76 Comments - Northsider - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:04 am: Where’s Arte Johnson peeking out from behind a plant when you need him? - Steve - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:05 am: Another corruption headline with a Chairman attached to it. Is this some sort of pattern? - Token Conservative - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:05 am: Another day, another indicted Illinois Democrat. It’s hardly news anymore. - Perrid - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:06 am: *Opens popcorn* The dominoes continue to fall - Com Ed - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:06 am: Arroyo very close to Hispanic owned firm that does a good deal of business with Com Ed. Wonder if that what it is about. - Ron Burgundy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:07 am: Well there’s a topic for the caucus meeting. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:09 am: The complaint against Mr. Arroyo might fill in some blanks we have…. maybe? - Montrose - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:09 am: Finally, something for the the Chicago media to report on on this slow news day. /s - Steve - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:11 am: The fact that Arroyo was arrested means the feds feel they have enough evidence on Arroyo and an indictment must be pending. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:13 am: === The fact that Arroyo was arrested means the feds feel they have enough evidence on Arroyo and an indictment must be pending.=== No, when your arrested, you are charged. He’s also being arraigned. Anything else? - Three Dimensional Checkers - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:13 am: If Sen. Sandoval has to resign his chairmanship because of a search warrant, what should Rep Arroyo do after he’s been arrested? Resign altogether? Clearly he should be stripped of his Appropriations chairmanship. - Anon - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:14 am: I am waiting for Veto Session to be cancelled due to a lack of quorum. - Anonish - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:14 am: Either the best or worst advent calendar ever. - Steve - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:17 am: OW Alderman Ed Burke was charged in a criminal complaint before the feds came out with a criminal indictment. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:17 am: === A criminal complaint charged Arroyo, a state legislator since late 2006, with bribery of a state official.=== and… ===… include $5,000 on September 24th from Rick Heidner’s Gold Rush Amusements, Inc. He received $2,500 that same day from ComEd.=== There’s the case. Now let’s watch. Whew. Same day. Ugh. - Blue Dog Dem - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:18 am: I think Trump should get out the pardon pen tonight. Start with Blago. Wont be long all of our political taxpayers will be declaring Colorado residency. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:18 am: === was charged=== Yep, that’s how arrests work. I’m done, thanks. - Not a Billionaire - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:20 am: Katie Hill resigned Congress over nothing . They should all resign or be kicked out. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:23 am: === Katie Hill=== 1) California 2) Congress 3) Not Illinois Not a true example. We now have an indicted state Senator, state Representative, Chicago Alderman… all sitting. - Billy Sunday - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:24 am: Wasn’t Sandoval and Arroyo (as Capital Committee chair) the one’s who both attended a Tollway board meeting demanding that a particular firm’s contract be approved in 2016? - City Zen - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:26 am: O’ father, where art thou? - DTAG - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:29 am: ===Whew. Same day. Ugh.=== We don’t know when he necessarily got the check you only need to report once the check is deposited. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:30 am: === We don’t know when he necessarily got the check you only need to report once the check is deposited.=== Good point, so they were deposited the same day? The same “ugh” remains. - Just Me 2 - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:31 am: Spartacus 3 sounds like a conflict of interest machine. - Just Another Anon - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:33 am: @OW Indicted State Senator - T. Cullerton Indicted State Rep. - Arroyo Indicted Alderman - Burke, and Moreno (you forgot about him) But you left out the several honorable mentions as to aldercreatures under investigation: Austin, Munoz, and Cochran; and Senators under suspicion: Sandoval. - Fav human - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:35 am: Someone got their trick early. I wonder who this is designed to put pressure on…. - Ok - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:35 am: From McKinney: “Govt’s bribery case against Rep Luis Arroyo involves effort to pay an unnamed Illinois state senator on behalf of a lobbying client to advance gambling sweepstakes legislation, US Atty spox says. The spokesman would not say whether that unnamed senator is Marty Sandoval.” - Stark - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:37 am: A couple of real banner months for Illinois Democrats. /s - Three Dimensional Checkers - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:37 am: There should be a law forbidding legislators from owning lobbying firms or doing “consulting” for business with public business before local governments. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:37 am: === But you left out=== No i didn’t. I see the “innocent until proven guilty part of your excitement is missing. All three above are presumed innocent too. I’m guessing you disagree, lol - Just Another Anon - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:41 am: @OW Seems like your summary of IL politicians was missing those currently under investigation. I forgot Dorothy Brown too, but that investigation has been going on so long… - Powdered Whig - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:41 am: What I find interesting is that despite all of the public raids going on right now, Arroyo was arrested on Friday and nobody heard a peep about it until today. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:42 am: === Dorothy Brown=== You holding your breath for her too? lol - Huh? - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:42 am: Going to need a score card to keep track of who has been arrested, under suspicion, or has been named in a warrant. Going to need one of those wall picture charts with the lines of connection between the various politicians. - Just Another Anon - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:42 am: @Powdered Wig Looks like the USA for the ND is a pretty good plumber. Seems like he’s plugged all the leaks. - Nagidam - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:43 am: @OW ===Good point, so they were deposited the same day?=== These checks are $1,000 or greater. Meaning Campaign Finance laws say you must file an A-1 report. The report is triggered by the funds being deposited in the bank not when you receive the check. Most Treasurer’s deposit these A-1 contributions at the same time so they file all the A-1’s together. Point of this is that the timing of the A-1’s might not be tied to when the checks were received. We can’t call a conspiracy off of this. That doesn’t mean the Feds don’t have more information. - Demoralized - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:44 am: OW: With the utmost respect, the feds generally don’t arrest someone unless they think they can get a conviction. It’s true it’s only an arrest and we are all innocent until proven guilty. But I would argue that the feds don’t generally arrest unless they have the goods on you. We’ll see. Either way the ick around here keeps getting ickier. I keep waiting for the feds to pull a paddywagon up to the Capitol and leading everyone into the back. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:45 am: === Point of this is that the timing of the A-1’s might not be tied to when the checks were received. … That doesn’t mean the Feds don’t have more information.=== We’ll find out more at trial, that’s for sure. Yep. - BigLou - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:46 am: I heard him once say pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered. Ever since then I have been wondering when he would get slaughtered because I felt if anyone is a hog its him. - Just Another Anon - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:47 am: @OW My idle speculation is that she is one of the cooperators who started the ball rolling on this. The GJ was impaneled in 2017, right about the middle of the time the feds started to really put the pressure on her and the Patel. - cover - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:48 am: = I think Trump should get out the pardon pen tonight. Start with Blago. = It’s more likely that Trump will claim he doesn’t know and never met Blago. Why would he help out Illinois Democrats? - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:48 am: === My idle speculation is…=== Watch what does happen. We’ll know. - Skeptic - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:48 am: It’s all a Halas Hall “Wag the Dog” scheme. /s - Just Me 2 - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:58 am: It took the House 5 months to kick out Derrick Smith. I wonder how long it will take to kick out Arroyo. - Blue Dog Dem - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 11:58 am: Rich. Is there a way in which you can establish either a scorecard or family tree on all this corruption? Us downstaters have a hard time keeping up on this. - Twirling Towards Freedom - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 12:00 pm: @ow I may be misunderstanding what you were saying, but you can be arrested without being charged. Police officers make arrests. Prosecutors bring charges. A police officer who sees me jaywalking may arrest me, but that doesn’t mean the State’s Attorney will charge me. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 12:03 pm: === but you can be arrested without being charged. Police officers make arrests. Prosecutors bring charges. A police officer who sees me jaywalking may arrest me, but that doesn’t mean the State’s Attorney will charge me.=== How long can they hold you? Explain the process. Thanks. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 12:05 pm: If you get arrested for jaywalking, that’s what they are charging you. Ugh. === I’ve been watching this sweepstakes issue for a different reason. We’ll see if this leads to where I think it might.=== Dots might be connected, finally. - Amalia - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 12:11 pm: remember when he got his son elected Commissioner? what a freak show. to me, from personal observations, he’s always seemed to be the living embodiment of….ubi est mea. - Nivea - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 12:15 pm: Blue Dog a flow chart would be nice. Top to bottom and family connections. - ImHere - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 12:16 pm: I think theres some confusion around process so let me try to help. When dealing with federal courts, a criminal defendant must be presented with an indictment from a grand jury for the process to move forward according to the 5th amendment. When the feds arrest and charge prior to that indictment, it generally means they have the goods on the accused. The FBI doesn’t just go arrest people. They either witness the commission of the crime and arrest, get an arrest warrant from a judge or have an indictment in hand from a grand jury. The process at play here makes this an unusual and eyebrow raising move imho. - Bruce - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 12:24 pm: As always….follow the money. What happened to old school cash stuffed envelopes? - Ron Burgundy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 12:29 pm: Info from other thread indicates federal law enforcement witnessed the alleged crime. The urgency might be explained by the start of veto session and the need to get the information out that some legislation may have been influenced in a corrupt fashion. - Sue - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 12:53 pm: Not uncommon to arrest a federal defendant on an FBI affidavit. You need probable cause which is a pretty high burden to obtain the arrest warrant. Feds then have usually 30 days to indict but it is routinely extended. No one should think this arrest was a lark. This investigation is in the third inning of what will surpass operation Board games - revvedup - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 1:04 pm: I see the mandatory ethics training is really working to clean up State government. - Arthur Shelby - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 1:13 pm: I hate to seem dense but what is sweepstakes legislation? Something beneficial to Publisher’s Clearinghouse? - Sue - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 1:16 pm: Iamhere-There is nothing extraordinary with the process used here. When you have a recording of the commission of a crime it’s routine for an FBI affidavit to be filed with the court and to apply for an arrest warrant - Candy Dogood - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 1:16 pm: Can we take a moment to appreciate the choice that was made in naming the consultant company — after a 1st Century BCE slave that lead a slave revolt against the Romans with mixed results. I mean, what on earth relevance does Spartacus have to do with anything this guy was doing with the entity? But the irony of a politician naming the entity they were funneling bribes through after a person that revolted against the connected elite and ultimately defeated one of their more notable commanders is delightful. - Arthur Shelby - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 1:20 pm: Found my answer in the comments to the more updated post. - Paul Powell's Shoebox - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 1:23 pm: In my opinion, You have the infrastructure stuff with Sandoval and Arroyo, you have the Mesirow/ Madigans kid insurance angle with the Suburban Mayors under the Fed’s micro scope. You have the Com Ed rate lobbying and the sudden resignations and Com Ed lobbyists paying Quinn to keep him afloat. You have Burke under indictment and they havent even started looking at if he ever colluded with his wife on the Supreme court for his clients, all this is pointing to who rolls first on 1 guy at the center of the bulls eye to save their skin. IMO once the word gets out that Madigan is severely wounded its going to break wide open. In the immortal words of Led Zepplin ” If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break” - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 1:26 pm: === they havent even started looking at if he ever colluded with his wife on the Supreme court for his clients=== Mighty big speculation there… we’ll see. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 1:28 pm: === they havent even started looking at if he ever colluded with his wife on the Supreme court for his clients=== Here’s the thing, there’s been the cases of discussion… but now that statement goes to the criminal? - Driving a car - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 1:35 pm: Could someone explain to me what the sweepstakes ordinance is? I get that it has to do with video gambling machines to an extent right? I’ve read a bunch on it and am still confused. Any help would be appreciated. - Paul Powell's Shoebox - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 1:38 pm: Oswego Willie, have you read the book “Three Felonies a Day”? Basically, it describes the process and power the G can bring down to prove a case. The book’s main take away is to not fall into the prosecutorial trap, which clearly both the gentleman from the SW side and potentially their wives through their political day jobs are subject to review and are in currently. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 1:41 pm: === potentially=== I’ll watch what does happens, thanks. - Paul Powell's Shoebox - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 1:54 pm: Clearly Oswego Willie does not understand leverage and it uses and implications - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 1:57 pm: Clearly you can’t spell Willy or realize we only know what we know, without speculating on the Chief Justice of Illinois. - ImHere - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 1:59 pm: Sue - imo, it’s always unusual for the DOJ to make an arrest of an elected public official prior to indictment. That generally means they witnessed the illegal act. And it generally also means that they’re trying to prevent further corrupt activities with the arrest. See Blagojevich, Rod. In my defense, i made that post prior to the thread above, so I didn’t know about the CW or the physical surveillance, but those are the factors I was assuming were at play and are what raised my eyebrows. - TopHatMonocle - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 2:00 pm: Is there anyone who’s spent more than 5 minutes with Arroyo who is surprised by this development? I doubt it. - R A T - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 2:13 pm: Mr Governor, when you start spending that large amount of capital that involved IDOT, I have one word for you: TRANSPARENCY - Anonymous - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 2:49 pm: =====Clearly you can’t spell Willy or realize we only know what we know, without speculating on the Chief Justice of Illinois==== Willie, I quote the great native son, “Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.” - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 2:50 pm: ===Willie=== Choose a name, learn to spell, get back to all of us, lol - Rich Miller - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 2:53 pm: Let’s get back on topic, please. - Mr. Smith - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 3:26 pm: FWIW, folks, I identify (and vote) as a Democrat. But I am happy as heck to see this happen. I have nothing personal against the Representative, except that it looks very much like he’s dirty. And the more dirty politicians we get out of office, the better off this state will be. I’m sure that the Republicans are licking their lips right now, dreaming of taking control. Look to your own house, folks. I doubt VERY seriously that one arty has a monopoly on corruption. - Anonymous - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 3:38 pm: ===Going to need a score card to keep track=== Let’s play BINGO - frisbee - Monday, Oct 28, 19 @ 10:45 pm: ====In the immortal words of Led Zepplin ” If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break” ==== Led Zeppelin covered that song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swhEa8vuP6U I doubt the GOP will pickup this seat. I agree with the notion that Arroyo is low hanging fruit that the feds are going to leverage to go after bigger fish. He walked into this one and it will end up killing the feds wire they had on a Senator for three years but so be it. This is their chess match now. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.