Genuis Alderman indicted

[southsider2k5]

The bolded areas are my favorite parts of the article...

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationw...1&cset=true

 

FBI bribe sting snares alderman

Video: Troutman arrested at her home

 

By Jeff Coen and Gary Washburn, Tribune staff reporters; Tribune reporters Todd Lighty, Ray Gibson and Dan Mihalopoulos contributed to this report

Published January 9, 2007

 

 

Chicago Ald. Arenda Troutman was charged Monday with taking bribes to grease a development in her ward in an undercover sting in which she was recorded brashly asking one informant: "What do I get out of it?"

 

Troutman, a minor player at City Hall despite her 16 years on the City Council, was arrested at her home early Monday by FBI agents who had to break a window to open a door. Authorities said she first spoke to agents from a third-floor window at 6:30 a.m. but had refused to come down.

 

The complaint alleged Troutman (20th) took $5,000 in cash and was promised $10,000 more to smooth licensing and zoning for a development at 57th and Halsted Streets, where she also had arranged to have a residence and commercial space. The development deal never existed; it was invented by the FBI as part of the sting.

 

After receiving the $5,000 on Nov. 29, Troutman allegedly went to work for the development immediately.

 

"Say no more, hand me that phone," Troutman allegedly said after the cash was in hand, placing a call to the city's zoning administrator on the developer's behalf.

 

The charges hark back to the days when the federal government snared one alderman after another in sting operations. Between 1972 and 1999, an average of one alderman a year was convicted of wrongdoing.

 

Troutman was allegedly caught on tape comparing politics with prostitution: "Most aldermen, most politicians are hos."

 

First Assistant U.S. Atty. Gary Shapiro described the complaint as another Chicago "civics lesson" in the history of corruption in the city.

 

"This time on how things get done in the 20th Ward of Chicago," Shapiro said.

 

"You want to build something? You want to improve your property? You need permits from the city?" Shapiro said. "You need zoning? You need the alderman's support? You want the alderman's support? You pay the alderman--you pay Arenda Troutman."

 

Troutman allegedly was taped by a cooperating witness who had fraudulently helped her refinance her mortgage in the past, prosecutors said. She allegedly lent money to the witness, taking it from a cash-filled box in her basement.

 

Witness was probe target

 

The witness was a target of a federal mortgage-fraud investigation until he came forward with information on his relationship with the alderman, authorities said. In addition to the cash payments and the space in the building, Troutman also demanded the contact buy $15,000 in tickets for a campaign fundraiser.

 

She directed her contact to have the developer simply pass on the cost of the extra bribe, authorities said.

 

"He know 15 [expletives] ... his builder, his plumber ...," she allegedly said on the tapes.

 

The federal complaint unsealed Monday outlines two bribery schemes, the one last year involving the fictitious development and the other alleged dealings that prosecutors said showed Troutman's propensity to accept bribes.

 

The first scheme spanned 2002 and 2003, authorities said, and involved a witness shaken down after an employee of Troutman's office noticed he was rehabbing a two-flat without permits. The witness paid $8,000 to finish the work without interference from the alderman, the complaint states, and another $12,000 for support for a zoning change.

 

Agents searched Troutman's home in the 6500 block of South Kimbark Avenue on Monday, along with her 20th Ward offices. Authorities said it took nearly a half hour from the time agents arrived at her home until she was taken into custody, and investigators said there was some evidence that a shredder had been used in the home.

 

Troutman was released on a signature bond Monday afternoon after a hearing before Magistrate Judge Michael Mason and was expected back at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on Friday.

 

Troutman had brushes with scandal before Monday's arrest. In 2004, it became public that she had an association with Donnell "Scandalous" Jehan, an alleged Black Disciples gang leader who is being sought on drug conspiracy charges. In 2005, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that members of Troutman's family ran a trucking company that won more than $1 million from the Hired Truck Program.

 

"I don't think the press treated me fairly with either of those things," Troutman said in an interview with the Tribune late last year. "There is a cloud over my administration, though I have done nothing wrong."

 

Her lawyer, Sam Adam Jr., said the bribery case was at worst an example of Troutman's trying to help someone in her ward and might constitute entrapment. He said Troutman would plead not guilty.

 

"I can tell you that we categorically deny every single allegation made in here," Adam said of the complaint. "This did not take place in the way, manner, shape and form that they claim."

 

No zoning change

 

Adam said there was no zoning change for the property and nothing was built there.

 

"Ald. Troutman never took money to do something," said Adam, who acknowledged Troutman has been aware the government has been interested in her activities for some time.

 

As for the FBI's having to break in to Troutman's home to arrest her, Adam said Troutman was not willfully avoiding authorities.

 

"The lady was asleep in her own home, with two kids," he said. "Sleeping, and, bam, her window breaks open with the FBI banging on her door."

 

In Springfield for the inauguration of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Mayor Richard Daley declined to comment on the charges.

 

Some aldermen were supportive.

 

"Arenda is a sweet girl, and I am sorry to see her in any sort of difficulties," said Ald. Bernard Stone (50th). "I don't know anything about her problems, and whatever it is will work itself out." The charges against Troutman are the first criminal allegations against a council member since former Ald. Percy Giles was accused of racketeering, fraud and tax evasion in 1999 and was found guilty of the charges and sentenced to prison.

 

Troutman made her way to the City Council in tried and tested fashion--as a loyal member of the Regular Democratic Organization, with time on the streets as a precinct captain. .

 

Troutman was a member of the ward organization of the late Cecil Partee, the former Illinois Senate president, Cook County state's attorney and city treasurer, whom she considered a mentor.

 

Daley, a Partee ally, selected her to fill the vacant position of 20th Ward alderman in 1990. Troutman was elected by the voters of her ward the following year, re-elected in three subsequent races and is running for another term in the February election.

 

Troutman, a divorced mother of three boys, attended Calumet High School and earned a degree in political science from Southern Illinois University. She once worked as a miner in Southern Illinois for Inland Steel and Coal.

[Mplssoxfan]

The more things change...

[juddling]

In today's Sun-Times, I think it was Neil Steinberg who wondered how long it would be until Troutman brought race into the picture.

 

As in "Once again, the FBI is going after a black politician" Frankly, i'm surprised it hasn't happened already.

[Gregory Pratt]

I wonder how true that is. The, "Most alderman are hos" part.

[NorthSideSox72]

I wonder how true that is. The, "Most alderman are hos" part.

I know a few Aldermen.

 

I'll go with "some" as opposed to "most". Being as she herself is crooked, she'll tend to see things skewed a bit her own direction.

 

There are also degrees of ho-ness. Some of them undoubtedly are just plain cash in hand ho's, like Troutman. Others, many of them in fact, will push developers to invest their money in certain local interests (parks, etc.) if they want their plans approved, especially if they are large in scale. So is that really bad, if it helps the community? Eh, sort of.