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CHANCESARE, HISNICKNAMEISN’TZIPPY
A few months ago it was noted in an Illinois Times story that
criminal cases against Dan Mills and John “Jake”
Kelley — the two former assistant
Sangamon County state’s attorneys named in the “cocaine
ring” investigation — would be virtually impossible to
prosecute because of the protection conferred by immunity agreements
combined with a lack of evidence [see Dusty Rhodes, “Blown
away,” Oct. 25]. Last week that opinion was echoed by Charles Zalar of the Office of
the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor. Zalar issued a press
release announcing that no charges would be filed against Mills, Kelley, or
five other individuals. Zalar quoted the immunity letters each of the men
had signed, explicitly promising no state prosecution, plus the
“complete lack of evidence which would normally be used”
— no drugs found, no taped conversations, no undercover drug buys.
Zalar had held these men’s fates in his hands since July 2006. We
wanted to ask why it took a noted attorney such as himself 18 months to
decipher the plain language of the immunity letters and discover the dearth
of evidence, but he was out of the office and unavailable for comment both
Monday and Tuesday of this week.
MAN, THOSETAMALESWEREHOT!
After hearing about Mick
Bernasek’s trip to San Pedro, Coahuila,
Mexico, we’re starting to wonder why he came back. Five months after
traveling to Springfield’s sister city with Mayor Tim Davlin and other members of a
special delegation, Bernasek is still trumpeting the first-rate Mexican
hospitality. He was especially enthralled by the comida and highlighted a
defining moment in a written narrative he shared with Cap City:
“Following the presentations, the delegation was driven to a country
club and given the BEST SELECTION OF BEEF, CHEESE, AND PORK TAMALES! NO
DOUBT THIS WAS THE BEST TASTE OF TAMALES EVER, PERIOD.”
BLAGOSLASHES“HEALTHCARE”
In Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s 2007 budget address, the word
“healthcare” appears 40 times in a 15-page-long speech, or 2.6
times per page. Apparently we’ve all been cured. Last week, when
Blago delivered a noticeably shorter State of the State speech, he
mentioned “healthcare” just eight times in six pages.
That’s a rate of 1.3 references per page — 50 percent fewer
than last year.
SANGAMONCOUNTYBETSONBARACK
When it comes to investing in presidential
candidates, Sangamon County residents are a savvy bunch — or, at
least, our local Democrats are. It probably helps to have a hometown fave
with a mess o’ magnetism and a mesmerizing message. A quick check of
contributions shows that $74,400 — more than half of the $140,000
donated last year to presidential candidates — went to Barack Obama. Just $3,850
trickled into Hillary Clinton’s campaign. John
Edwards, now an also-ran, collected $9,750.
Unlike the Democrats, GOP donors haven’t had an odds-on favorite
until earlier this month — the likely nominee, John McCain, collected only
$7,600 in Sangamon County in 2007, whereas Mitt
Romney got $20,050 and Rudy Giuliani $15,800. To see who
gave what to whom, go to opensecrets.org.
EBONYANDIVORY— ANDSILLY
Fireworks were expected at Friday’s special
City Council meeting as aldermen met to discuss the fiscal year 2009
budget. Oddly enough, financial discussions went rather smoothly and the
budget passed without a hitch. Instead, the most heated and perplexing
showdown ensued when Ward 8 Ald. Kris Theilen decided to give Ward 2 Ald. Gail
Simpson a lesson on minorities. It happened during talks about police-department
hires — Theilen wanted to continue pulling from the current hiring
list, but Simpson argued that a new list was needed to include more
minority employee options. Here’s what came next:
Theilen: I see two minorities left . . . Simpson: What are you calling a minority, alderman? Theilen: Well, there’s a white female and a
black male. Simpson: A white female is not considered a minority.
Theilen: I think there are some people who would beg
to differ with you. Simpson: She’s a protected class. She’s
not a minority. Theilen: I’m not singling out any one race or
gender as being a minority. I think the consensus of general terms anymore
is anyone who is not a white male is considered a minority for most
statuses. Simpson: That’s not the consensus.
By this time, Ward 3 Ald. Frank Kunz had decided that
he’d had enough. He threw in his two cents, effectively ending the
debate:
Kunz: That’s not the law. Simpson: Thank you.
This article appears in Feb 21-27, 2008.
