The sun rises in the east. The crocuses bloom in the Michigan Avenue planters in the spring. Chicago aldermen got arrested. Some things come around with such comforting regularity.
Arenda Troutman is only the most recent of a long line of bribe-taking aldermen to be snagged by the Feds. $5,000 to fix a zoning issue, according to the FBI. Ho-hum, been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. Where's the real news, now?
Things have taken a most curious turn. No one believes that one of the city's elected officials would not be aware of their ward's boundaries, down to the slightest fraction of an inch. The parcel that the FBI put forward as being in need of some aldermanic intervention is not even in Ms. Troutman's ward. The FBI was fresh out of ward maps on the day they put the sting together, apparently, because they did not know that the 20th Ward was on the odd numbered side of Halsted, while they had a piece of property on the even side of the street, in the 16th Ward. Oops. No matter, since she took a bribe to fix a deal, even if she did not have the aldermanic clout to pull it off.
It only gets more strange. Allegedly, Ms. Troutman made some calls and was told that the property was already zoned appropriately for the proposed development. Not only was the property not in her ward, but the zoning in place was exactly what the FBI mole was trying to bribe Ms. Troutman into arranging. In other words, the man with the wire went in and asked for something that already existed. And yet Ms. Troutman took the bribe and tried to earn it, getting official approval for the developer to use the public alley for access to the property during construction. Considering the fact that such access is routinely granted, it's not much of an effort for that much money.
According to news reports, the man working undercover for the FBI is a con man with a long rap sheet, someone who was already nabbed for mortgage fraud and appears to be cooperating with the Feds. Can you say "reduced sentence", boys and girls? I knew you could.
When the FBI came to arrest Ms. Troutman at her home, she refused to open the door and the Feds had to break in to nab her. She's out and about now, going so far as to demonstrate a shiny brass neck by turning up at a committee meeting at City Hall yesterday. A few of her colleagues gave her the cold shoulder, some spoke to her and some are said to be praying for her. She's up for re-election in March, and her opponents smell blood.
No matter the bizarre twists the case has taken, Ms. Troutman is toast. And not very bright toast at that.
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