VRDOLYAK: Trying to get charges dismissed |
The
one-time Cook County Democratic chairman and City Council member who led the
vocal opposition to then-Mayor Harold Washington has already done one stint as
a “guest” of the government, and sure doesn’t want to go back there ever again.
BUT
I FIND myself intrigued by the line of defense that Vrdolyak is trying to put
up for himself.
Vrdolyak
spent the bulk of 2011 in a federal prison work camp in Terre Haute, Ind.,
following his conviction on charges related to real estate transactions in the
Gold Coast neighborhood.
Two
years ago, he was hit with another round of indictments – for his involvement
in the settlement of a national lawsuit against the tobacco industry back in
the 1990s. It resulted in a $9.2 billion payout by “Big Tobacco,” and Vrdolyak
managed to enrich himself significantly.
So
much so that federal prosecutors say he did too well, to the point of being
criminal. They use the word “unauthorized” to describe it.
BUT VRDOLYAK CONTENDS he didn’t do anything illegal, and in fact had the blessing of political people (including then-Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan) for his conduct.
BUT VRDOLYAK CONTENDS he didn’t do anything illegal, and in fact had the blessing of political people (including then-Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan) for his conduct.
WASHINGTON: Eddie's legacy exceed Harold |
He’s
trying to get a judge to dismiss the charges, with his own attorneys filing
motions claiming that the people who could testify under oath that Vrdolyak’s
legal activities were truly legitimate aren’t capable of doing so.
They
point out one person who was fully aware of Vrdolyak is now dead, while another
suffers from severe dementia. A third would be Jim Ryan himself, although the
one-time Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate suffers from his own
ailments that would make it impossible for him to be called upon to testify.
All this may be true. But I will be amazed if any judge out there would be inclined to dismiss the case on these grounds.
All this may be true. But I will be amazed if any judge out there would be inclined to dismiss the case on these grounds.
BECAUSE
IT WOULD truly create a circumstance where someone could escape the legal
system and “justice” because of the passage of time.
RYAN: Could Jim 'clear' Vrdolyak? |
And
when it comes to Vrdolyak, I’m sure the kind of people most eager to see him
obtain another criminal conviction and prison term (one most likely long enough
that the 80-year-old would die in prison) will not want to allow for any reason
to come up that would let him escape justice.
For
the politico known as “Fast Eddie” is the man who will forevermore be
remembered for the way he openly led a resistance to Washington’s election in
1983 as the city’s first black mayor.
That
was something some people would want forevermore celebrated. The fact that
Vrdolyak was able to tie up in knots just about everything Washington tried to
accomplish during the first few years of his mayoral term is something they
will forevermore be bitter about.
TO
THEM, THE only true justice will be if Vrdolyak gains as his political legacy a
record of recidivism. To become one of the few people in Chicago political
people who wind up with multiple convictions and prison terms would be the only
true justice to those individuals.
Seriously,
most people with political corruption convictions wind up withering away into
nothingness. It would be Vrdolyak and someone like one-time alderman Ambrosio
Medrano who would have records of returns to prison.
But a part of me can’t help but wonder if Vrdolyak’s attorneys have a point about the 20-year delay between the actions and the bringing of an indictment “dramatically, and even fatally hindering (Vrdolyak) from establishing that fact to the jury.”
All
of which makes me think no matter how a judge ultimately rules, this is going
to be a criminal case that will leave some people seriously p-o’ed about its
outcome and complaining for life about the lack of justice.
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