So in corrupt Chicago — did I mention it’s the city that has earned the title Corruption Capital of America? — we’ve had scores of aldermen indicted since the 1970s, and some more than once.
“Most aldermen, most politicians are hos,” corrupt Chicago Ald. Arenda Troutman said, rather famously, on federal tape.
She wasn’t speaking about gardening tools, was she?
Troutman was talking about the politics of Chicago, which is, if you’ve forgotten, the political corruption capital of the United States.
Troutman represented the South Side’s 20th Ward. At her 2009 sentencing, she squirted a few tears, sobbed, prayed, begged and then got four years in federal prison anyway.
And on Wednesday her replacement, Ald. Willie Cochran, a former Chicago police officer who campaigned as something of a corruption buster, was himself indicted on federal corruption charges.
His alleged crimes? That he looted a charity fund for seniors and shook down a developer for bribes and squeezed a liquor store owner while spending the money on gambling and a little on college tuition for his child.
Cochran was at the Chicago City Council meeting when the Tribune broke the news online, and before he left the room, Ald. Edward Burke, the white-haired dean of the council, whispered something in his ear.
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