Illinois corruption update: Niles mayor pleads guilty to extortion

Blogging from a Starbucks in Niles, Illinois.

Corruption in the nation's most crooked state comes in all shapes and sizes. Yesterday it was a big one was indicted--longtime RINO political insider William Cellini. Today it's a smaller fish--Niles Mayor Nicholas Blase. Almost all municipal elections are non-partisan, but make no mistake, Blase is a Democrat.

Term limits for politicians is not a hot-button item for me, but in the case of Niles, it's a good idea. Until he resigned this summer, Blase has been mayor for 47 years. Let me put this in perspective. Until he quit, he had been Niles' mayor longer than Barack Obama had been alive.

AP has some more on Blase:

The longtime former mayor of north suburban Niles pleaded guilty Friday to taking more than $420,000 from an insurance agency in a kickback scheme.

Nicholas Blase, 80, appeared before U.S. District Judge Wayne R. Andersen and admitted steering customers to an insurance agency owned by his friend Ralph Weiner and in return getting 25 percent of the commissions the agency received from them.

More...

He pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud involving the kickback scheme which began in 1974 and continued through 2006. He also pleaded guilty to failing to report the money he received as kickbacks on his 2005 federal income tax return.

Blase said he paid the $421,450 he received into a company he controlled.

Another scourge on the public is Rep John Murtha (D-PA), who has been a member of Congress for 34 years. But there is a good chance voters may "term-limit" him next week. Go for it Pennsylvania.

Related post:

Vote McCain: Because you don't turn America over to a Cook County hack

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