Thursday, July 01, 2021

Yet another member of the Chicago City Council indicted

Austin street banners in her ward
in 2016
There are fifty members of the Chicago City Council--right now there are three under indictment. Ed Burke (14th Ward) and Patrick Daley Thompson (11th Ward) are two of them. 

Thompson, by the way, is the nephew of former mayor Richard M. Daley.

Carrie Austin of the 34th Ward is the latest one to, shall I say, draw the interest of the feds. 

Imagine you take a bus to work every day and there are fifty of you for the ride. Would you feel comfortable knowing three of your fellow commuters is under indictment? 

What about this fact--since 1973 over thirty Chicago aldermen--or alderpersons--have served time in federal prison. 

They're not much better then the city, but thank God I moved to the suburbs over two decades ago.

From NBC Chicago:

Chicago Ald. Carrie Austin and her Chief of Staff Chester Wilson Jr. are both facing federal bribery charges after they allegedly received home improvements and other materials from construction companies seeking city assistance for a project on the city’s Far South Side.
According to the indictment, a construction company undertook plans for a nearly $50 million residential development in Austin’s ward in 2014. Under an agreement with the city, the company was responsible for making various improvements within that project, and was eligible to receive more than $10 million in financing and payments from the city.
Beginning in 2016, the feds allege that Austin and Wilson were both provided with “personal benefits” by the owner of the company and other contractors in an effort to influence them in their official responsibilities. 
Austin allegedly received home improvements, furniture and appliances for her residence, while Wilson allegedly received home improvement materials and services for rental properties that he owns.

To summarize, the feds say they allegedly received bribes.

Austin's ward, which, contains the poverty-stricken and high-crime Roseland and West Pullman neighborhoods. In short, you might be able to say, they were shortchanging the poor.

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