Crime and punishment
Tuesday, Jul 5, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* More than three months after falsely claiming that Rep. Bob Rita had been convicted of a felony and was therefore ineligible to serve in the House (wrong on both counts), the Illinois Policy Institute quietly issued a retraction and apology on the Friday before the July 4th holiday weekend under the headline “Investigative Reporting Update.” I have no idea why the group waited so long to do this because it was clear within minutes of publishing its story that at least half of it was wrong (even if he was a felon, which he wasn’t, felons are able to serve in the General Assembly after they’ve completed their sentences). The other half (about being a felon) was cleared up within a few hours. Even so, the group continued to aggressively push the story via Chicago radio and TV appearances.
Rep. Rita has graciously accepted the apology. I’m still waiting for the group’s apology to me, however. All I did was point out IPI’s egregious errors and was then insanely accused of fronting for the House Democrats. Ridiculous.
* This is bizarre on so many levels…
State Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Cicero) awarded a taxpayer-funded college scholarship for $8,200 to Michael A. Giorango, who’s the son of three-time felon and reputed mobster Michael C. “Jaws” Giorango.
And then Sandoval did something that state officials say was even more unusual: He tried to revoke the scholarship that he’d awarded to the younger Giorango to attend Illinois State University.
But it wasn’t because the father had been convicted of helping run a mob bookmaking operation, failing to file his taxes and participating in a nationwide prostitution ring, according to Sandoval.
“I never met him, I don’t know who he was, and I don’t care to meet him,” Sandoval says of Michael A. Giorango and the string of events that led to his getting — and ultimately giving up — one of the college scholarships that the senator gets to hand out under Illinois’ legislative scholarship program.
Nor, Sandoval says, does he know the elder Giorango, who served a four-year prison sentence during the early 1990s for the mob bookmaking conviction. According to federal prosecutors, the south suburban ring that Giorango helped run once threatened bombings and other violence to make sure people paid them what money they owed.
Giorango listed his address as being at the home of Rudy Acosta, a top precinct captain for Ald. Ed Burke, even though he actually lives in Orland Park, which is not in Sandoval’s district. Acosta has worked for Sandoval in the past, but Sandoval says Acosta didn’t personally recommend Giorango to him for a scholarship. The scholarship application was approved by an aide, Sandoval claims, even though Giorango didn’t complete a 500-word essay or submit a school transcript.
* Meanwhile, the Daily Herald has a story about the murderer registry bill…
The father of an Illinois State Police officer mowed down during a high speed police chase 25 years ago in Itasca, is imploring Gov. Pat Quinn to sign a bill requiring first-degree murderers to register their whereabouts with local law enforcement for 10 years after their release. The state Senate unanimously approved the bill in May. […]
John Kugelman had been a member of the Illinois State Police for about 3½ years when he was killed during a high-speed police chase in November 1986. David Melind, who was 17 at the time, led police on a high-speed chase through Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg and Elk Grove Village before he mowed down John Kugelman. The state police officer had stepped onto the shoulder of Route 53 near Irving Park Road in an attempt to stop the chase. Melind, formerly of Elk Grove Village, had taken off when police attempted to pull him over for speeding. Melind did not take his foot off the accelerator when he ran Kugelman over, according to court testimony. […]
Sponsored by state Rep. Dennis Reboletti, a Republican from Elmhurst, the bill is known as “Andrea’s Law.” Andrea Will was an Eastern Illinois University student murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 1998. He was released from prison after serving half of his 24-year sentence. If approved by Gov. Quinn, it is estimated between 400 and 500 first-degree murderers currently on parole would have to register with the state police. The Internet database would include mug shots and addresses, similar to the state’s sex offender registry.
* But the Sun-Times editorial board thinks it should be vetoed…
But this bill would make it all but impossible for ex-offenders to make a fresh start, while offering only the illusion of greater public safety.
The logic of sex offender registries is that at least some small percentage of sex offenders cannot be rehabilitated; released from prison, they will repeat the same crimes. Society must know who they are to protect itself.
There is no compelling evidence, however, that people who kill once tend to do so again, especially after serving a 20- to 30-year prison term.
What we do know is that making it harder for ex-offenders to fully integrate into society after prison — with friends, family and a job — increases the likelihood that they’ll return to crime.
In a cash-strapped state that already has public registries for sex offenders, child murderers and arsonists, we also question whether Illinois has the resources to keep track of the thousands of convicted murderers who would be required to register.
* Related…
* Cellini ready for trial in October, attorney says
* Gov. Quinn bars disclosure of gun-permit holders
* Did Cicero’s Dominick slur Hispanics?
* Mayor Rahm Emanuel proposing new round of ethics reforms
* Jody Weis to be named deputy head of the Chicago Crime Commission
* Going it alone: Other towns not following Palatine’s lead on smoking
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Jul 5, 11 @ 11:23 am:
If Sandoval is to be believed, he needs to take a little more personal interest in the workings of his office.
Another rock on the enormous pile of evidence that these ridiculous waivers have to go. GA members should not be Lords and Ladies granting boons to the great unwashed.
- Coach - Tuesday, Jul 5, 11 @ 11:51 am:
So much for IPI’s attempt to boldly position itself as a bona fide investigative news outfit.
Next step … they ought to can the reporter who compiled the ludicrous story about Rita and then went on the air to defend it. Had he talked to anybody at the Statehouse, he would have quickly learned that a convicted felon had previously served in the House, and that this state rep was quite public about his past. And once the reporter had learned that little detail, then maybe he would have realized that the entire premise of his story was without merit.
IPI might actually have some credibility if would just acknowledge what it is - a right-wing advocacy organization - rather than continuing to pretend that it’s somehow or another an objective “think tank” when anybody with a third-grade education could see through that in an instant.
- just sayin' - Tuesday, Jul 5, 11 @ 12:29 pm:
What a lame apology to Bob Rita.
What really gets me about the IPI is that as Bernie Schoenburg reported a couple of weeks ago, IPI head John Tillman pulls a $175,000 annual salary from the organization, that’s supposedly a NOT FOR PROFIT!
That’s a lot of scratch for basically parroting the work product of the Civic Federation, when they aren’t defaming a public official and misrepresenting the law. It also takes incredible nerve to pull that kind of coin out of a not for profit, while Tillman then goes out and attacks teachers and state workers making a measly 30, 40 or 50 grand. And I’m quite sure every single one of those teachers works a heck of a lot harder than Tillman, who mostly pays himself to promote himself.
What a bunch of arrogant, reckless jerks.
The IPI gives all conservatives a bad name. “Conservatives” probably isn’t the right word, but they’re obviously not reformers.
Thank goodness Dan Proft is being brought in to fix everything (snark).
- Mobsters on Bio - Tuesday, Jul 5, 11 @ 12:56 pm:
From the crazy files notebook:
In Illinois, I can pay a fee, fill out a form, and get someones driving record, but I can’t know if my neighbor owns a gun?
- Dan Bureaucrat - Tuesday, Jul 5, 11 @ 12:56 pm:
It is interesting that the victims and the legislators supporting this registry bill are doing so on the “why should their punishment end in prison” argument. They basically admit that the murder registry is vengeance.
However, if the registry is created for “punishment” instead of “public safety” then it violates ex post facto provisions. That is why sex offender registries and restrictions are carefully framed as needed to regulate public safety (even though there is no empirical evidence to support them and their real purpose is getting weak legislators re-elected).
Proponents of this bill should watch their mouths and start pretending that there is some public safety good to this political gimmick.
Apparently, there is no one in the press willing to point out that a murder registry would not have saved Andrea Will who died at the hands of a boyfriend with a clean record. Nor would this police officer been saved since he was killed by a 17 year old driver.
- siriusly - Tuesday, Jul 5, 11 @ 12:59 pm:
The fact that the student in question ended up submitting a withdrawal for the Sandoval scholarship is evidence alone (in my mind) that there was some communication from the Senator’s office to this student.
To me this looks like a bold faced lie and a cover-up. $andoval can’t possibly expect people to believe that he never talks to Rudy Acosta or that he doesn’t know that people play games with the whole “scholarship committee” system.
The story is very strange and it doesn’t look like any laws were broken because his rules for his GA scholarships were just his own rules, not legislative.
Worslinger is right, the GA scholarship program is an un-ending un-necessary joke on all of us.
Legislators love to claim that it helps them get needy kids into college. But they avoid paying for it. Isn’t that what the state’s MAP grants are for - to help needy kids get to college? (a real scholarship program which they cut by $20 M this year)
It isn’t about college access, it’s about power, control and a political perk run amok.
- Dan Bureaucrat - Tuesday, Jul 5, 11 @ 1:15 pm:
Incidentally, the Sun-Times is wrong. If there are sex offenders who even have a remote possibility of not being rehabilitatable, the attorney general sends them off to indefinite civil commitment which costs over 100K per person per year. For everyone else, sex offender recidivism rates are quite low, second only to murderers who have the absolute lowest recidivism rate.
The vast overwhelming majority of new sex crimes (about 87-95%) will be committed by a person who had not been arrested for a previous sex crime and therefore are not on the registry at all.
Sexual violence and sexual abuse is, more than anything, a public health problem. We should face up to it and stop letting legislators use it as re-election insurance.
- Wumpus - Tuesday, Jul 5, 11 @ 2:20 pm:
Mobster in Bio, you need to know who is an easy target for robbery?
Rich, on behalf of IPI, I apologize for any offenses they may have committed.
- Hoy Pinot - Tuesday, Jul 5, 11 @ 2:32 pm:
Re Sandoval. The scholarship itself may have been legal. The question is why did Jaws get the taxpayer funded benefit in the first place. Arent there any deserving low income Hispanic kids in the district who could have used the help? And yeah, there’s no way Sandoval didn’t know who received this plum. Something here ain’t right at all.
- Newsclown - Tuesday, Jul 5, 11 @ 10:53 pm:
Every legislator knows Andrea’s Law is a heartfelt but ill-advsed and useless law (for reasons well-enough explained in the earlier comments…)
… and you bet they are all going to get on record as voting for it.
The thing was constructed as a political poison pill; vote against it and you can bet the farm your electoral opponent is going to make hay out of it.