Giannis and Giannoulias: Spelling Not Significant

The owners and operators of Boston Blackie's restaurant in downtown Chicago were arrested today and charged with felony check fraud. This has four connections to Alexi Giannoulias:
1. Kinda spelled the same;
2. Really bad accounting practices;
3. Broadway Bank at the center; and
4. Giannis gave Giannoulias around $115,000 in campaign donations.

This is the same crime that Bob Creamer was convicted of, although Creamer was charged in federal court and this is a state case against Giannis.

Observations from the Boender Trial

Attorneys for prosecution and defense gave their opening statements this afternoon in the Calvin Boender trial. This is the case in which Boender is accused of providing $37,000 to Alderman Ike Carothers (in the form of home repairs) in exchange for a zoning change on the Galewood Yards project. Did he do it? Ike Carothers says he did, but then Carothers is getting a reduced sentence for saying so. We shall see.

The opening statements were an interesting show. The prosecution went first, as is traditional. I don't know if Brandon Fox has ever given an opening statement before but he had a moderate case of stage fright. Loosen up, man!

But that said, he did a good job of succinctly laying out a case. There are five counts, and he just followed through each count. If you didn't find his stiff demeanor distracting, it was pretty clear what he was saying, and he gave the jury a conceptual framework that they can use to arrange the evidence as it comes in.

The same cannot be said for the defense opening statement, which was twisted and confusing as hell. Assuming that confusing the jury isn't Mr. Sanger's deliberate strategy, the defense opening was a lost opportunity to create a conceptual framework that the jury could choose instead of the prosecutor's framework. I don't think anyone heard the first minute or two of his talk, because his investigator was trying to set up these giant 4-foot by 5-foot photographs that kept falling off the easel, again and again and again. The Marx Brothers or Jerry Lewis couldn't have done more distracting slapstick.

Boender's lawyer kept using technical terms and unnecessarily formal language. One of the strangest moments for me was when Sanger referred to Galewood Yards as "...the parcel that was owned by the entity that Mr. Boender was part owner of..." Jesus, dude, who can parse that, especially at the end of the day? There was the time when he spent a good minute on the difference between a PD, a PUD, and a PMD. There was the long list of potential tenants and/or buyers that didn't seem to fit into any bigger picture. There was a dissertation on the flight of manufacturing jobs from the City. But the point of all of this was never made. Facts recited in apparently random order, with no point or framework won't be remembered or used in deliberations.

Boender's lawyer also seemed to accept the prosecution's perspective that Boender was a one-man show, making all the decisions and taking all the actions for what must have been a fairly large operation. And although I understand why he wanted to say that the project ended up being a huge improvement for the benefit of the city and nearby residents, he kept saying that the empty lot had been a nest of criminality, with people "maybe dumping bodies, certainly animal carcasses." Five minutes later it wasn't "maybe" anymore, just another mention of "dumping bodies." Really, that's the imagery you want to bring?

The big theme of the day was the Famous Invoice. But that will have to wait for another post.

Rich Whitney Sanctioned for Bogus Arguments

Two families lived side by side for many years. One day, the Ketchens are doing a title search and notice that there's a parcel of land that nobody technically owns - except that their neighbors, the McNeils, have been using it as a driveway since 1905. So they block their neighbors' driveway and try to claim the land. The McNeils try to get their driveway back and resort to suing. Green Party Governor candidate Rich Whitney represents the landgrabbers.

Outcome - landgrabbers lose, and Rich Whitney gets sanctioned over $20,000 for making arguments so badly lacking in legal merit that the court decides he must be punished for wasting everyone's time.

Wowza. Not exactly working for the little guy there, Rich.

Source / Read More

James Warren Leaves the Chicago Reader

I'm not sure how to greet the departure of James Warren from his position as Publisher of the Reader today. He was on my shitlist for the editorial he wrote for the Chicago News Cooperative, saying in essence that because there was other public corruption elsewhere, Chicago's press should overlook the corruption we have here. Not a great theory for an outsider newspaper to take.

So it's good that he took his one-man hobble off of the Reader, but sadly he has now hitched his integrity-free "give-em-a-pass" wagon to the New York Times. So now we have three bankrupt citywide newspapers, one run by Republicans, one small and shrinking, and the Sun-Times is just such a mess that many are predicting it won't exist for another full year. And the NYT's expanded coverage has as its figurehead a guy who says outright he thinks public corruption isn't serious here. Man, this is one messed up news landscape.

what's not to like about red light cameras??

seems like there are a lot of republicans these days trying to make an issue of red light cameras.

now, aren't they supposed to be the party of law and order?

or maybe they are just the party of law and order for others, while for them, they get to be the guys who are fine with wiretapping any citizen they choose to listen in on any day?

why don't they like to see the city getting revenue from cheaters?

don't they know how many accidents are caused by people running red lights? i always thought of them as the party of chickens, tho they pretend to be hawks.

i just don't get it. me, i love them. every time i see those lights flash, i cheer. i hate bad drivers. i want them off the road, or at least on the hook for plenty of fines.

so, can someone explain to me why this is an issue with anyone? or why this is an issue for republicans? seems like about as win-win government action as you could get.

Public Policy Job Available

This is not a joke.

Are you out of work, or looking for that next step in your career? Are you interested in public policy? Are you a people person? Are you a Democrat? If you answered yes to all or most of these questions, you may wish to consider applying for a job as Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. The position is currently open and the employer is currently accepting applications.

The lieutenant governor of Illinois handles a variety of responsibilities which have been delegated to the office via statute. These duties include serving as Chairman of the Governor's Rural Affairs Council, Chairman of Rural Bond Bank of Illinois, head of the Illinois Main Street Program, and Chairman of the Illinois River Coordinating Council.

In addition to these duties, the lieutenant governor can take on other duties as assigned by the governor or initiate duties of his or her own. An example of this is work by former Lt. Gov. Corrine Wood on women's health issues. The lieutenant governor also serves as a surrogate speaker for the governor around the state and as a representative for state government. The lieutenant governor is a member of the National Lieutenant Governors Association.

When the Governor of Illinois becomes unable to discharge the duties of that office, the lieutenant governor becomes acting governor. If the Governor dies, resigns or is removed from office, the lieutenant governor becomes governor. The current Governor of Illinois took the position through this mechanism, so there are opportunities for advancement.

If you are interested in applying, take the following steps:
1. Download this application (MS Word file)
2. Fill out the form completely
3. (Optional) You may include additional documents that you feel support your application. For example, other candidates have included a list of endorsements or supporters, a resume, or a personal biography.
4. Email your application to contact@ildems.com.

This job is somewhat unusual in that you can view the qualifications of the other applicants at the hiring organization's website. You can also research the hiring process and the people who will make the hiring decision; Gapers Block has tips on how to do that.

Terzakis Case Status

The criminal case against John Terzakis and Robert Estupinian is proceeding. Case number CR-09-01212-JF in the Northern District of California. The last status hearing was 2/25/2010, which Estupinian attended personally, but Terzakis was present only by counsel. The court deemed the case "complex," which means there will be more extensive procedures in place. The next hearing will be 4/15/2010 at 9:00 am.

Click here for all posts about Terzakis

it's nice to have money, i guess

you can make invisible things, you can make other people's things invisible, too. you can turn yourself into a puff of smoke, and a fine old story about the history of politics in chicago.

i have always thought that a lot of the stories about how things get done in this town were sort of fish stories. but i guess this fish was a big enough fish to eat the little fish.

Bill Halter Takes on a Blue Dog

For just over a year, we've watched President Obama kow-tow to conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats. Together, they have done more to advance the GOP's agenda than the GOP has - after all, we Democrats had 60 Senate votes but we lacked party loyalty. It's because of senators like Blanche Lincoln that single-payer healthcare was scuttled while Guantanamo still isn't closed.

But today we have good news: Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter is challenging Blanche Lincoln from the left for that senate seat she has been using to promote the GOP's agenda. Halter will have a tough road, campaigning against a sitting senator. But at worst he sends a strong message to treasonous quasi-Republicans like Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson that betraying core Democratic values is a treacherous path. Even Obama might sit up and take notice. Lincoln and the GOP are the same vote anyway, so we have nothing to lose and we have a lot to gain. Here's Halter's opening salvo: