Investigate Chicago Vote Fraud, receive a zeroed-out budget

Apparently, Chicago Ward 50’s alderman Bernie Stone is going public with his lust for political payback against Inspector General David Hoffman. At a recent budget meeting, Stone threatened to zero-out Hoffman’s department budget in response to his prosecution of Stone’s ward superintendent for issues relating to vote fraud.

The Tribune reports:

Hoffman’s office started to investigate 50th Ward vote fraud after getting tips following Stone’s narrow 2007 runoff re-election over challenger Naisy Dolar.

The probe ended up with Cook County prosecutors charging Stone’s 50th Ward Supt. Anish Eapen with official misconduct, absentee ballot fraud and mutilation of election materials. Prosecutors alleged Eapen, a member of Stone’s political organization, used his influence to manipulate absentee voters and, in one instance, mark a citizen’s ballot to gain votes for Stone.

Absolutely outrageous. Of course, Eapen pled not guilty to the charges. I hope he’s working on a deal that drags more Chicago vote fraud out into the sunshine.

In other Chicago corruption news, the Sun-Times reports that 44 new investigations were started July-September 2008, in contrast to only 8 in the same quarter in 2007.

The 44 probes last quarter included 10 allegations of falsified employment records, six claims of misuse of county property, malfeasance by Cook County Clerk David Orr’s office and a complaint of bribery.
…
And the Sun-Times reported this week that an investigation found county purchasing agent, Carmen Triche-Colvin — who’s husband, State Rep. Marlow Colvin is county president Stroger’s best friend — violated county policies for awarding contracts and used a fax machine in violation of federal law.

Let’s hope that these investigations lead to punishment for any wrongdoing, fraud, and misuse of public trust, but also serve as deterrents to people desiring to continue along the old Chicago Way of doing business.