More details in the case of the latest Chicago alderman to be indicted

"We're Getting Things Done,
Willie B. Cochran"

A leftist Chicago alderman, Ameya Pawar (47th) is calling for President Donald J. Trump's impeachment.

But Pawar, a gubernatorial candidate, is silent on his City Council colleague, Willie Cochran (20th), who is under federal indictment.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Ald. Willie Cochran was in the midst of pushing through a change to a city ordinance to help a liquor store owner in his ward when, in a text message, he allegedly demanded a $5,000 kickback, court records show.

"I need your help, whatever you can do," the owner said Cochran's text stated, according to an FBI search warrant affidavit made public Friday. Shocked by the amount the alderman was requesting, the owner instead took $3,000 in cash from his business safe and drove to Cochran's 20th Ward office.

When the store owner pulled up, Cochran came up to the passenger-side window, took the cash and stuffed it in his front pocket, according to the 46-page affidavit. The owner told the FBI the alderman said simply, "Thanks."

The details of that alleged 2015 transaction were laid out in nearly 150 pages of federal search warrant and surveillance application records made public by Cochran's lawyers as part of their effort to suppress some of the key evidence in the high-profile case.

Cochran has been accused of using his ward office's charity funds to purchase personal items such as an iPad, an herb scissors (herb scissors?), compact discs, and to pay off part of his daughter's college tuition. Thousands of dollars from that fund were withdrawn at Indiana casinos where Cochran was a customer.

A Chicago alderman is sentenced to prison every 18 months or so.