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This just in… Leader Cross calls on Rep. Derrick Smith to resign

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Illinois

* 1:21 pm - From a press release…

“In light of the extremely damaging charges contained last week’s federal indictment of Representative Derrick Smith (D-Chicago),
I believe he should resign his position immediately.

“Representative Smith, who stands indicted on the charge of attempted bribery of a nursing home operator in exchange for official action,
has brought deep disrespect and damage upon the Illinois House of Representatives and the people of the State of Illinois.

“Rep. Smith should spare the House of Representatives any further embarrassment and step down immediately.”

Kinda late, and Smith was accused of shaking down a daycare center owner, not bribing a nursing home operator, but whatever. At least he said something. The same can’t be said for House Speaker Madigan.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 1:22 pm

Comments

===Kinda late, and Smith was accused of shaking down a daycare center owner, not bribing a nursing home operator, but whatever. ===

“Tom Cross - Strong on leadership, Weak on the Details”

“Please refer all calls to Fox Bend Golf Course regarding the Minority Leader’s Statement.”

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 1:31 pm
MYOB Tommie Boy

Comment by Bill Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 1:51 pm
Reposted from the earlier Smith story–

This whole thing stinks. Blago’s doing 14 years and those people who worked so hard to get him elected are in the same position they were in a decade ago, or more powerful. This Smith debacle is going down and the 27th’ll pick his replacement. What needs to happen is when one of your charges screws up is you lose 50k in contributions, or something. Think of it like college sports. You don’t graduate your kids, lose a couple scholarships. Your athletes are shooting and robbing and making trouble, lose 10 scholarships and probation. Congressman gets caught misappropriating funds, you lose a staffer or two. Politics is sport. If your charge is a screw up, the institution that sponsored that screwup should feel it.

Comment by hammer Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 1:55 pm
===Congressman gets caught misappropriating funds, you lose a staffer or two.===

So … the District suffers, even those who didn’t vote for the Congressman, and constituents lose out … and you think THIS couls solve the problem …yeah, ok …

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 1:59 pm
Also, Smith was not indicted. He was charged in a criminal complaint. A technicality, maybe, but still.

Comment by ToddAF Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 1:59 pm
I suspect Madigan and J.White will call for Smith’s resignation sometime Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. (They’re using this time to check out the details of the charges against him. Seriously…no really…I kid you not…these things take time…)

Comment by Pot calling kettle Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 2:15 pm
#

So … the District suffers, even those who didn’t vote for the Congressman, and constituents lose out … and you think THIS couls solve the problem …yeah, ok …

Not a congressional staffer, a committee staffer, a ward person, etc. I’m thinking damage the possibility of re-elect, not punish constituents.

Comment by hammer Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 2:17 pm
Well I don’t think Leader Cross can count on Rep. Smith’s vote for Speaker after this.

Comment by The Captain Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 2:18 pm
===Not a congressional staffer, a committee staffer, a ward person, etc. I’m thinking damage the possibility of re-elect, not punish constituents.===

And you regulate these “new” titles … how?

I thought you were being snarky, and played along … but …

“I am a ‘committee staffer’, but not a ‘Ward person’, so I only get removed for local crimes, while a ‘committe staffer’ gets removed for federal crimes.

That roster spot is left void until the next NFL draft, then that spot gets moved to ‘Ward person’ by statue, then you can sign an unrestricted ‘committee person’ if its under the ‘Larry Brid’ Rule of the NBA, unless they played High School Soccer but only if they played soccer for the JV team, not varsity …”

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 2:24 pm
Gives the story reason to reappear in the news the day before the election.

Comment by Dirty Red Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 2:36 pm
===Gives the story reason to reappear in the news the day before the election.===

The voters of the 27th Ward will take Minority Leader Cross’ words under advisement …

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 2:39 pm
Not a single Republican legislator, including Cross, ever called on Gov. Ryan to resign after it became clear he had presided over deep corruption at the SoS office. It’s true George didn’t get indicted until after his term ended, but the handwriting was on the wall well before. And GOP legislators remained loyal to the end of the term.

Comment by reformer Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 2:41 pm
I bet Smith resigns within a few days of the election.

Comment by wndycty Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 2:54 pm
Reformer,

Madigan, Quinn and the rest of the dem machine backed Blago for re election even thou his corruption was open and notorious the only one speaking to it was JBT. See where that got us.

Comment by Fed up Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 2:55 pm
It also sounds like he was trying to bribe the nursing home in this release.

Comment by Dave V Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 3:01 pm
I agree with Cross, but if you’re going to call on someone to resign, you should at least have the facts right. What a goofball.

Comment by Ahoy Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 3:03 pm
he is legaally on th ballott, and it woluld be thoo damn hatwe to get huj to resign at this opoint

Comment by oh bropthet Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 3:08 pm
“After reviewing the flawed Press Release, Minority Leader Cross said, “He did somethin’ bad, so .. whatever … you now what I meant.” (snark)

And people here wonder why I am so hard on the guy …

Tom, if you get “Veto-Proofed” by Madigan … Ya gotta move on.

These types of mistakes only highlight that.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 3:25 pm
I call on Tom Cross to resign. I can do that right? I mean he’s a bigger embarrassment to the Illinois House than Smith could ever be, even if found guilty.

Comment by PublicServant Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 3:27 pm
Hammer — Politics is NOT sport. It is how we elect the people who run our government. This is not the NCAA — this is real life, with real consequences to real people. The options for the 27th Ward are far from inspiring, that’s certain. But if I have to choose between a Republican who is playing games with the voters and a Dem who will be replaced before the November election, I go with B) and hope against hope that they’ll put someone smart and able in that spot.

Comment by soccermom Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 3:34 pm
This looks like the beginning of a political legend.

Comment by Anon III Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 3:48 pm
Fed UP
House Democrats impeached their own governor well before he was convicted.

Comment by reformer Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 4:23 pm
Reformer

Yeah the house dems impeached him years after Topinka brought the corruption to light but the house dems backed him then.

Comment by Anon Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 4:46 pm
A bit of an update for those interested from the ground. I don’t live in the heart of the district, but until Saturday I was inundated by Swiss phone calls to tell me that Smith was arrested.

Couple of interesting responses when I tried to engage the callers. (Don’t know if they were volunteer or paid.) Probably the most interesting was when I was told that the caller talked to Swiss personally and he told he had not been a Republican since 2008. When I informed her that’s not true, he’s currently a GOP committeeman and he was involved in selecting GOP candidates in 2010, she thanked me for the “interesting information.”

My block — mostly white ethnics — has been littered with Swiss literature, including a green photocopied piece about Smith. I also saw one (white) canvasser and another passer outside the early voting station last week.

I have not seen anything except a few pieces of mail from Smith. Of course, I don’t live in his base so I don’t know how much is being done in other parts of the district.

The bottom line is that it kind of sucks to be a Democrat in the district today. The best I can do is vote for Smith in the belief that White and M Madigan will replace him by November. On the other hand, explaining that to my neighbors is kind of tricky.

Comment by Vasyl Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 4:48 pm
Wonder why Billboards never made a peep while RxRon and Randyreckless were swerving along IL roads putting famlies ar risk

Comment by CicularFiringSquad Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 4:52 pm
Tomorrow’s headline: Cross endorses Swiss in Dem Primary.

I don’t expect Smith will resign unless and until he’s convicted. Who’s going to put pressure on him to do so before then, and why on earth would he voluntarily go before he has to? No, he’ll be a pariah in Springfield, but he’ll keep on voting as long as he’s earning a paycheck and a per diem. It’s the last paying job he’s going to have for the foreseeable future.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 5:07 pm
Anon
Can you cite any other example in history where a chief executive has been impeached by a House controlled by his own party? If what happened in IL isn’t unique, it’s pretty rare.

Comment by reformer Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 5:07 pm
Smith to Cross: “You first.”

Comment by just sayin' Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 5:33 pm
–Wonder why Billboards never made a peep while RxRon and Randyreckless were swerving along IL roads putting famlies ar risk –

CFC, I love you to death, but I think I need a scorecard. Michelle Flaherty can speak your parsal tongue, but sometimes I just dont’ understand.

Bilboards: Bill Brady?

RxRon: Stephens (aka Big Pharma?)

Randyreckless: Ramey?

Blinkie: Edgar?

More?

Help me with the CFC scorecard!

I think I got it:

Billboards: Brady?

RxRon: Stephens?

Randyreckless: Ramey

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 6:38 pm
Wonder what the national press will do with this story? Yeah, we’ve really cleaned up our act….electing an alleged bribe taker.

Danny Davis pretty much lost his cred with Roland Burris. Yeah, we get it Danny, Smith is black.

Comment by park Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 6:47 pm
CFS, don’t forget about Bill Mitchell, Ed Sullivan and former HGOP Bob Biggins.

Comment by Observing Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 7:00 pm
I am a big fan of CFS too! I usually get the lingo, and when I don’t I just wait for someone to respond to find out the parts I am missing.

A “cheat sheet”/Glossary would really help on those few times … like one day, the Glossary gets posted, and if you miss it, you miss it.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 7:26 pm
Willy, you and Michelle make me laugh every time. So does CFS, but I’m never sure why.

Who is that semi-literate dude, anyway, lol!

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 7:45 pm
Thanks wordslinger, and the same to you. I just try to hang with all you guys.

Yeah, CFS, he is a riddle … with his riddles, which is what is really cool too.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 8:03 pm
–Yeah, CFS, he is a riddle … with his riddles, which is what is really cool too.–

Like Churchill said about the Soviet Union, CFS is a riddle: a piece of white bread, draped in your favorite meat, covered with fries and slathered in cheeze whiz.

No, wait, that’s what Churchill said about a Norb’s horseshoe.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 8:26 pm
–The voters of the 27th Ward will take Minority Leader Cross’ words under advisement …

Perhaps, they’ll consider all the concern and attention that the current state GOP leadership has shown for the West Side when they make their decision.

Anyone want to wonder how Edgar won Cook County back in the day — won a majority, mind you, not the current benchmark of 20%.

Willy, if they keep serving them up, you’ll keep knocking them out of the park.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 9:21 pm
I dunno what scares me more, wordslinger, do they do it on purpose, or they keep making the same mistakes on accident! Oh well, this is the same group who doesn’t believe Cook County is in play, all the while skipping a field operation because …field ops don’t work.

Maybe Tom will be inspired golfing tomorrow?

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 9:47 pm
“There is nothing that can’t be solved, if we all just ate a Horseshoe” Abe Lincoln, 1854

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 19, 12 @ 10:05 pm
“I don’t expect Smith will resign unless and until he’s convicted. Who’s going to put pressure on him to do so before then, and why on earth would he voluntarily go before he has to? No, he’ll be a pariah in Springfield, but he’ll keep on voting as long as he’s earning a paycheck and a per diem. It’s the last paying job he’s going to have for the foreseeable future.”

Is there any provision in the Illinois Constitution or House rules that would allow Madigan to refuse to seat Smith so that he wouldn’t be able to collect a paycheck? Like Madigan could just refuse to swear him in? I know he could refuse to assign Smith to any committees.

I would think there’s a certain amount of pressure that could be exerted on Smith to resign (like he’ll probably get some cheap legal help or something in exchange for going away)

Comment by hisgirlfriday Tuesday, Mar 20, 12 @ 6:00 am