income received, when in fact Moore only received a net income of about $25 from Creamer’s group! The inflated totals obviously made it that much easier for Moore and his fundraisers to raise money from others, including businesses and building owners and managers in Moore’s 49th Ward (particularly those businesses and buildings that may have had various violations of city codes). Now none of this violated the Illinois Election Code, a set of laws that are incredibly weak. But these actions show a pattern of behavior that was fair game for consideration during the sentencing process in federal court (is it any wonder that Ald. Moore was among the public officials who wrote to the federal court on Creamer’s behalf?…. Perhaps a good question is whether or not Moore or others wrote such letters more for their own self-interest, but then again, I admit that my viewpoint may be biased, which is why you need to do your own investigation). RANDALL SHERMAN Secretary/Treasurer, Illinois Committee for Honest Government Chicago - Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Apr 6, 06 @ 11:14 am: I don’t know Bob Creamer, but I heard he does good work and believes in the things he was doing. Whatever people say about him, unlike Duke Cunningham and Tom DeLay’s chief of staff, I never heard anybody say Bob Creamer did what he did for personal gain. He did have a reputation for pushing the envelope, but courts say he crossed the line. So be it. Criticizing someone for not distancing themselves from their spouse in public is absurd and uncalled for. I’m a partisan, but even I recognize that most of the people on both sides of the aisle are good people at heart, even when we disagree. And, they are all still human beings. Even though George Ryan’s actions may have indirectly led to the death of those six children, I don’t think he was necessarily a bad person per se. I think he just grew up in a political environment where that was the way things were done. I’m sure he’s had alot of time to think about that now though, and I bet he’s sorry. Still, if he’s found guilty, he must make restitution. But would it be reasonable or fair to expect his wife of 40-something years to come out and criticize him for his actions if he’s convicted? Should she be put on trial for co-signing the tax returns? I don’t think so. So, take a lesson from Mike Madigan. Don’t kick people while they are down, and don’t gloat over the misfortunes of others. It’s both unnecessary and unseemly. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Apr 6, 06 @ 11:17 am: P.S. If conservative want to be upset about something, they should be outraged by the actions of the Kane County Board. Limiting public comments to three people and three minutes each? Requiring the public to sign up in advance to speak at a public meeting? Is Joseph Stalin chairing their County Board? If what they are doing is legal, the state should amend the Open Meetings Act. - Anon - Thursday, Apr 6, 06 @ 11:42 am: As an ex-SCG’r (Creamers last business), I for one feel that he was still committing bank fraud, especially when our checks would bounce, or we were asked to cash them a few days later because “the money wasn’t in the bank yet.” The man got what he deserved. - Slantagraph - Thursday, Apr 6, 06 @ 11:59 am: Rich why do you post Pantagraph editorials? They are consistently among the most dogmatic and poorly written of any in the state. Surely you could find pieces on the same topics written with better skill and nuance? - AngryGOP - Thursday, Apr 6, 06 @ 12:19 pm: Well YDD, as long as he believed in what he was doing, then he should get a pass…thanks for that great legal insight and for being such a partisan hack. - Johnson - Thursday, Apr 6, 06 @ 1:52 pm: Angry GOP - blah blah blah George Ryan bad blah blah blah blah Tom Delay blah blah blah blah Duke Cunnigham blah blah blah See how easy it is to be a partisan hack? Everyone can do it. - AngryGOP - Thursday, Apr 6, 06 @ 2:01 pm: blah blah blah, democrats care blah blah blah, it’s what’s in their hearts blah blah blah, they shouldn’t be convicted if their intent was good blah blah blah - Criminal Enterprise Called Illinois - Friday, Apr 7, 06 @ 12:59 am: Jan and Bob are among Illinois’ finest public servants. Bob doesn’t even deserve five months in jail. A stupid move? Yes. Criminal? No way! Ten years of witch hunting over rubber public interest check floats? Come on! Remember this is Illinois. Don’t we have bigger fish to catch? I wish the feds would beef up their investigation of the true criminals in this state and under the Dome. Chicken scratches. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.