This just in... Rep. Pat Bailey convicted
More in tomorrow's Capitol Fax.
Background here.
Here is the story.
After a one-day bench trial, Ill. Rep. Patricia Bailey (D-Chicago) was convicted at around 4:45 p.m. Tuesday of charges she lied about her home address on several occasions leading up 2004 primary election.
Criminal Court Judge Diane Cannon found Bailey guilty of three counts of perjury and two counts of forgery; and not guilty of two separate counts of forgery, three counts of perjury and two counts of mutilation of election materials.
Those counts were split between three different false addresses she was accused of using on her candidacy papers in 2003 and while registering to vote in 2002.
Bailey, who was first elected in 2002 and reelected in 2004, is required by Illinois law to forfeit her office, and could be sentenced to serve up to 5 years in prison, according to Assistant Attorney General Vincenzo Chimera.
Probation is also an option for Cannon, when she sentences Bailey on Dec. 21.
UPDATE: Comments closed because some people can't act like reasonable adults. Really, people, do you think having your comments up for a few minutes before they're deleted makes any sort of impact?
posted by Rich Miller @ 11/29/2005 06:43:00 PM
31 comments
31 Comments...
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Just think, if an elected official is suspected of doing this, just think how many voters are doing the same thing as well. In Chicago, one has to wonder.
Stick her in Cook County for about 6 months and then 5-10 years probation. 5 years in prison would be a little harsh.
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Here comes that card again.
That's two deletions. One more and the thread is done.
Pat Bailey has lost her elected office, her County job, and probably her pension too. She's suffered plenty for someone who's only crime was serving a legislative district she lived outside of. And even though those allegations were well known at the time of the last election, voters chose to re-elect her anyway, by a wide margin.
Jail time would be excessive, all things considered. Justice would be served by probation.
The irony is that everybody knows that George Ryan is guilty of much more serious transgressions, and yet he's likely to get off scott-free in the most famous corruption case in recent memory, precisely because of the clout he accrued, while Bailey was abandoned by the very 11th Ward organization that got her into this mess in the first place.
If she's guilty, I'm glad she got caught. She lied to her constituents, and legislators are not above the law.
It's humiliating for Bailey.
I'm not condoning the actions, given the judge's findings, but I will tell you that Pat is a real nice woman who apparently made a bad decision. As YDD set forth, her actions have already had significant repercussions for her, so try to skip the grave dancing people.
Fritchey's right. There are current reps who have done MUCH worse yet they still 'serve'. Sounds like selective enforcement. Not saying it's race-based at all, just if they are going to go after somebody for this, there must be a lot of other low-hanging fruit in the GA.
It's a good thing the only crime here was living outside the district.
If being criminally incompetent and non-effective as a legislator was against the law, she would be going to jail. No major legislative initiatives to her name, and her idea of independence is doing what Marlow Colvin says instead of Madigan.
And YDD has kept his streak up... please, just one time, criticize a Democrat unequivocably.
Sheesh, he should get part of Steve Brown's paycheck.
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Yellow Dog, I’ll agree that jail time would be excessive. But I’m not as confident as you that George Ryan is going to get off scott-free (is that supposed to be a joke, btw?) or that he still has much clout.
Another sign of the wheels coming off in the Blagojevich administration.
Well, fair is fair. I have said
on more than one occasion that I hope Ryan loses his pension if he is convicted.
Same for Ms. Bailey.
Another example of an uninformed electorate voting on name recognition,and of the perils of gerrymandered voting districts which ensure that the winner is elected before the election.
There's one Rep in the northwest suburbs who's shaking in her boots tonight.
Anon 8:47 -
Being incompetent and ineffective as a lawmaker landed Tim Johnson in Congress.
Not only did he not have any major legislation to his name. He didn't pass a single bill or even serve on a single committee.
Should I post the list of Republican lawmakers who didn't pass a single major bill last year?
Would you believe the great State Senator, legal scholar, and four term incumbent Peter Roskam only authored and passed one bill, a minor change to the Revenue code?
State Senator Dale Risinger only authored and passed one bill, but found time to author and pass 14 memorial resolutions. Good thing more people didn't die in his district, or he might not have found time to get that one bill passed.
I could go on, but I think you get my point.
Bailey had an okay year for a freshman lawmaker, passing into law four major bills of which she was the chief sponsor, all of which dealt with crime, the major issue in her community. Pretty damn good for a freshman. You can find them here.
Her sophomore year was hamstrung by her indictment, which makes it pretty tough to build coalitions to get major legislation passed.
And I rarely criticize anyone unequivocally, because life is rarely that simple, and few of us lead unequivocal lives. I even recently posted a piece listing one thing I liked about every single GOP gubernatorial candidate. Because I don't know them personally, I relied on what I know about them politically. It went something like this (in alpha order):
Brady - Stands up for downstate Illinois and against his party leaders by supporting education funding/property tax reform;
Gidwitz - His campaign finance reform plan makes alot of sense and scares the crap out of insiders;
Oberweis - Not afraid to take on powerful party leaders whom he views as corrupt;
Rauschenberger - Courageous support for access to contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancies and clean needles to prevent HIV/AIDS transmission;
Topinka - Courage to stand up for a woman's right to choose and against discrimination against gay Americans.
I am a partisan, but I think that puts me way ahead of the GOP partisans on this blog when it comes to being fair to the other side.
Heck, you guys can't even say anything sincerely nice about Jesse White, and look at how much better his office is than it was under George Ryan?
GOP -- I wasn't joking about Ryan getting off. The prosecution is hoping for death by a thousand cuts of circumstantial evidence. But he's got a great defense team, the witnesses against him are impeached, and that's why O.J. Simpson was found "not guilty".
And if you don't think George Ryan still has clout, ask yourself who's subsidizing his very expensive legal defense.
Exactly, YDD, re: ineffectiveness in the legislature.
Out of 178 of them, you'd be hard-pressed to find three dozen of them who really matter beyond tally marks in the Yea or Nea categories.
Bailey may not be a bright shining star, but put her next to many of her colleagues and she looks positively decent.
And of course, residency is small potatoes compared to the shenanigans a lot of these folks have up their sleeve. She just got caught.
Remember what George Carlin says about political crime: "People say that in politics, it's not the crime, it's the coverup. What that saying ignores is that most of the time, the coverup works just fine."
Aaron Schock should be nervous.
YDD, in reference to you 9:39 post, could you please remind me about all the great legislation the Rod Blagojevich passed while in the Congress?
Anyone who has ever circulated petitions or, better yet, challenged a candidate, knows the law about residency. It's Elections 101 stuff, and everybody checks this out. How stupid of her.
It's an obscure prosecution to be sure, but I'm glad it happened. It's harder to do it the right way but since no one bothers to take this stuff seriously, it's a tempting choice. Candidates who take short-cuts usually make bad legislators.
Don't cry for me Argentina.
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YDD
I think you will find that the main reason so many republicans failed to pass bills this year is because EMIL failed to let any of their bills out of committee.
If your going to slant a story at least tell the whole story.
While all your commentary is enlightening and oh so insightful, it might be worth taking a moment to remember that it is not you bloggers who decide who is qualified to be an elected official. May I remind you that all of these legions of so-called ineffective legislators were fairly elected by the voters via our democratic process. Isn't that the way it should be? Isn't that what its all about?
Anon 10:38 -
I think you'll find that the reason they failed to pass so many bills is because Senators file fewer bills and move fewer bills. Extremists like Peter Roskam also aren't very good at building friendships with Democrats, and Roskam would probably rather die than humble himself enough to ask Emil for help.
And yes, there probably is some pay back for all of the years those same Republicans supported Pate as he killed every Democratic bill, just for being a Democratic bill.
In the House, the picture is quite different, mainly because of a new decorum Madigan worked to instill. After two years of being on the receiving end from Lee Daniels, Madigan decided his past treatment of Republicans may have been a little heavy handed. Now, he makes a point of appointing GOP committee chairs and calling equal numbers of GOP and Democratic bills on the floor.
Still, here's an opening glimpse at the House GOP and the number of bills they authored and passed:
Bassi, 4 bills
Brauer, 2 bills
Beaubien, 2 bills
Bellock, 4 bills
Biggins, 5 bills (one designates the official state reptile and amphibian)
Do you guys really need me to go on?
My point is, anyone who criticizes Pat Bailey for not making the grade in Springfield is not familiar wit the curve.
My guess is Bailey's critics haven't spent too much time passing legislation either. It's not as easy as they make it sound on "School House Rock". Even Rep. Julie Hamos, whom most folks commend for her intelligence and diligence only passed four House Bills last year.
Did John Daley, who had her run in the first place, really abandon her?
"While all your commentary is enlightening and oh so insightful, it might be worth taking a moment to remember that it is not you bloggers who decide who is qualified to be an elected official. May I remind you that all of these legions of so-called ineffective legislators were fairly elected by the voters via our democratic process. Isn't that the way it should be? Isn't that what its all about?"
Exactly. The folks in Springfield are very representative of their districts. But keep in mind, a lot of them win uncontested elections, most of their campaigning (such as it is) is strategized and staffed by the party, and they don't get a whole lot of press unless they go looking for it. Also, they win elections where voter turnout is frequently under 45 percent.
The point? Just because someone is elected by their peers and represents "what it's all about" doesn't mean they're any good at their jobs once they're there.
Payback for Pate Phillips?
Payback to whom? Pate isn't around and Dale Risinger isn't to blame.
And why is it only a problem when a smart Republican like Roskam is a partisan?
Goes to show you what Democrats mean by "fairness." What do you expect from a party that wants this generation to pay for the sins of their great-grandfathers.
No, Anon 12:46 -- payback for guys like Roskam and Rauschenberger who were part of Pate's cabal.
I didn't call Roskam smart, I called him extreme. In general, there are two kinds of lawmakers: those who throw grenades, and those who get things done.
Roskam is a grenade thrower, not a bridge builder. Go look at the bills he sponsored and you'll see few Democratic sponsors.
Smart lawmakers know politics is a game of addition. Roskam thinks it's kill-or-be-killed.
BTW, I don't think grenade-throwing is a particularly smart strategy for Democratic lawmakers either.
As for your smarmy "fairness" comment, if you'd care to come out of the closet, take of your hood, or come out from behind whatever it is you're hiding behind and explain your comments, I'm happy to debate fairness. I'm just not going to take the bait at this point.
I can't believe this happened in a judiciary largely shaped by Tommy Lyons.
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