Niles Herald Spectator reports:
Former Niles Mayor Nicholas Blase, who pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges in October, has been sending out letters on village stationery endorsing Acting Mayor Robert Callero in the April 7 election and setting the village up for a potential conflict of interest, Pioneer Press has learned.
Attempts to contact Blase were unsuccessful.
The letters seem official in their appearance. They were sent out in envelopes marked "Office of the Mayor," they bear the village seal and quote the village motto ("Where People Count"). Callero is listed in the margin as "Acting Mayor," Blase is listed as "Retired Mayor," and the names of the village trustees, manager and clerk appear, as well.
You'll want to read the whole story.This is a town just a short ride from where Rod Blagojevich lives.Here's an
AP summary of Mayor Nick Blase:
The longtime former mayor of north suburban Niles pleaded guilty Friday to taking more than $420,000 from an insurance agency in a kickback scheme.
Nicholas Blase, 80, appeared before U.S. District Judge Wayne R. Andersen and admitted steering customers to an insurance agency owned by his friend Ralph Weiner and in return getting 25 percent of the commissions the agency received from them.
"I apologize to those I let down — my family, my friends and most of all the people of Niles," Blase said. "I was wrong."
Blase recently resigned as mayor after serving more than 45 years in the office.
He pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud involving the kickback scheme which began in 1974 and continued through 2006.
They don't call it Crook County for nothing.
