My Blog

Category: Crime

  • Beavers Indictment: Where’s Madigan?

    So I understand that our unwanted and tried to be run out of town U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois has indicted Old Man Beavers.  The feds are usually pretty good about putting their case together and have a 85-90% conviction rate.  So it’s safe to say that the Hog of Cook County is going to join the long list of Chicago (specifically and Illinois generally) politicians who in the end do time.  Way to make us proud.

    But has anyone asked where Lisa Madigan was when all this was going down?  Isn’t this corrupt political number six or seven for the U.S. Attorney?  How many politicians has Ms. Madigan prosecuted?  Exactly NONE.

    Well ain’t that something.

  • Beavers Indictment: Talking When Should be Quiet

    Talk about passing the buck:

    Cook County Commissioner William Beavers, an old-school Chicago politician who likes to call himself “The Hog With the Big Nuts,” has been indicted on federal tax charges.  …

    But Beavers, 77, called the indictment “horse s— I’m not worried about.”

    He said the feds only indicted him because he refused to wear a wire on fellow Commissioner John Daley, the brother of former Mayor Richard M. Daley and of former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley.

    What?!  Assuming this is true, isn’t this just about the last thing you want to say?  How does this help Beavers or Daley?  It doesn’t.

    Can you imagine some knuckle-dragging bent nose Tony Soprano wanna’be getting indicted and walking out of booking shouting, “They wanted me to wear a wire on Tony.”  Now what you’ve done is tie the two of you together and make both of you look guilty of somethin’.

    Looks like Daley certainly took it that way:

    John Daley said he was surprised at what he characterized Beavers’ attempt to change the story.

    “I have no idea what he’s talking about,” Daley said.

    He said Beavers never approached him to say that any federal agents had asked Beavers to wear a wire on him. Looking at the indictment against Beavers, Daley said: “It’s pretty obvious what this is about, and this has nothing to do with me.

    via Chicago Sun-Times.

    Yes, yes.  Of course John.  This has nothing to do with you.

     

  • We’re Number One… in corruption that is.

    A former Chicago alderman turned political science professor/corruption fighter has found that Chicago is the most corrupt city in the country.

    He cites data from the U.S. Department of Justice to prove his case. And, he says, Illinois is third-most corrupt state in the country.

    University of Illinois at Chicago professor Dick Simpson, who served as alderman of the 44th Ward in Lakeview from 1971 to 1979, estimates the cost of corruption at $500 million.

    via CBS Chicago.

    Ya, that sounds about right.

  • Aldermen Push For What?

    This is just insane:

    On Sunday, Aldermen Deborah Graham (29th), Robert Fioretti (2nd), and Toni Foulkes (15th) joined members of the Chicago Teachers Union, Action Now, and a group of parents and community safety advocates for a press conference urging Mayor Rahm Emanuel to make the Vacant Property Safe Passages Ordinance a priority.

    If approved, the ordinance […] would require daylight watchmen to guard schoolchildren as they pass by vacant properties near public schools.

    “Recently, the mayor said he cares so much about student safety on the way to school that he’s installing speed cameras,” said Aileen Kelleher, Action Now communications director, during a phone interview Tuesday. “We’re saying if you care so much about safety this ordinance should be your number one priority.”  …

    This most recent push for the Vacant Property Safe Passages Ordinance comes just three months after the city passed a law requiring vacant property owners, whether an individual or a bank, to pay to register and maintain their abandoned buildings.  Similarly, last week Gov. Pat Quinn introduced a new program aimed at rehabilitating foreclosed homes in Cook County.

    With November’s ordinance in mind, those in support of the Safe Passages law say vacant property owners should also foot the bill for hiring the proposed watchmen.

    “We want the guards to be hired from within the communities where the vacant buildings are so that it’s also a job-creation program, because along with the housing crisis there’s also an employment crisis,” said Kelleher.

    Additionally, the ordinance would levy fines of up to $500 if the building’s mortgage holder fails to provide a watchman between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

    via Progress Illinois.

    This can never pass.  Nothing good can come of it.

    According to Illinois Statute — namely 225 ILCS 447 the Private Detective, Private Alarm, Private Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and Locksmith Act of 2004 — every one of these “watchmen” would be required to have a PERC.  The statute provides that:

     “Private security contractor” means a person who engages in the business of providing a private security officer, watchman, patrol, guard dog, canine odor detection, or a similar service by any other title or name on a contractual basis for another person, firm, corporation, or other entity for a fee or other consideration and performing one or more of the following functions:   …

    See 225 ILCS 447.

    This means that anyone who’s going to watch these houses must take and pass a 20-hour course with test.  They must also not have been convicted of a felony and submit their fingerprints for a background check.  Despite the requirements, it’s not uncommon to see these jobs listed on Craigslist for $10-12/hour.

    The proposed ordinance would require watchmen (or watchwomen I would assume) to be present between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. or 8 hours per day.  That’s $80 per day in pay for someone to basically sit on their duff and read the paper in front of a vacant building.  Of course the real cost (vacation, medical, workemen’s comp, payroll taxes, overhead, training, etc) would mean that the property owner would likely be charged more like $120/day.

    Even at $100/day, that’s $3,000/month… just to have someone watch a vacant property.  Who can afford to pay that?  The property owner will essentially be left with two options:  tear the place down or rent it out for someone well below market value.

    Given that one can get a building (single family house on a single lot) torn down and hauled away for $10,000-20,000 (depending on the size and condition of the place,) it stands to reason that anyone who expects their place to be vacant for a long time to just may be better off just tearing the place down.  The property owner can also now save on taxes (vacant land is hardly taxed) and insurance as well.  This will minimize the property expense over the long-haul.

    Equally problematic is that the ordinance may force the property owner to place anyone as a tenant in the property regardless of rent.  If you’re going to charge me $3,000/mo to keep the place empty and secured then it’s just better for me to find someone, anyone, who’s willing to stay in the place for $10/mo.  The question is then who’s renting the place for $10/mo?  Maybe someone who shouldn’t be living next to a school in the first place?

    And there’s the rub.  What makes these people think that a tenant on the property would be better than having the property vacant?  Would you rather have your child walk by a vacant property or Jeffery Dahmer’s place?

    Of course if the city was at full police strength wouldn’t there be more cops on the street looking over these places?  I’m just say’n.

    The article states there are 19,000 vacant properties in the city.  At $3,000 per month that’s $57,000,000 in new costs that would have to picked-up by property owners each month.

    That’s $57,000,000 in monthly transfer payments from “property owners” to  “guards to be hired from within the communities where the vacant buildings” exist.  Annually that a $684 million tax on property owners in the city.

    It’s a complete joke.  Just like paying mommies to walk their children to school when they should be doing it anyway.

     

  • No Tax Refund if You Owe Parking Tickets

    Really?

    Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday referred to people and businesses with unpaid city debts as “the deadbeats and the delinquents” after winning City Council approval to intercept their state income tax refunds to collect millions of dollars.  …

    At every level we have protected the taxpayers of the city of Chicago by not raising property taxes, not raising or creating an income tax, not raising a sales taxes, not raising a gas tax,” Emanuel said. …

    Under the diversion measure approved Wednesday, Illinois income tax refunds of those who owe will be redirected to the city, possibly as soon as this spring. …

    The citys measure, made possible by a state law that took effect in December, will affect individuals and businesses that received final notices for debt owed on parking tickets, red-light citations and administrative hearing judgments.  More than 100,000 people and businesses owe the city about $80 million, but refunds wont cover all of that, officials said.  About 51 percent of the debt can be traced to addresses outside the city, the administration said.

    Ald. Robert Fioretti, 2nd, one of the aldermen to vote against, described the citys administrative hearing system as “a kangaroo court” that needs to be fixed before income tax refunds are diverted to the city.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    As someone who does a little bit of legal practice over at 400 E. Superior I can attest to what a kangaroo court it is.  The process dealing with building violations is so bad that I truly believe they simply make it up as they go along.  It’s not quite as bad with parking tickets but it’s still a case of any given Sunday as to whether the judge will follow the law or not.

  • Rahm Wants Handgun Registry

    Stupidity in human form.

    Mayor Rahm Emanuel today said he wants state lawmakers to approve a statewide handgun registry.  …

    Rep. Brandon Phelps, who has championed efforts to pass a concealed weapons bill in Illinois, said the mayor’s office called him Thursday morning to let him know the registration proposal would be introduced.

    “Number 1,  my first response was I don’t know why you’re trying to do this statewide because we don’t want your policies on us downstate,” said Phelps, a Southern Illinois Democrat from Harrisburg. “Number. 2, it’s never going to work. They’re trying to go after criminals. They’re never going to register their guns. They won’t pay the fee. “

    Phelps called Emanuel’s initiative a “slap in the face of every law-abiding gun owner.”

    via Chicago Tribune.com.

    It’s been shown time and time again that gun registries simply do not work.  The greatest national experience was Canada’s long gun registry.

    Department of Justice reported to Parliament that the system would cost $119 million to implement, and that the income generated fromlicensingfees would be $117 million. This gives a net cost of $2 million. At the time of the 2002 audit, the revised estimates from the Department of Justice were that the cost of the program would be more than $1 billion by 2004/05 and that the income from licence fees in the same period would be $140 million.[6]

    In February 2004, documents obtained by Zone Libre of Télévision de Radio-Canada suggest that the gun registry has cost around $2 billion so far.

    So we know that a registry is crazy expensive and becomes another government boondoggle.

    Well, maybe it’s still worthwhile because it really reduces crime.

    Former Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino (who was opposed to the gun registry) stated in a press release in 2003:

    We have an ongoing gun crisis including firearms-related homicides lately in Toronto, and a law registering firearms has neither deterred these crimes nor helped us solve any of them. None of the guns we know to have been used were registered, although we believe that more than half of them were smuggled into Canada from the United States. The firearms registry is long on philosophy and short on practical results considering the money could be more effectively used for security against terrorism as well as a host of other public safety initiatives.”

    Well ok, maybe he was really really biased.  Perhaps other police really thought the registry was a great idea?

    In April 2011, a survey was conducted by the Edmonton Police Association. Its members voted 81 percent in favour of scrapping the long-gun registry.

    Well, at least law abiding citizens who do register their guns will know that their data is safe right?

    John Hicks, an Orillia-area computer consultant, and webmaster for the Canada Firearms Centre, has said that anyone with a home computer could have easily accessed names, addresses and detailed shopping lists (including make, model and serial number) of registered guns belonging to licenced firearms owners. Hicks told the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) that “During my tenure as the CFC webmaster I duly informed management that the website that interfaced to the firearms registry was flawed. It took some $15 million to develop and I broke inside into it within 30 minutes.”

    The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters questioned the security of the gun registry after a home invasion that seemed to target a licenced gun collector. The OFAH argues that, in the wrong hands, a database detailing the whereabouts of every legally-owned firearm in Canada is a potential shopping list for criminals.

    Given that any handgun registry would likely include all of the guns owned by police officers (& county sheriffs, state troopers, etc.) means that a whole big batch of government bureaucrats and anyone who wants to hack into the database would have the name, address, and list of owned handguns of everyone law enforcement officer in the state.

    This could be the dumbest idea from the Rahmfather yet.

  • Traveling to Mexico?

    “Gunbattles have occurred in broad daylight on streets and in other public venues, such as restaurants and clubs. During some of these incidents, U.S. citizens have been trapped and temporarily prevented from leaving the area,” the travel advisory said.  …

    More than 47,500 people have been killed in Mexico since late 2006 when President Felipe Calderon took office and sent the Mexican armed forces to crush powerful cartels battling for lucrative smuggling routes to the United States.The State Department advisory noted that 130 Americans were reported murdered in Mexico last year, up from 111 in 2010 and 35 in 2007. Among recent atrocities have been a fire set by masked gunmen in a casino in Monterrey, Mexico’s industrial capital in Nuevo Leon, that killed 52 people, mostly women.

    via Reuters.

    Yikes!

  • Speed Cameras Save Children

    Quinn pulls out an old line:

    Gov. Pat Quinn gave Mayor Rahm Emanuel something he wanted Monday: the power to use cameras across nearly half of Chicago to nab speeding drivers and fine them as much as $100.  Questions linger about the effectiveness and scope of the speed camera plan, but the governor sought to frame the issue as being about protecting children, not raising revenue.  “I think that youve got to understand that if you save even one life, you are saving the whole world,” Quinn said during an appearance at a high school on the Far South Side.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Reminds me of the Simpson’s:

  • FOID Card Requests Sink Police

    Illinois has so many requests for Firearm Owner’s Identification cards that state police can’t process them in a timely manner.  In addition, people calling the state police to ask why they haven’t received their FOID cards are put on hold for as long as 35 minutes, if they’re lucky enough to get through to an answering machine that puts them on hold.  I tried the number 12 times, received a busy signal 11 of those times and got the answering machine once.  After 20 minutes on hold, I hung up.

    Under law, the state has 30 days to process FOID card requests.  I’ve been waiting 50 days for a response to my application.  …

    According to Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the state police department, Illinois had a record number of FOID card applications in the last three years. Last year, 321,437 people applied for FOID cards, 287,552 in 2010 and 326,008 in 2009. … ”There has been a 16 percent increase in FOID cards applicants in Chicago, which Bond attributed to a Supreme Court decision overturning the city’s gun ban.

    Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, laughed when I asked if he had heard complaints about the state’s tardiness in responding to FOID card applicants.  “The governor isn’t staffing the FOID processing center of the state police department,” Pearson said. “He’s not replacing people as they retire. And that’s because he’s not enthusiastic about the idea of gun ownership.

    via Southtown Star.

    Would anyone believe that politics is not playing a role?

  • Taxpayers Pay for Political Payback

    Kudos to Crains on this unbelievable story:

    Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan cost taxpayers nearly half-a-billion dollars by blocking repeated efforts to restructure McCormick Place bonds and finance a much-needed second hotel at the convention center, a Crain’s investigation finds.

    Between 2005 and 2010, Mr. Madigan stopped five refinancing bills, ignoring declining interest rates that would have saved hundreds of millions. At the time, he never explained why, but his reasons seem petty and political: McCormick Place CEO Juan Ochoa, an appointee of then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, had fired a Madigan ally at the convention center, and lawmakers from both parties say the speaker wanted retribution.

    “It was no secret that Madigan had a beef with Ochoa and wanted him gone,” says state Rep. Angelo “Skip” Saviano, an Elmwood Park Republican who sponsored refinancing bills in 2005, 2007 and 2009. “As long as Ochoa was there, Madigan wasn’t going to give McCormick Place anything.”

    But politics may not have been Mr. Madigan’s only motivation. By holding up refinancing, the speaker also denied McCormick Place the money to build a new hotel. That bought time for clout-heavy developers Gerald Fogelson and Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises Inc. to push a controversial land swap and hotel deal with McCormick Place on property just north of the convention center. Both were then clients of Mr. Madigan’s law firm, Madigan & Getzendanner, but the speaker denies any connection.

    via Crain’s.

    Five Hundred Million Dollar hit to the taxpayers.  Hundreds of jobs directly in the balance.  Total economic impact of $8-billion and 66,000 jobs all used as toys by Madigan.

    My question is when will someone ask our State Attorney General Lisa Madigan when she’s going to investigate a politician?