Illinois corruption 8/1/12: Indicted ex-public officials say they can't afford lawyers

Yesterday was a rare slow day for graft in Illinois, I didn't have a corruption update. August offers hope as I have an update today.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

He was once the commodore of the Diversey Yacht Club — expensively suited, smooth-talking, the owner of a $1 million home in University Village.

Now under federal indictment for corruption, former Cook County Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno has fallen on such hard times that he can’t afford to pay for his own legal defense, his lawyer said in court Wednesday.

Appearing alongside Moreno in federal court, his co-defendant, former Ald. Ambrosio Medrano, said he, too, is broke and needs the government to cover his legal fees.

Both are accused of taking bribes and kickbacks to sell bandages to public hospitals including Stroger Hospital.

Both men are Democrats. Stroger Hospital, formerly Cook County Hospital, is named for the late John Stroger, a Machine pol who viewed county government as a tool to enrich his friends and cronies.

As I've noted before, Medrano is an interesting case. A former West Side Chicago alderman, he was convicted on bribery charges in the 1990s. Yet he ended up back on the public payroll--he worked for Moreno.

Illinois is a cesspool.

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