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* The Sun-Times had a great roundup of those still awaiting trial and sentencing in the federal investigation of Rod Blagojevich’s administration. Here are just a few, so go read the whole thing…
Stuart P. Levine, 65
Indicted: May 9, 2005
Pleaded guilty: Oct. 27, 2006
Levine — a top Republican fund-raiser turned Blagojevich campaign contributor — admitted using his appointment to two Illinois state boards to mastermind multimillion-dollar extortion schemes designed to enrich himself, Blagojevich adviser Tony Rezko and others. Levine, a former Highland Park resident now living in Skokie, used another board post — with the former Chicago Medical School, a private institution — to skim millions from construction deals the school gave to Jacob Kiferbaum.
Status: Awaiting sentencing.
P. Nicholas Hurtgen, 48
Indicted: May 9, 2005
Pleaded guilty: Feb. 25, 2009
Withdrawal of guilty plea: July 7, 2010
A onetime investment banker with Bear Stearns, Hurtgen, a Glencoe resident, had pleaded guilty to helping Levine defraud Illinois taxpayers by passing word to executives from Edward Hospital in Naperville that approval of a proposed Edward medical center would be blocked by Levine — then a member of the state’s hospital-construction board — unless the hospital hired Kiferbaum to build the project, which Bear Stearns hoped to finance.
Status: Withdrew his guilty plea after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling narrowed the scope of the federal honest-services fraud law. Prosecutors later dropped six of the seven charges Hurtgen faced, and a judge is hearing arguments about whether to drop the lone remaining charge.
Jacob Kiferbaum, 59
Indicted: May 9, 2005
Pleaded guilty: June 20, 2005
Kiferbaum, a onetime construction magnate also from Glencoe, admitted participating in Levine’s hospital-related schemes.
Status: Awaiting sentencing.
* Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal believes that Sen. Mark Kirk’s efforts to restore “honest services fraud” to the criminal code is a big mistake…
Ronald Reagan once joked that one way to make sure crime doesn’t pay would be to let the government run it. If only the latest ideas moving through Congress in the name of fighting public corruption were jokes.
Since the Supreme Court limited the definition of “honest services” fraud in last year’s landmark Skilling v. U.S., the Obama Administration has been looking for a way to restore essentially unlimited prosecutorial discretion to bring white-collar cases. Last fall Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer told a Senate committee that Congress should act to “remedy” the Court’s decision. Three bills moving through the House and Senate would try to do so, expanding the reach of prosecutors to go after unpopular politicians or businesses whom they can’t pin with a real crime.
In Skilling, the Supreme Court ruled that the honest services statute was “unconstitutionally vague” and restricted its application to clear cases of bribery or kickbacks. The new legal template of Senate bills sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, the liberal Democrat, and Illinois Republican Mark Kirk would end run that change, transforming many state or local ethics violations into federal felonies any time there is an allegation of undisclosed “self-dealing.” A related House bill would expand the reach of mail- and wire-fraud statutes and loosen the requirements for proving federal bribery.
* Is this yet another example of a legislative scholarship awarded to somebody who didn’t live in a member’s district? Maybe…
State Rep. Dan Burke represents a Southwest Side district where three out of four residents don’t speak English and less than one in 10 has a bachelor’s degree.
So when it was time to hand out a free college education to someone under the century-old legislative scholarship program, whom did Burke pick?
Not someone who grew up in the working-class district straddling the Stevenson Expressway near Midway Airport. Instead, the 10-term lawmaker chose a young, Downstate woman he described as a member of his state government “family.”
A joint investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times and Better Government Association has raised unanswered questions about how Sarah Rae Dowis got nearly $70,000 in tuition set aside by Burke under a program beset for decades by cronyism, insider dealings and sleight of hand. Gov. Pat Quinn wants the General Assembly to abolish the program this fall.
* This is way overdue…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Monday he is “working towards” settling outstanding police torture allegations against convicted former Area 2 Cmdr. Jon Burge because it’s “time we end” one of the ugliest chapters in the history of the Chicago Police Department.
“We have a future to build — not a past to settle. That’s what I look at,” the mayor said in an exclusive interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.
“How old is this now — 30 years old? … It is time we end it.”
Emanuel talked about the possibility of compensating Michael Tillman and other victims of police torture, even as he defended his decision to provide a legal defense for former Mayor Richard M. Daley for his role in the case.
It’s time to stop fighting these suits. There’s no doubt that torture was committed. Settle the claims with merit and move on.
* From a press release…
Governor Quinn has signed House Bill 83 (Yarbrough-Gabel, Collins-Steans), legislation that limits the use of incarceration, requiring juvenile court judges to first ensure that there is no less restrictive alternative available and to make every reasonable effort to keep youth at home.
“Incarceration in a state juvenile prison is expensive, $86,000 per bed in FY10, and has terrible outcomes with over half the youth returning to juvenile prison within three years,” said Elizabeth Clarke, President of the Juvenile Justice Initiative, one of the main proponents of the legislation. “Research demonstrates that community alternatives are cheaper and have far better outcomes with youth more likely to return to school and move on with their lives. This change will remind juvenile courts to conduct a thorough review of all less restrictive alternatives prior to sentencing a youth to the Department of Juvenile Justice.”
The sponsors of the bill concur that communities are safer when youth in conflict with the law are treated within their own community. “Not only is incarceration expensive – it doesn’t work,” said Sen. Annazette Collins, D-Chicago. “Community programs that follow nationally recognized best practices and focus on improving family and educational functioning have far better success at turning youth away from delinquency and keeping them involved in productive activities. Thus, we hope this change will remind juvenile courts to review all available options and exhaust every possible alternative prior to giving up on the youth.”
* Related…
* Firm tied to $16 million fraud gave to Cicero president’s campaign
* Interview: Garry McCarthy on the future of the Chicago Police Department
* South, Southwest side neighborhoods rank unhealthiest in city
* Homicides down in Chicago so far in 2011
* Cops seize $100,000 worth of marijuana on West Side
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 16, 11 @ 12:02 pm
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Tough break for Dan Burke. If it turns out he helped arrange the in-district “residency” for the scholarship recipient in order to qualify her, he may have a serious problem on his hands.
Comment by Coach Tuesday, Aug 16, 11 @ 12:25 pm
Incarceration of youth in the Department of Juvenile Justice certainly should only occur when it is truly necessary but a sentence to Juvenile Justice is “giving up on a youth”? Have we officially abandoned the rehabilitation model that was the supposed reason for creating a (purportedly) separate correctional agency for juveniles just a few years ago?
Comment by girlawyer Tuesday, Aug 16, 11 @ 12:30 pm
==The new legal template of Senate bills sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, the liberal Democrat, and Illinois Republican Mark Kirk would end run that change…==
Glad the WSJ hit the important aspect of this story, that Patrick Leahy is a liberal Democrat.
Comment by AnonX Tuesday, Aug 16, 11 @ 3:45 pm
@girlawyer:
The problem is that the state has not provided anywhere close to the funding necessary to make juvenile facilities a place for rehabilitation. The youth go there and are provided no programming and little education. They just sit locked up like any other criminal. If the model is to get them to be a productive member of society then we are gonna have to spend some money.
Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Aug 16, 11 @ 3:59 pm
@girllawyer & @demoralized - And, no matter how “good” DJJ is, juvenile incarceration will almost always be less effective and always more costly than good community-based treatment and services. We need a better DJJ (which is partly a matter of resources, but not only that) AND no more kids going there than is absolutely necessary.
– MrJM
Comment by MrJM Tuesday, Aug 16, 11 @ 9:40 pm