N. Ind. judge sanctioned before retirement

Updated: Sunday, 06 Jan 2013, 10:45 PM EST
Published : Sunday, 06 Jan 2013, 1:53 PM EST

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - The state Supreme Court has privately reprimanded a former northern Indiana probate judge.
The South Bend Tribune reports that Peter Nemeth agreed to the sanction last month, before he retired as St. Joseph County probate judge. Nemeth had served as a probate judge since 1993.
The Judicial Qualifications Commission filed a misconduct charge against Nemeth in August claiming he violated the code of judicial conduct during a 2011 guardianship hearing by suggesting it was inappropriate for taxpayers to pay for a sign language interpreter for a woman seeking custody of a deaf teenager when she "hadn't paid taxes for several years."
Nemeth has said he doesn't believe he did anything wrong.
The Associated Press couldn't reach Nemeth for comment Sunday because his phone number was unlisted.

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/indiana/n-ind-judge-sanctioned-before-retirement

Greylord-the recurring theme on this blog–but not the ARDC, wonder why?

Greylord-the recurring theme on this blog–but not the ARDC, wonder why? by jmdenison

Dear Readers;

One of the great recurring themes why this CENSORED blog is that Atty Leah Black for the ARDC does not want anyone to know or mention Greylord.

Now, it is my humble opinion and I believe that of Atty Ditkowsky that Greylord needs to be remembered and mentioned from time to time to chill what can easily be an out of control circuit court system, so I keep on bringing it up.

To further this cause this here is a great link to information that explains how the ARDC was created in direct response to concerns over Greylord. So now they are part of coverups? It also mentions how the ARDC did very little between 1978 and 1985 to help with operation Greylord

Further details are provided on exactly who was indicted and what their sentences were.

LInk to Greylord/ARDC article.

jmdenison | January 29, 2013 at 6:07 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/p209wH-tP

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Franconia resident accused of fraudulently collecting $100,000 plus in personal care attendent salary

1/17/2013 9:38:00 AM Franconia resident accused of fraudulently collecting $100,000 plus in personal care attendent salary A Chisago County resident was prominently featured in stories by metro news outlets last year, describing her legal ordeal contesting end-of-life measures for her 85-year-old husband. In recent months, though, the story has expanded from a tale of human emotion to include alleged Medicaid fraud. Franconia Township resident Lana Barnes, is facing seven criminal charges of theft by false representation. She is accused of taking more than $100,000 from the system designed to compensate attendants who provide care for the seriously ill in their home. Barnes, (who turns 58 on Jan. 17) rather unceremoniously lost her guardianship rights in early 2011 concerning her frail husband Al. The probate court reacted to Barnes having altered Al’s medical care directive papers, omitting two pages of the 1993 directive when she presented the papers to a hospital in December 2010. The statements omitted were contradicting her assertions that he’d stipulated aggressive, life sustaining care. The theft charges came March 2012 as a result of Chisago County Public Health and Human Services staff and state officials in the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the MN Attorney General looking into paychecks for Al Barnes’ personal care attendant (PCA). According to the criminal complaint Lana Barnes intentionally mis-represented to Nurse Staffing Solutions that her son Fred had provided personal nursing services for Al. Spouses are not permitted under Medicaid to collect wages as a PCA. Other family members may, however, qualify as a PCA. The problem was that the son Fred, an over-the-road truck driver, was not at home on Quinlan Avenue but was driving when his PCA timesheets claimed hours from Nurse Staffing Solutions. PCA providers like Nurse Staffing Solutions, administer the attendants’ participation in the program and distribute wages to approved PCAs. The complaint also alleges that Chisago County social workers were concerned that some of the PCA hours submitted overlapped with when Al was hospitalized. Medicaid does not cover costs for a PCA when the client is hospitalized. The complaint alleges Barnes’ timecards covering about $22,000 in pay, between July 2009 and May 2010, coincided with Al’s hospital stays. The complaint declares that when the state investigator contacted Fred he said he had been accepted as his father’s PCA in 2005. By 2006 he was driving truck, and his mother managed all the paperwork relating to his father’s care. Fred denies completing, signing or submitting any PCA time cards. He reportedly told the fraud unit investigator he knew Lana Barnes was receiving his PCA paychecks and he should not have let this continue, the complaint states. “Overpayments” based on Fred’s trucking logs and company payroll records between Jan. 2007 to May 31, 2010 amounted to $100,973. Due to the complexities of this case and the amount of the alleged fraud, Chisago County Attorney Janet Reiter said prosecution is being handled by the state, in court proceedings in Center City. There was an Omnibus (evidentiary) Hearing held Jan. 8. The U.S. Attorney’s Office also notes on its website that as a result of federal convictions for fraud defendants get excluded from participating in health benefit programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. More than 3,000 individuals were excluded in fiscal year 2010 alone, see www.justice.gov/usao/mn

Bodies of missing Mexican band members found in well

Editor’s note: When all is broken and cannot be fixed, "...only the people can restore order"...this is truly sad! Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

 

Bodies of missing Mexican band members found in well

 

• Related
• Bodies of missing Mexican band members found
• People wait outside a morgue, where the dozen bodies found inside a well in northern Mexico were relocated to, at the University Hospital in Monterrey

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Reuters

1:15 a.m. CST, January 29, 2013

MONTERREY (Reuters) - Police found a dozen bodies inside a well in northern Mexico, some of them members of a band abducted last week by an armed group, a spokesman for the state of Nuevo Leon, Jorge Domene, said on Monday.

Authorities have identified four of the bodies, including that of a Colombian national. All were wearing jeans and T-shirts with the logo of the music group - "Poderoso Kombo Kolombia."

One band member who managed to escape told police that after he and the others were kidnapped, their armed men captors asked them if they belonged to an organized crime gang. They were shot when they refused to answer.

It was not clear how the surviving band member escaped or whether he was wounded. Domene said he had fled Mexico after reporting the attack.

A total of 18 men, 12 musicians plus staff, were abducted on Thursday at a party in a bar near the industrial city of Monterrey, Domene said.

"Presumably there could be more bodies so we will extend the search as far as conditions allow it," he told a press conference.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has vowed to reduce criminal violence that spiraled after his predecessor, Felipe Calderon, launched an assault on drug cartels in December 2006. Some 70,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since then.

(Reporting By Gabriela Lopez; editing by Christopher Wilson)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-mexico-bodiesbre90s04m-20130128,0,2001678.story

Corruption fighter calls it quits in a town not quite ready for reform

Editor’s note: Dave’s leaving is Chicago’s loss. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

Corruption fighter calls it quits in a town not quite ready for reform

BY CAROL MARIN cmarin@suntimes.com January 22, 2013 7:04PM

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David Grossman, Chief Investigator, office of Inspector General, in 2006. (Photo by John H White/Chicago Sun-Times)

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Updated: January 23, 2013 2:22AM

David Grossman is hanging up his badge.

He put his gun away a decade ago when he left a stellar career in the FBI to work for the city routing out corruption at a succession of agencies.

 

But Grossman, 63, has one final shot to fire as he walks out of the Chicago office of the inspector general at the end of this month and into retirement. And it’s at mayors named Daley and Emanuel.

But first, a bit about Grossman himself, a man who spent a career avoiding the limelight.

“People don’t know him,” said his boss, Inspector General Joseph Ferguson, “by design.”

Nobody knew him when he worked undercover in the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. The result was Operation Greylord, an epic investigation that took down 15 crooked Cook County judges, including a chief judge. And 40 attorneys.

 

They didn’t “know him” in Operation Gambat either. That probe broke open the secretive, mobbed-up 1st Ward, convicting an alderman, a state senator and another chief judge.

Since this is a column, not a book, I can’t list everything he did for the feds. He probably prefers it that way. Let’s fast forward to his work for the city at the inspector general’s office (IGO).

Mayors and aldermen despise the IGO, but given Chicago’s sordid history (insider deals, bribes, phony minority contracts, cover-ups, waste, fraud, abuse), then-Mayor Richard M. Daley was forced to create an independent investigative agency.

And, ultimately, he was forced to appoint real corruption-busters to run it. Such as former feds David Hoffman and, then, Ferguson. Each relied on Grossman as their director of investigations.

Remember the parking meter privatization deal Daley rammed through the City Council?

“By the city doing it the way that it did, it lost over a billion dollars [immediately],” said Grossman on Monday.

Did Daley ask the IGO to vet the deal first?

No.

“Parking meters was a done deal before we could even get a chance to look at it,” he said.

Daley and now Rahm Emanuel have been very big about talking about ethics in government, appointing commissions, praising “transparency” and “oversight,” but honestly, it’s pretty much baloney.

The IGO — Ferguson, Grossman and a highly skilled team — work every day in spite of City Hall. It’s always a fight.

Examples?

You’ve read some of them in this column before.

Like the city’s Law Department withholding documents from the IGO by claiming “attorney-client privilege.”

Like creating quasi-governmental entities such as the Infrastructure Trust, a public-private partnership, over which the IGO has no statutory oversight.

Like ignoring IGO recommendations to fire employees found stealing from the city.

If the mayor is serious about privatizing Midway Airport, he could ask the IGO to vet the deal. I’m betting he won’t.

Grossman is betting that too.

“I’m throwing my lot in with Paddy Bauler,” he said, “that Chicago ain’t ready for reform.”

David Grossman’s leaving is our profound loss.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/marin/17733549-452/corruption-fighter-calls-it-quits-in-a-town-not-quite-ready-for-reform.html

True motives behind Obama's gun 'control' stance

22.01.2013 18:06

By George Green

From abroad I must note that when I was last in America I could see the increasingly authoritarian executive branch paying careless disregard to their oath to uphold the Constitution. Thus I am hardly surprised that President Obama, who seems to have to problem arming American soldiers to interfere with the sovereignty of other nations, has decided to again extend executive power, this time to ban and register firearms. The question is whether he's doing this out of care for protecting schools or something else.

Recently there was a tragedy involving a young man killing many school children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in New Town, Connecticut. This has been used as the so-called 'final straw' requiring unprecedented intervention from the federal government, and explicitly the administrative branch. The strange thing is though, Connecticut itself already had similar laws to the ones prposed including and assault weapons ban. If it didn't work in Connecticut why is the administration proposing it for the whole nation? The chief of police in Newtown was indeed shocked by the firepower the 20 year assailant was packing, but if he didn't obtain it under the laws of Connecticut, how is making it illegal elsewhere going to help?

Criminals and Crazy people will always find a way to create violence; in lieu of assault rifles certainly they'll take up fertilizer and coffee grinders to create bombs as terrorists groups in nations with strict gun laws already have. Yet there's no public outcry to ban gardening. Something else must be compelling Obama, following in the steps of Hitler prior to his seize of power, to go after firearms specifically, and the US amendment that was specifically intended to allow the people to resist the government in an armed struggle by founders who felt that another revolution could one day be necessary. Perhaps Obama isn't worried at all about schools, perhaps he smells revolution in the air.

For those who haven't been following American news; the people are not happy. Two movements have emerged, the so-call Tea Party, and the Occupy movement. The Tea Party movement has held major rallies in cities across America gaining massive support but with relatively no interference by the government. The Occupy movements, seeking to directly protest the financial centers where grievances against the American people have not been addressed and continue unabated, have seen what can only be described as regular abuse of authority by the police; while America accuses other nations, like Russia, of taking a tough line on protests, when it comes to blocking traffic on Wall Street America puts it's boot down hard.

The two groups largely disagree on what should be done but they do agree on one point: The people in power neither care about their issues, nor is the current government capable of addressing their concerns; that may not yet be revolutionary talk but it's getting close to revolutionary thinking. As Obama soon goes to his inauguration, a multi-million dollar event with everything one would expect to need for a rap album release party, he doesn't go with a majority of the people. American voter turn out has been abysmal for years and Americans go to polls far less than other first world countries. Knowing he lacks the support of a majority of the country, enjoying only the support of those not so disappointed with the system that they bother, and that two growing movements identify Federal Government as the problem; maybe we can see why Obama might be concerned with guns. With revolution in the air the most logical thing for an increasingly dictatorial leader to do is to dispense with laws designed to allow for revolution when the government fails to do its job.

As further evidence I'll again point out; the Obama administration has no real problem with assault weapons. Obama himself is surrounded by them every day at public appearances, and every soldier sent abroad is armed with them. Further his administration arms rebels in attacks on governments it doesn't like. Finally a recent program from the administration involved selling assault weapons to drug dealers on the border of Mexico and the United States (resulting already in numerous casualties in America, and in Mexico) in was can only be described as an inept attempt to track drug dealers. (Maybe they should try giving away Improved Explosives to terrorists next?). Certainly the administration doesn't worry about whether assault weapons proliferate they are worried about who has access to them, and knows where they live.

Americans should be taking heed that the administration has a very different plan for America than it says it has abroad. Continually America has been funding revolutions, armed and political, abroad, and arming rebels in many instances. Meanwhile at home the humorously undemocratic two party system is making sure such a revolution cannot take place in America regardless of the will of the people. With the American military already conducting training to put down an uprising within America, and the administration targeting the Second Amendment, the reason is clear; America's elite career politicians are worried. They're not doing the will of the people, the people are catching on, and they're doing all they can to hang onto power rather than do the will of the people. The new gun control laws have nothing to do with schools, and everything to do with propping up a failing state.

George Green

George Edward Green III has been a journalist since 1997, and written for several Technology, Financial, and Libertarian Publications, and lives near L'viv Ukraine

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/22-01-2013/123540-obama_gun_control-0/

Attack on family in Compton latest incident in wave of anti-black violence

latimes.com

Attack on family in Compton latest incident in wave of anti-black violence

A Latino gang is intimidating blacks into leaving the city that was once an African American enclave. It's part of a violent trend seen in other parts of the L.A. area.

By Sam Quinones, Richard Winton and Joe Mozingo
6:46 PM PST, January 25, 2013

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The trouble began soon after they arrived.
The black family—a mother, three teenage children and a 10-year-old boy—moved into a little yellow home in Compton over Christmas vacation.
When a friend came to visit, four men in a black SUV pulled up and called him a "nigger," saying black people were barred from the neighborhood, according to Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies. They jumped out, drew a gun on him and beat him with metal pipes.
It was just the beginning of what detectives said was a campaign by a Latino street gang to force an African American family to leave.
The attacks on the family are the latest in a series of violent incidents in which Latino gangs targeted blacks in parts of greater Los Angeles over the last decade.
Compton, with a population of about 97,000, was predominantly black for many years. It is now 65% Latino and 33% black, according to the 2010 U.S. census. But it's not only historically black areas that have been targeted.
Federal authorities have alleged in several indictments in the last decade that the Mexican Mafia prison gang has ordered street gangs under its control to attack African Americans. Leaders of the Azusa 13 gang were sentenced to lengthy prison terms earlier this month for leading a policy of attacking African American residents and expelling them from the town.
Similar attacks have taken place in Harbor Gateway, Highland Park, Pacoima, San Bernardino, Canoga Park and Wilmington, among other places. In the Compton case, sheriff's officials say the gang appears to have been acting on its own initiative.
Sheriff's detectives said Friday they had arrested Jeffrey Aguilar, 19, of Gardena and Efren Marquez, 21, of Rialto, both alleged members of the Compton Varrio 155 gang, and are continuing to look for more assailants.
"This family has no gang ties whatsoever," Sheriff's Lt. Richard Westin said. "They are complete innocent victims here."
The 19-year-old family friend managed to break free that first day and run into the house, where the children were the only ones at home.
The attackers left, but a half-hour later a crowd of as many as 20 people stood on the lawn yelling threats and epithets. A beer bottle crashed through the living room window as the youngsters watched in horror.
"They were scared if they called the sheriff they'd be killed," Westin said. "So they called their mom, who called the Sheriff's Department."
The gang members were gone by the time deputies arrived, but they kept coming back, almost daily, driving by slowly until they got someone's attention, then yelling racial insults and telling them to leave. The mother sent the children to live with relatives and is now packing up to leave herself.
"This gang has always made it clear they have a racial hatred for black people," said Westin, who has worked in the area for more than two decades. "They justify in their own sick minds because of their rivalry with the Compton black gangs. They repeatedly used racial epithets, they use racial hatred graffiti and they tag up the black church a lot."
At the home on 153rd Street on Friday, the rain-drenched street was empty and quiet. But the gang's presence was clear.
Its tags marked several long walls, stop signs, curbs and school crossing signs — often with the nicknames of individual gang members included.
Crews remove the graffiti almost every morning.
Down the street, the Greater Holy Faith Missionary Baptist Church — a remnant from the time when Compton was almost all black — is often tagged, most recently, just below the cross.
Neighbors say its pastors come on Sundays and no longer live in the area.
"This is a typical American family," said Sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker. "It is tragic that it can happen in America, let alone L.A. County. We are not going to tolerate it."
Sheriff's detectives have searched 11 locations in Compton, Gardena and Rialto and are hoping to make more arrests.
Aguilar is accused of beating the family friend with the pipes and Marquez is accused of waving a gun in his face.
Deputies also arrested a juvenile gang member who fought with one of them during a search and tried to grab the officer's pistol.
Compton Councilwoman Yvonne Arceneaux said she was deeply troubled by the incident.
"I'm floored," she said. "That's blatant to tell a family you can't live in this area because you are black. That's just shocking."
Two decades ago, when Arceneaux joined the Compton City Council, she said that older blacks occupied the well-maintained, small homes in the neighborhood. But as they died or moved away, Latinos moved in.
Although she noted cultural differences between blacks and Latinos, she said she thought they were minor.
Arceneaux said she plans to reach out to the family and get the City Council involved.
"We need to address these issues," she said. "Because if they continue to fester like this, then it can spread to the whole city."
Latino gang attacks on African Americans have occurred periodically since the 1990s in Compton.
Johnathan Quevedo, a security guard and college student, said he was shot and wounded by four Latino gang members in 2007.
Quevedo, who has African American features he inherited from his Panamanian mother, said he was walking to the Metro to take a train to his job at the downtown Marriott Hotel one morning when four Latino youths with shaved heads jumped from an SUV and ran at him. One shot him in the head, and Quevedo spent the next year recuperating.
"They didn't know who I was. I didn't know who they were," Quevedo said. "I got shot because of my skin color, because I'm a black male."
sam.quinones@latimes.com
richard.winton@latimes.com
joe.mozingo@latimes.com
Times Staff Writer Angel Jennings contributed to this report.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0126-compton-20130126,0,977110.story

Dear Senator Kirk, America is in crisis

Dear Senator Kirk,

Your ProbateShark also appeals to you to halt the assault on the dead, dying, aged and disabled by the Probate Court of Cook County. The Probate Court of Cook County has been converted into a criminal financial crime enterprise with nursing home beds being the currency of choice. Please help.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com


Dear Senator Kirk,

America is in crisis. Hundreds of senior citizens and other diabled people are being deprived of their liberty, property, civil and human rights while the political elite condone this outrage. Attorney JoAnne Denison is one of handful of attorneys who have a finger in the dike attempting to hold off the growing threat to our democratic scheme. The enemy is us! We have allowed a small group of individuals to take over a significant portion of the mechanism that administers parens patrie and turn it into a cash cow. The Gore case a million and half dollars disappeared. In Tyler seven million dollars. In Sykes a million dollars plus.

As seniors are old - what does it matter! It is apparently more important to protect the miscreants than the seniors as illustrated by the threats that appear in the Sykes transcript directed to the attorneys who might (or did) speak out and the current ARDC complaint against JoAnne Denison. The words of the Illinois Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court are ignored by government (including the Illinois attorney registration and discipline commission.

The inappropriateness of this instant disciplinary case and the usurpation of jurisdiction over an attorney’s free speech is manifest by the Supreme Court cases cited supra, and the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Zauderer v. Office of Disciplinary Counsel of Supreme Court of Ohio, 471 U.S. 626, 643, 105 S. Ct. 2265, 2278, 85 L. Ed. 2d 652 (1985). The right to speak out for unpopular causes such as the right of the elderly not to be victimized by ‘judicial officials’ such as Farenga, Stern, Schmiedel, Troepe and similar persons is also protected speech in every State including Illinois. Indeed, the Illinois Supreme Court has held:

“The Constitution does not permit government to decide which types of otherwise protected speech are sufficiently offensive to require protection for the unwilling listener or viewer. Rather, absent the narrow circumstances described above (home intrusion or captive audience), the burden normally falls upon the viewer to ‘avoid further bombardment of (his) sensibilities simply by averting (his) eyes.’ Cohen v. California (403 U.S. 15,) 21, 91 S.Ct. 1780, 29 L.Ed.2d 284.” 422 U.S. 205, 210-11, 95 S.Ct. 2268, 2273, 45 L.Ed.2d 125, 131-32. Vill. of Skokie v. Nat'l Socialist Party of Am., 69 Ill. 2d 605, 619, 373 N.E.2d 21, 26 (1978)”

Speech is an essential mechanism of democracy, for it is the means to hold officials accountable to the people. See Buckley, supra, at 14–15, 96 S.Ct. 612 (“In a republic where the people are sovereign, the ability of the citizenry to make informed choices among candidates for office is essential”). The right of citizens to inquire, to hear, to speak, and to use information to reach consensus is a precondition to enlightened self-government and a necessary means to protect it. The First Amendment “ ‘has its fullest and most urgent application’ to speech uttered during a campaign for political office.” Eu v. San Francisco County Democratic Central Comm., 489 U.S. 214, 223, 109 S.Ct. 1013, 103 L.Ed.2d 271 (1989) (quoting Monitor Patriot Co. v. Roy, 401 U.S. 265, 272, 91 S.Ct. 621, 28 L.Ed.2d 35 (1971));

Citizens United v. Fed. Election Comm'n, 558 U.S. 310, 130 S. Ct. 876, 898, 175 L. Ed. 2d 753 (2010)

Indeed, the Blog administered by Attorney Denison might be offensive to the ‘judicial officials’ who foster or participate in Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation of the Elderly, however, in light of clear protections of Article 1 of the Illinois Constitution and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution it is respectfully submitted that the Illinois ARDC does not have either the authority or the jurisdiction to regulate Ms. Denison’s Blog or the speech of those who demand and call out for an honest investigation by law enforcement of the actions of Farenga, Stern, Schmiedel and the other judicial officials who have acted sans jurisdiction to deprive Mary Sykes and other seniors of their liberty, their property, civil rights and human rights.

Ken Ditkowsky

http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com/

Editor’s note: How this article rings true when compared to the witch hunt within the halls of the Probate Court of Cook County. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com 101 East

A curse in the family

Can survivors of witch hunts in India change traditional beliefs to stop the brutal practice? 101 East Last Modified: 25 Jan 2013 05:54 inShare1 Email Print Share Feedback

In remote parts of India, illness, poor harvest and bad luck can sometimes mean only one thing: a curse in the family. Villagers will often consult an ohja, or witch doctor, who has the power to undo evil spells and identify people who placed the curse. Connect with 101 East Sixteen years ago, Chhutney Mohato was stripped naked, beaten and nearly killed after she was accused of being a witch in her village in eastern Jharkhand State. She was forced to leave her home and all of her property. Today, Mohato runs a small organisation in eastern India that helps women who have been lucky enough to survive a similar fate. Many women who are accused of witchcraft are killed by mobs of villagers. This film unveils a volatile world of land conflicts and abuse of power where women and their families fall prey to false accusations and are driven off their land. We meet women who tell first-hand how their lives have turned for the worse after being accused of being a witch and meet the people levelling the accusations against their neighbours. As India modernises and gender roles change, some of these persecuted women are fighting back. But can they change traditional beliefs or will they succumb to the collective ignorance and abuse of power around them? 101 East airs each week at the following times GMT: Thursday: 2230; Friday: 0930; Saturday: 0330; Sunday: 1630. Click here for more 101 East http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/101east/2013/01/2013121101834161718.html

Grey lord: the aftermath

Editor’s note: Your ProbateShark has a complete list of miscreant judges within the Probate Court of Cook County. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

By NINA BURLEIGH

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Grey lord: the aftermath

As federal prosecutors make big headlines turning corruption out of Chicago's commodities pits this summer, Cook County's legal community is letting out a very quiet sigh of relief. Gone are the daily news accounts from judges' trials with their embarrassing testimony of lawyers and cops who served as "bagmen." In their wake, an almost protective silence has fallen.

Some reforms have been enacted, but many major suggestions are still just that. Secrecy remains the rule in disciplinary matters. A mind-your-own-business attitude lingers within the legal profession. Inefficiency and overcrowding in Cook County Circuit Court, the nation's largest court system, are being valiantly attacked but barely dented by administrators. And most important, according to a reform panel, judges still depend upon politics for their judgeships. These problems are what gave rise to the corruption exposed in the federal Greylord investigation. After the fact they were identified by the Special Commission on the Administration of Justice in Cook County.

In April this year, an Illinois Supreme Court "Blue Ribbon Committee" released its final report on the functions and operation of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) with recommendations for change. The committee quoted Illinois Supreme Court Justice William G. Clark: "Illinois has one of the fairest and finest lawyer disciplinary systems in the United States." The committee agreed, then added: "But there is always room for improvement."

Cynics might say that is the understatement of the decade. Federal probers netted 93 lawyers, judges, cops and court personnel in their Greylord investigation, begun in the late 1970s, for courtroom hustling and bribetaking. The ARDC, created by the Supreme Court in 1978 to investigate wrongdoing by lawyers, had caught wind of none of the systemic corruption before the first indictments in 1983. The Supreme Court had to create a new rule to deal with the flood of revelations: Either it or the ARDC could remove lawyers from practice on their own motion — without hearing — on probable cause such as indictment or courtroom revelations.

The ARDC and its judiciary counterpart, the Judicial Inquiry Board, have caught the brunt of the blame for not discovering the corruption before Greylord did. Where were they, the public, the media, the judges and lawyers asked, while lawyers and judges turned the county's courts into criminal enterprises?

The Cook County Special Commission, which was established in 1984 by the circuit court of Cook County, determined that the ARDC and the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board need to be "proactive" rather than reactive in detecting misconduct. In at least one case, this has been done. New First Municipal district Presiding Judge Donald P. O'Connell has asked the ARDC to actively seek out and remove "hustlers" from traffic court.

ARDC Administrator John O'Malley, appointed in 1988 after the bulk of the Greylord scandal had passed, points out that U.S. Atty. Dan Webb commended the ARDC in a public letter for its cooperation in the Greylord investigation. O'Malley also points to the agency's limited role. "We feel it is our obligation, when we have evidence of criminal activity, to bring that to the attention of the proper authorities. I think it is not fair to suggest that the commission has been in any way inactive in the past. It is our responsibility to investigate charges of misconduct. It is the responsibility of other agencies to investigate crimes."

O'Malley always speaks according to the rules. The ARDC is not charged with initiating investigations on its own motion. It needs a consumer or attorney to first bring charges. And in Cook County's justice-for-money system, no one involved wanted to change things, and those on the sidelines stayed silent.

The ARDC has been criticized for its closed-door approach to discipline in which complaints against lawyers are secret until they are resolved by the Supreme Court. The few public members on the ARDC were added after Greylord broke, but they sit on the very top level and are not privy to the thousands of complaints that come into the office until after the complaints are whittled down through the three-tiered hearing process.

While the ARDC is secretive, the Judicial Inquiry Board is a tiny agency without the resources for public relations. It routinely stonewalls questions about its activities. Complaints against judges aren't made public until the judge is actual found guilty of wrongdoing. The Judicial Inquiry Board was established by the 1970 Illinois Constitution to act like a prosecutor, investigating charges of wrongdoing by judges. It has the power to initiate complaints. It also has nonlawyer members. A special tribunal of judges, the Illinois Courts Commission, was also established by the Constitution to adjudicate complaints deemed valid by the Inquiry Board. A miniscule number of judges have been disciplined by this two-tier system.

The primary concern of the ARDC and the Judicial Inquiry Board appears to be protecting innocent lawyers and judges at all costs. They weigh the possible damage that might be caused by an unfairly tarred reputation against the possible damage an unscrupulous lawyer or judge can do, and give greater weight to the former.

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The Cook County Special Commission concluded that regulatory agencies and public scrutiny alone are not at all the answer to controlling the giant Cook County Court System. Its primary recommendation is that the chief judge of County establish an Office of Inspector General to patrol the workings of the entire court system, including lawyers, clerks and bailiffs. That suggestion has not been headed.

"The inspector general is a post desperately needed," said Jerold S. Solovy, the Chicago lawyer who chaired the Special Commission. "But the County Board would have to appropriate money, and they said they had no money and that it was prerogative of the circuit court. It is so desperately needed because the personnel in the court system are under the control of too many different bodies. The bailiffs report to the sheriff, the clerks report to the circuit clerk; the judge in many ways is powerless to control these people."

While the judge is powerless to control many court personnel, Greylord revealed that in corrupt courtrooms, all personnel worked in concert to fill the bribery coffers, which were occasionally as blatant as coffee cans under the court clerk's desk.

This "culture of corruption" allowed the Greylord scandal to evolve. The implications of this culture have not been lost on those trying to make sense of systemic criminality in the courts. Upon leaving office in 1981, former U.S. Atty. Thomas P. Sullivan, the U.S. attorney at the helm when the Greylord probe was initiated, stated: "There seems to be in Chicago and the surrounding areas a pervasive, deep-seated lack of honesty at all levels of government and business. I do not know whether it is worse here than elsewhere, but I do know that public and private corruption is commonplace in our city."

So commonplace was the corruption that even those not actively involved in it were able to see it going on. In one Greylord judge's courtroom, clerks admonished bribers — on behalf of the judge — to please not pass money in front of the courtroom window. Yet it took a downstater, then-Circuit Judge Brocton Lockwood, sitting in traffic court to report what was going on. He was on assignment to Cook County to help with overcrowded calendars in traffic court.

The Illinois Supreme Court last spring came down hard on the problem of unscrupulous intraprofessional loyalty. It suspended attorney James H. Himmel for one year. His infraction: failing to turn in another attorney for stealing money from a client. Himmel did not act in concert with the crooked attorney. He was merely made aware of the situation when the injured client hired him. According to the ARDC, complaints made by attorneys have increased dramatically since the ruling.

The underlying logic in Himmel's case is not new. The Illinois Code of Professional Responsibility for lawyers has always

Attorney discipline: recommendations for changes Handling complaints about alleged lawyer misconduct is the purpose of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC). Following the egregious misconduct by lawyers exposed in the federal Greylord investigation, the Illinois Supreme Court appointed the Blue Ribbon Committee to Study the Functions and Operation of the ARDC. The committee reported in April to the court, making recommendations for improvement. Currently the ARDC administrator initiates investigations of attorney misconduct on his initiative or on receipt of a complaint. The final decision rests with the Supreme Court. In between, there is a three-tiered structure. Three members of the ARDC's Inquiry Board (all ARDC-appointed lawyers) determine whether there is reason to file a formal complaint. If so, the complaint is heard by three members of the commissions' Hearing Board (all ARDC-appointed attorneys). If either party takes exception to its finding, the matter is reviewed by the nine-member Review Board (all attorneys appointed by the Supreme Court). The activities at all three levels are confidential. The final disposition rests with the Supreme Court, which handles it like any other case. This step is public. To get the process more out in the open, the committee recommends including non-lawyer members on the Inquiry Board from which the inquiry panels are chosen. The public members would constitute a minority of the board. The committee suggests further that after review of this change, the Supreme Court add nonlawyers to the Hearing Board. The committee recommends that proceedings should be made public after a formal charge is filed. The committee said, "Lawyers receive more due process protection at the investigatory stage than virtually any other litigants — certainly more than criminal defendants." Other recommendations touched a wide range of concerns: begin programs to educate the public and the profession about the disciplinary system; limit terms on the various ARDC panels to two; change Supreme Court rules to provide that "complainants should be absolutely immune from civil liability for communications made to the disciplinary agency." Recommendations made to speed up the process include the commissioners themselves (lawyers and nonlawyers are the commissioners who constitute the ARDC itself) assuming "more direct responsibility for elimination of delay in the system." About delays in Supreme Court deliberations the committee concluded that "more deference should be given to the [ARDC's] proceedings. . . . As things now stand, respondents believe there will be a better break from the Court on the highly subjective decision of what is the proper sanction." The committee, which used as a starting point the formal report (October 1984) of the Standing Committee on Professional Discipline of the American Bar Association, noted that a number of those suggestions are in place. Underlying the blue ribbon committee's report seemed to be the feeling that the present system is a good one that can be made better and that failure to do so might result in legislative attempts to improve the system. P. Mark Siebert and Pat Harrison

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required lawyers to report wrongdoing. But the Himmel decision is the first to apply sanctions for disregarding that rule The Himmel decision has drawn howls of outrage from some prominent members of the bar. Jerome Mirza, immediate pasl president of the Illinois State Bar Association, has said the ruling impinges on the attorney-client relationship by requiring the attorney to divulge a client's problem to outside sources. "I must concede there is a possibility that mass reporting could reveal some potential or current Greylord-type situations," Mirza said. "But if people are going to be taking money, they will find ways to do it. And they will know which people to do it with. If the apple is bad, the apple is bad. You are not going to change that. I have to look at the side of the Himmel decision that adversely affects the whole profession. I think to make every lawyer report every other lawyer for every possible transgression is not good for the profession."

Chicago Bar Association President Chester Blair was less harsh about the ruling, although he too doesn't believe it will change the "bad apples." Said Blair: "Law is a hard business. It takes a lot of work to win in a courtroom. Lawyers are so wrapped up in their own bailiwicks they do not get involved in the problems of other lawyers. There is an atmosphere of mind your own business. Lawyers can't just turn a cold shoulder to impropriety. It's kind of like the person on the street seeing a crime. He is expected to be a good citizen and call the police. Lawyers are in the same position now."

But rules won't remove underlying immorality, Blair said. "We believe rules will change things. That is not so. It has to be within the heart of the individual, and that has to start in the schools — not in the law schools but in the elementary schools."

The Cook County Special Commission recommended that the bar associations try to change the legal culture themselves instead of waiting, as Blair suggested, for early training to work. "The major bar associations must become more actively involved in monitoring the practice of law and enforcing the profession's ethical standards in areas of practice where wrongdoing is most likely to occur," the commission wrote in its final report. So far, the bars have not made any major changes in their procedures aimed solely at rooting out or preventing corruption among members.

In the wake of the Greylord scandal, the Cook County court system has indeed changed. Two major political shifts have affected court personnel. James O'Grady in 1986 replaced long-time incumbent Richard Elrod in the sheriff's office, and some of Elrod's top officials have gone to jail for various corrupt activities (found in a different federal probe). Last year, Aurelia Pucinski replaced Morgan Finley in the clerk's office. Pucinski has been credited already with working to increase efficiency in recordkeeping. Finley has since been convicted (after still another federal investigation).

But carelessness in a massive urban system like Cook County's is hard to eradicate. As one top disciplinary official stated recently: "The purge is ending, but this remains an urban system. There is still the problem of alcoholism [on the bench and bar]. Sure there are the same problems out there. If not the same people, new guys with the same problems."

Said the Special Commission in its final report: "Inefficiency can create conditions that are conducive to corruption. Court delay, for example, encourages attorneys to engage in misconduct, such as bribing a clerk to have a case called early." And insiders, "those who frequently practice in the same courtroom before the same judges, . . . . develop informal ways of getting information. . . [which] creates the appearance that some lawyers or litigants are given special treatment."

Chief Judge Harry Comerford has tried to circumvent the return of insider groups of attorneys working with the judge in any one courtroom. "One of the reasons the Greylord situations existed was that people became entrenched and careless. We guard against entrenchment," Comerford said. Changes that has implemented include rotating judges and court personnel from courtroom to courtroom and requiring attorneys to sign into courtrooms and to be called to the bench by personnal only when they have a case. The latter attempts to minimize illicit contact between attorneys and court personnel.

To lighten the tremendous volume of minor traffic cases that fed the traffic court's hustling machine, Comerford has also contracted with Northwestern University's traffic safety school to offer traffic safety classes at city colleges as an alternative for traffic offenders. Started in the spring, up to 150,000 offenders a year are expected to opt for these $50 classes.

Many of the problems identified by the Cook County Special Commission have solutions that can be implemented by the

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Greylord indictments On July 19, 1989, the Greylord scandal of Cook County courtrooms reached into the Statehouse. For over five years, those indicted in arguably the state's most infamous judicial corruption scandal were attorneys (53), judges (15), court clerks (4), deputy sheriffs (11), policemen (8) and one receiver/realtor. Now there's one state representative, James A. DeLeo (D-16, Chicago), who was indicted on one count of filing a false income tax statement. The indictment claims that when DeLeo filed his 1982 tax return he reported $19,448 in income but actually earned more. Bribes were not mentioned in the indictment. At the time, DeLeo was a coordinator in Cook County Traffic Court; in 1984 he was elected to the House. DeLeo's indictment puts the total at 93. Of those indicted as of August 13, 82 were convicted (67 by plea); four were acquitted; four have cases pending; two died before trial or re-trial. One conviction was vacated and the indictment dismissed. (Unless otherwise noted, tax count refers to the felony charge of filing a false income tax statements.) Attorneys Hugo Arquilla, pleaded guilty Dec. 16,1987, to two tax counts. Sentenced Feb. 3,1988, to two months work release, three years probation, 200 hours community service and fined $1,300. Lee Barnett, pleaded guilty Jan. 15, 1987, to one racketeering/conspiracy count and one mail fraud count. Sentenced May 28,1987, to six months in prison and two years probation. Lebert Bastianoni, pleaded guilty July 6, 1987, to two tax counts. Sentenced Sept. 3,1987, to 30 days work release, four years probation, 500 hours community service, ordered to pay back taxes and penalties and fined $5,000. Harlan Becker, convicted Feb. 17, 1987, on two tax counts, two mail fraud counts, one count racketeering/conspiracy and one count racketeering/bribery. Sentenced May 1,1987, to six years in prison, five years probation, fined $50,000 and orderd to pay back taxes and penalties totaling $63,000. Pleaded guilty Nov. 5, 1987, to one racketeering/conspiracy count and one racketeering/bribery count. Sentenced Dec. 14,1987, to four years in prison (to run concurrent with previous sentence) and fined $10,000. Jerry Berliant, pleaded guilty April 15, 1985, to three tax counts. Sentenced May 16, 1985, to 20 weekends in jail and three years probation. Neal Birnbaum, pleaded guilty Jan. 20, 1987, to one count of racketeering/conspiracy and one count of mail fraud. After these convictions were vacated in August 1987, he pleaded guilty on Oct. 14,1987, to one racketeering/conspiracy count, one racketeering/bribery count, and one mail fraud count. Sentenced (date not available) to one year in prison, five years probation and fined $25,000. Dale Boton, pleaded guilty March 23,1988, to two tax counts. Sentenced Jan. 13, 1989, to eight months work release, three years probation and 200 hours community service. John Brady, pleaded guilty Sept. 6, 1988, to one count racketeering/conspiracy, three counts mail fraud, and three counts aiding and abetting. Sentenced Dec. 19,1988, to 18 months in prison. Howard Brandstein, pleaded guilty Sept. 19, 1986, to one racketeering/ conspiracy count and one tax count. Sentenced May 8, 1987, to one year and one day in prison, a $56,000 forfeiture, five years probation and 200 hours community service. Blair Braverman, pleaded guilty Sept. 14, 1988, to one count of racketeering/conspiracy and one count of mail fraud. Sentenced Nov. 29,1988, to six months in jail and six months work release. Houston Burnside, pleaded guilty June 5,1985, to three tax counts. Sentenced July 31, 1985, to 30 weekends in jail, three years probation and fined $3,000. Bruce Campbell, pleaded guilty Feb. 4, 1987, to one count of racketeering/bribery and one tax count. Sentenced June 10, 1987, to one year in prison, six months of which was work release, and five years probation. Karl Canavan, pleaded guilty Nov. 8, 1988, to two tax counts. Sentence pending. James Canoff, pleaded guilty April 17, 1984, to one racketeering/bribery count, 18 mail fraud counts and one obstruction of justice count. Sentenced June 18, 1984, to six months work relate, 300 hours community service and ordered to pay $5,000 restitution to the City of Chicago. (Deceased). John Paul Carroll, indicted March 28,1989, on three tax counts. Trial scheduled for August. James Costello, pleaded guilty July 18, 1985, to one racketeering/bribery count and one mail fraud count. Sentenced July 18, 1985, to eight years in prison, Five years probation and fined $100. Robert Daniels, convicted Feb. 17, 1987, on two tax counts. Sentenced Nov. 13, 1987, to six years in prison. Pleaded guilty Oct. 27, 1988, to one racketeering/bribery count and one racketeering/conspiracy count. Sentenced (date unavailable) to six years in prison. Trial still pending on one racketeering/bribery count. Vincent Davino, pleaded guilty Jan. 16, 1987, to one racketeering/conspiracy count and one mail fraud count. Sentenced May 1, 1987, to four years in prison, five years probation and 500 hours of community service. Thomas Delbeccaro, pleaded guilty April 11, 1986, to two mail fraud counts. Sentenced June 5, 1986, to 90 days in prison (later suspended), five years probation and fined $1,000. David Dineff, acquitted of one racketeering/conspiracy count on Oct. 4, 1988. Louis Dineff, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts on March 9, 1989. Sentenced May 15,1989, to six months in prison and fined $20,000. Thurman Gardner, pleaded guilty April 1, 1985, to four tax counts. Sentenced April 1, 1985, to six months in prison, three years probation and 750 hours of community service. Richard Goldstein, pleaded guilty Feb. 4, 1987, to one racketeering/conspiracy count and one tax count. Sentenced June 10, 1987, to six months in jail, six months work release, five years probation and 400 hours of community service. Alphonse Gonzales, pleaded guilty June 25, 1986, to two tax counts and on July 8, 1986, to one extortion count. Sentenced Aug. 27, 1986, to three years in prison, five years probation and fined $2,000. Harry Jaffe, convicted Feb. 17, 1987, of one count of racketeering/bribery, one count of racketeering/conspiracy and two counts of mail fraud. Sentenced May 1, 1987, to a year and a day in prison and fined $7,000. Both conviction and sentence were vacated in August 1987. Re-indicted on same charges, but he died prior to re-trial. William Kampenga, pleaded guilty March 23, 1988, to two tax counts. Sentenced Jan. 13, 1989, to eight months work release three years probation and 200 hours community service. Thomas Kangalos, indicted on one count of racketeering/bribery, five counts of extortion and one count of obstruction of justice. Fled the country prior to trial. Reportedly to Athens, Greece. Cases pending. Melvin Kanter, pleaded guilty Dec. 17,1986, to one racketeering/bribery count. Sentenced June 1, 1987, to 90 days work release, five years probation and 400 hours of community service and fined $25,000. Edward Kaplan, pleaded guilty Jan. 28, 1985, to three tax counts. Sentenced March 20, 1985, to two years in prison and five years probation. Paul Kulerski, pleaded guilty March 18, 1985, to two tax counts. Sentenced June 23, 1987, to three months in prison, five years probation and 400 hours of community service. Bernard Mann, pleaded guilty Feb. 25, 1987, to one racketeering/bribery count and one tax count. Sentenced June 3, 1987, to six months in prison, five years probation and 400 hours of community service and fined $25,000. James McCarron, indicted April 13, 1989, on three tax counts. Trial scheduled for October. Joseph McDermott, pleaded guilty Dec, 10, 1986, to one racketeering/ bribery count and one tax count. Sentenced June 5,1987, to one year and one day in prison, five years probation and Fined $30,000. Ralph Meczyk, pleaded guilty July 6, 1987, to two tax counts. Sentenced Sept. 3, 1987, to 30 days work release, four years probation, 500 hours community service, ordered to pay back taxes and penalties and fined $5,000. Jay Messinger, convicted May 8, 1986, on one mail fraud count. Sentenced June 24,1986, to two years in prison and fined $1,000. James Noland, pleaded guilty March 27, 1987, to one racketeering/bribery count and one tax count. Sentenced June 22, 1987, to 15 months in prison, five years probation, 400 hours community service, ordered to file an amended tax return and fined $15,000. Edward Nydam, pleaded guilty Feb. 25, 1986, to one mail fraud count and sentenced March 21, 1989, to five years probation. Pleaded guilty April 29, 1985, to two tax counts and sentenced June 11, 1985, to six months in prison and five years probation. James Oakey, convicted May 15, 1987, on two tax counts. Sentenced to 18 months in prison, five years probation, fined $5,000 and ordered to pay back taxes and penalties. On Feb. 1, 1989, pleaded guilty to one racketeering/conspiracy count and one racketeering/bribery count. Sentenced Feb. 14, 1989, to six months in prison and five years probation. Richard Pezzopane, pleaded guilty Sept. 6, 1988, to one count of racketeering/conspiracy and one count of mail fraud. Sentenced Nov. 29, 1988, to six months in jail and six months work release. John Phillips, acquitted on one count of extortion on May 31, 1984. Cary Polikoff, pleaded guilty Aug. 22, 1988, to two mail fraud counts. Sentenced May 15, 1989, to two years work release. William Reilly, pleaded guilty March 27, 1987, to one racketeering/ bribery count and one tax count. Sentenced June 22, 1987, to 14 months in prison, five years probation, 400 hours community service, ordered to file an amended tax return and fined $5,000. Mark Rosenbloom, pleaded guilty March 11, 1988, to two tax counts. Sentenced April 19, 1988, to two years probation and 300 hours of communnity service. Bruce Roth, convicted Aug. 24, 1987, on two extortion counts, one racketeering/bribery count and one racketeering/conspiracy count. Sentenced Sept. 23, 1987, to 10 years in prison and five years probation. Martin Schachter, pleaded guilty July 5, 1984, to one mail fraud count. Sentenced Nov. 15, 1984, to four years probation. Frederic Solomon, pleaded guilty April 8, 1986, to four tax counts. Sentenced June 12, 1986, to 2 1/2 years in prison and five years probation. Norman Vandigo, pleaded guilty Sept. 2, 1988, to two tax counts. Sentenced Oct. 26, 1988, to one year and one day in prison, four years probation and fined $9,000. John Ward, convicted March 2, 1987, on two counts of mail fraud. Sentenced June 18, 1987, to a year and a day in prison and three years probation. Conviction reversed on appeal in 1988 and indictment dismissed. Never re-tried. Phil Wertz, pleaded guilty Sept. 6, 1988, to one count of racketeering/conspiracy and one count of mail fraud. Sentenced Nov. 29, 1988, to six months work release and three years probation. Bruce Wexler, pleaded guilty, Oct. 31, 1988, to one tax count. Sentenced Jan. 11, 1989, to six months in prison, five years probation and fined $5,000. Dean Wolfson, pleaded guilty Jan. 25, 1985, to one racketeering/bribery count and three mail fraud counts. Sentenced March 21, 1985, to seven and a half years in prison, five years probation and fined $3,000. Cyrus Yonan, pleaded guilty May 14, 1987, to one racketeering/bribery count and two tax counts. Sentenced June 29, 1987, to one year and one day in prison, three years probation, 400 hours community service, ordered to pay $12,300 in back taxes and penalties and fined $15,000. Arthur Zimmerman, pleaded guilty Dec. 22, 1987, to two tax counts. Sentenced March 2, 1988, to three years in prison, three years probation, 300 hours of community service and fined $10,000. concluded on page 42

courts, the bar associations or county officials. There is one problem, however, that only the legislature can resolve. And it isn't likely to act anytime soon.

According to the Special Commission and its top witnesses, a system of political favors laid the groundwork for the Greylord corruption. That system would be changed by merit selection of judges, the commission suggested. In urging what it calls "judicial independence," the Special Commission quoted statements by U.S. Arty. Anton R. Valukas: "We have heard time and time again in the course of Greylord prosecutions of situations where judges were contacted by persons with political clout, persons to whom they owed a favor, and asked to do something for them. And it is a short step . . . for a judge

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who has decided cases for political reasons to start deciding those cases for other poor motives." Those other poor motives could be as simple as a pair of box seats at Cubs games or a golf weekend, or as complex as the thousands of dollars in loans Judge Reginald Holzer secured from attorneys who practiced before him.

According to the testimony of Brocton Lockwood in one Greylord trial, many cases in traffic court were fixed as political favors, not for money. The supervising police officer for traffic courts would routinely grant favors to people with "political clout," Lockwood reported. "Everyday he would receive calls," Lockwood testified, "These were just favors that he had — half a dozen to a dozen cases every day to take care of for somebody. . . with some political influence."

Special Commission chairman Solovy said there is "no question" that merit selection of judges is the most important solution to prevent another stream of corruption from developing. "The whole siege of Greylord stemmed from introducing a system of politics into the judiciary," Solovy said. "Politicians view the judges they help elect as their special surrogates. Historically, they have wanted judges to do favors. It is a very easy step from favors to out-and-out corruption. That's why we feel we need a system of electing judges that has nothin to do with politics."□

Nina Burleigh is a freelance writer living in Chicago.

Judges John Devine, convicted Oct. 8, 1984, on one racketeering/conspiracy count, 25 extortion counts and 21 mail fraud counts. Sentenced Dec. 12, 1984, to 15 years in prison. He is deceased. Daniel Glecier, convicted Oct. 4, 1988, on one count racketeering/conspiracy. Sentenced Nov. 30, 1988, to six years in prison and fined $50,000. Martin Hogan, convicted Aug. 29, 1988, on one racketeering/bribery count, one racketeering/conspiracy count and three tax counts. Sentenced Oct. 18,1988, to 10 years in prison and five years probation. Reginald Holzer, convicted Feb. 18, 1986, on one racketeering/bribery count, three extortion counts and 23 mail fraud counts. The mail fraud convictions were vacated on Feb. 19, 1988. The original sentence (May 21, 1986) was 18 years in prison. Resentenced August 2, 1988, to 13 years in prison. John Laurie, acquitted August 9, 1984, on one count of racketeering/ conspiracy and three counts of extortion. Illinois Courts Commission suspended him from bench for one month for failing to report bribe attempts and engaging in ex parte conversations. Richard LeFevour, convicted July 13, 1985, on one racketeering/bribery count, 53 mail fraud counts and five tax counts. Sentenced Oct. 27, 1985, to 12 years in prison. Francis Maher, acquitted Oct. 4, 1988, on one count of racketeering/bribery and one count of racketeering/conspiracy. John McCollom, pleaded guilty May 1, 1987, to eight racketeering/conspiracy counts and two tax counts. Sentenced June 25, 1987, to 11 years in prison and five years probation. John McDonnell, indicted March 16, 1988, on one count of racketeering/bribery, two counts of extortion, one count of obstruction of justice and three tax counts. Convicted Dec. 20, 1988, on the tax charges. Hung jury resulted on the other charges. Sentence pending. Other charges pending a retrial. Michael McNulty, pleaded guilty Dec. 16,1987, to three tax counts. Sentenced Feb. 2,1988, to three years in prison, three years probation, 600 hours of community service and fined $15,000. John Murphy, convicted June 14, 1984, on one racketeering/conspiracy count, seven extortion counts and 16 mail fraud counts. Sentenced Aug. 8, 1984, to 10 years in prison and five years probation. Wayne Olson, pleaded guilty July 18, 1985, to one racketeering/bribery count, one extortion count and one mail fraud count. Sentenced March 21, 1986, to 12 years in prison, five years probation and fined $35,000. John Reynolds, convicted May 7, 1986, on one racketeering/bribery count, one racketeering/conspiracy count, six extortion counts, 25 mail fraud counts and three tax counts. Sentenced May 7, 1986, to 10 years in prison and fined $33,000. Pleaded guilty April 8, 1988, to two perjury counts. Sentenced June 27, 1988, to two years in prison and two years probation. Roger Seaman, pleaded guilty Dec. 16, 1987, to two mail fraud counts and one tax count. Sentenced Dec. 7, 1988, to five years in prison and two years probation. Raymond Sodini, pleaded guilty Jan. 20, 1987, to one racketeering/conspiracy count and one tax count. Sentenced May 8, 1987, to eight years in prison, five years probation, and 750 hours of community service. Deputy sheriffs Gaetona Bianco, pleaded guilty Jan. 12, 1988, to one misdemeanor count of civil rights violation. Sentenced Jan. 12, 1988, to six months probation. Al Hardin, indicted Dec. 18, 1985, on two counts of racketeering/conspiracy and one tax count. Died September 1986, before trial. Tony Hernandez, pleaded guilty July 31, 1985, to one count of extortion. Sentenced September 18, 1985, to six months work release, five years probation and 500 hours of community service. Paul Hutson, pleaded guilty Feb. 25, 1986, to one tax count. Sentenced April 24, 1987, to 60 days work release and five years probation. Alan Kaye, convicted March 1, 1985, in state court of one count each of official misconduct, theft, bribery and intimidation. Tried in state court following acquittal in federal court. Sentenced May 31, 1985, to five years in state prison. Jerome Kohn, pleaded guilty Jan. 26, 1987, to one racketeering/conspiracy count and one tax count. Sentenced April 10, 1987, to 18 months in prison, five years probation and fined $10,000. Frank Mirabella, pleaded guilty Sept. 19, 1986, to two racketeering/bribery counts and one tax count. Sentenced May 8, 1987, to seven months in prison, five years probation, 300 hours community service and fined $15,000. Lucius Robinson, pleaded guilty June 27,1988, to one extortion count. Sentenced Aug. 30, 1988, to three years in prison and fined $3,000. Indicted May 25, 1989, on two perjury counts. Case pending. Steve Ruben, pleaded guilty Feb. 25, 1986, to one tax count. Sentenced March 21, 1989, to 30 days work release and five years probation. Patrick Ryan, pleaded guilty Feb. 25, 1986, to one racketeering/bribery count and one tax count. Sentenced April 24, 1987, to 60 days work release and five years probation. Nick Yokas, pleaded guilty Feb. 25, 1986, to one tax count. Sentenced April 24, 1987, to 60 days work release and five years probation. Police officers Ira Blackwood, convicted Aug. 10, 1984, on one racketeering/bribery count and 10 extortion counts. Sentenced Oct. 18, 1984, to seven years in prison, five years probation and fined $20,000. James Hegarty, pleaded guilty Feb. 28, 1986, to one tax count. Sentenced Nov. 13, 1987, to three years probation and 300 hours of community service. James LeFevour, pleaded guilty Dec. 4, 1984, to three tax counts. Sentenced Aug. 20, 1985, to 30 months in prison. Arthur McCauslin, pleaded guilty Dec. 4, 1984, to two tax counts. Sentenced Aug. 20, 1985, to 18 months in prison. Lawrence McClain, pleaded guilty Dec. 4, 1984, to two tax counts. Sentenced Aug. 20, 1985, to 15 months in prison. James Trunzo, pleaded guilty Sept. 5, 1984, to two tax counts. Sentenced Oct. 19, 1984, to one year in prison, three years probation and fined $10,000. Joseph Trunzo, pleaded guilty Sept. 5, 1984, to two tax counts. Sentenced Oct. 19, 1984, to one year in prison, three years probation and fined $10,000. Joseph Yasak, pleaded guilty Oct. 6, 1988, to one count of perjury. Sentenced Nov. 30, 1988, to 90 days in jail and three years probation. Court clerks Harold Conn, convicted March 15, 1984, on one racketeering/bribery count and nine extortion counts. Sentenced April 18, 1984, to six years in prison, five years probation and fined $2,000. Nick LaPalombella, pleaded guilty Feb. 25, 1986, to one tax count. Sentenced April 24, 1987, to 60 days work release and five years probation. Henry Lemanski, pleaded guilty Aug. 30, 1988, to two obstruction of justice counts. Sentenced Oct. 20, 1988, to five years probation and fined $5,000. Gregory Lindeman, pleaded guilty April 21, 1989, to two tax counts. Sentenced May 31, 1989, to five years probation. Receiver/Realtor Ernest Worsek, pleaded guilty Oct 22, 1985, to one mail fraud count and one misdemeanor tax count for failure to file income tax returns. Sentenced May 29, 1986, to six months in prison. Sources: The Special Commission on the Administration of Justice in Cook County, Final Report, September 1981 courtesy of Peter Manikas, executive director of the Criminal Justice Project of Cook County; Terry Hake, currently inspecter general for the Regional Transportation Authority (Chicago), and for three years and seven months an FBI special agent working undercover in the Greylord operation; Marie Dyson, an FBI special agent in Chicago, and Dan Gillogly, executive assistant U.S. attorney, Chicago.

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