Illinois can lay claim to yet another glorious achievement. The 'Family Secrets' trial was not enough, with its tie-ins between the Chicago Outfit and local politicians. Now the state that has its last governor going to prison and its current one facing indictment can look to Congressman Jerry Weller and say, he's one of ours. On the list of the twenty two most corrupt congressmen.
He's right up there with Louisiana's darling, William Jefferson, in the panoply of the ethically challenged. Poor Mr. Weller knows nothing of his wife's finances, he says, yet he somehow managed to do some deals in Nicaragua with the aid of her family. But that's not the worst of it.
Oddly enough, Mr. Weller just happened to own some resort property in Nicaragua when he was busy promoting the Central America Free Trade Agreement in Congress. The fact that he failed to disclose his ownership of South American land was merely an oversight. As for the price of the land, that's a bit shady as well. According to Nicaraguan records, the land sold for a pittance. According to American records, it was rather pricey. It's been suggested that he was merely trying to ease the tax burden, and who wouldn't do the same?
Clever man, to buy property for development and then promote legislation that would make it a better investment and attract buyers. If his fellow House members knew that he was wheeling and dealing in Nicaraguan real estate while urging them to support a bill that would make his investments more lucrative, would Mr. Weller have been taken seriously? Would the House Speaker have suggested that he sit out the vote because of vested interests?
With that kind of background, an endless string of corrupt and sleazy politicians, is it any wonder that the people of Illinois look at Barack Obama with a jaundiced eye? You don't always pick up fleas when you sleep with dogs, but aren't the odds in the fleas' favor?
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