In a case that we at Team America have been following with some interest, due to its eerie factual similarities to the allegations of petition fraud that have been leveled against State Senator Terry Link and his right-hand man, "Sneaky" Pete Couvall, long-time political consultant Rodney McCulloch was found guilty of election fraud and perjury by DuPage County Judge Michael Burke.
McCulloch testified that he was a political consultant for 22 years and once worked for former U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert and U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, but he is probably best known for being fired by former U.S. Senate candidate Gen. John Borling for trying to out prurient details of candidate Jack Ryan's sex life with his wife, actress Jeri Ryan. Ryan's campaign was then torpedoed, which then led to Alan Keyes' selection as the GOP replacement candidate, which then gave us Barack Obama as our junior senator. You know the rest of the story, so if you are an angry GOPer and want to blame someone, you can add McCulloch to your list.
In any event, the allegations in the case were that McCulloch collected nominating petitions for Milton Township Assessor Jim Gumm. Gumm then withdrew from the race when forgeries on the petitions were discovered. According to the AP, McCulloch testified that with only four days to collect the necessary 500 signatures Gumm needed, he hired four people he didn't know to pass petitions. He said he never learned their last names and he paid them $1.50 for each signature. A number of witnesses took the stand to testify that they had never signed the petitions. McCulloch claimed in his defense that the 'homeless men' he hired forged the names of voters out of laziness, and McCulloch had no knowledge or intent to defraud.
While McCulloch was acquitted of forgery, as prosecutors failed to prove McCulloch actually made the illegal signatures, the judge said that McCulloch knew the signatures were improper.
To his credit, Gumm testified that he figured out something was wrong, and then withdrew from the race. According to the Daily Herald, Gumm said he suspected problems the first time he looked through petitions, because the signatures did not appear in sequential addresses by street name, as you would expect if someone had actually gone door-to-door to collect them.
As regular TA readers know, Link's petitions had obvious problems way worse than Gumm's.
So, what does this mean for Link and Couvall? Well, first, the "I didn't know my circulators were crooks" defense didn't work for McCulloch, so Couvall may want to come up with something different. Also, Link still has not admitted the illegitimacy of his candidacy as a result of the forged signatures, so unlike Gumm, who did the honorable thing and withdrew, Link is going to have a lot of 'splainin to do to voters this fall, even if the indictments don't go up to his level.
FRIDAY HOUSE WALK: Check out the picture of the under-construction $1.6 million house that Pastor Jeremiah Wright is moving into for his retirement. Nice digs. So much for his populist railings against rich folk. Hat tip: Wilmette Blog.
SEAL U: Head over to Unincorporated Middle and enter her contest to propose a teaching institution/motto/mascot for so-called Professor Dan Seals.
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4 comments:
TA:
It would appear that the Link for Senate organization is possibly guilty of several crimes:
1. Forgery - for having dead people sign his petitions and then using names, signed in alphabetical order, from the phone book.
2. Money laundering - by using Pete Couvall as the cut out for funding to the people who forged the signatures.
3. Violation of Illinois campaign finance disclosure laws - by admitting in writing to spending that was not disclosed on Link for Senate D-2s that are required by law.
4. Conspiracy - because all of this was arranged by Pete Couvall, two individuals and possibly Link himself.
It would seek that Lake County Democrats know they have a criminal scandal on their hands which is why they removed the number two man in their party -- Pete Couvall -- from their leadership.
Now that this is all documented and admitted in writing, what will happen to the investigation States Attorney Mike Waller has opened?
As a rule, you don't know much about the State's Attorney's take on a case like this until the indictments are announced. All I know is that the investigation is progressing.
Interestingly, I went to a Dem township meeting in Warren Township last night to do some recon, and heard State Attorney's Mike Waller's Dem opponent complain that Waller didn't prosecute corruption enough. I'm sure he'll have no problem supporting indictments from Waller in this instance. Could be a dismal fall for some Dems in Lake County, regardless of what happens nationally.
The Warren Dems were very nice to me, by the way. I reminded them all to read the Blog, including Lauren Beth Gash, who did the presentation.
You sure are brave, TA. Ms. Gash and that sick catwoman are tied at the hip. Check out her latest blog postings. This woman is so over the top, so viciously on the attack that she's getting more frightening by the hour. Seriously, I'd watch my backside if I were you. Ellen Shrill needs some serious help. Her wild and dangerous accusations surely need to be reigned in by the leaders of her party and soon. Can you imagine what the next 7 months will bring? Wow.....hold onto your hats!
Ellen Beth Gill is not dangerous. She is a pathetic loner with no husband and one cat. In her bile, she is also crushingly boring. Sail on TA - everyone reads you.
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