Chicago City Wire

If you are looking for a new summer read, you might consider state Rep. Tony McCombie’s suggestion: a Chicago Tribune piece documenting the nearly three dozen aldermen who have faced corruption charges since the 1970s.

McCombie (R-Savannah) took to Twitter June 20 to recommend the Tribune’s series detailing the saga of 30 local elected officials who entered guilty pleas or were convicted on charges ranging from misuse of funds to blackmail and bribery.

These crimes, as the story points out, were related to their “official duties,” although some faced charges once they left office.

Following are some highlights from the Tribune report.

• Willie Cochran (20th Ward): He spent a year in jail for using charity funds for “gambling trips, fancy meals and accessories for his Mercedes.”
• Edward Burke (14th Ward): After several previous scrapes with the law, Burke was ensnared in an FBI investigation of extortion involving “private legal work” from city contractors.
• Marian Humes (8th Ward): Humes took $5,000 from an undercover FBI agent and another $6,000 to play favorites with city contractors.

Four additional aldermen were cited in the Tribune report for crimes not involving their public work: Sandi Jackson (7th Ward), William Beavers (7th Ward), Ed Vrdolyak (10th Ward) and James Laski (23rd Ward) faced charges ranging from fraud, tax evasion and bribery.

“Interesting read,” McCombie said on Twitter.