The Chicago Tribune reports:
Ald. Isaac "Ike" Carothers has negotiated a deal to plead guilty to federal bribery and tax charges and go to prison, a source said, placing him on a long list of aldermen, including his father, who have cemented Chicago's reputation for corruption.
Carothers' deal calls for him to admit to accepting $40,000 in home improvements in 2004 as a reward for supporting a developer's controversial project in the alderman's West Side ward, said a source familiar with the agreement.
Carothers, 29th, would plead guilty to one count of failing to report the home improvements on his income taxes and to one count of corruptly accepting items of value for supporting a zoning change for the project, the source said.
The agreement has to be accepted in court, and Carothers is not convicted until it has been.
There's more:
Carothers' conviction would bring to 28 the number of aldermen found guilty of wrongdoing since 1972. One of those was Carothers' father, William, who was accused of similar wrongdoing as his son. The elder Carothers was sentenced to three years in federal prison in 1983 for extorting remodeling work for his ward office.
Ike Carothers, 55, has been an alderman since 1999 and is one of Daley's staunchest allies on the City Council. Aldermen are paid $110,560 a year.
Alderman Carothers is also
Executive Vice-Chairman of the Cook County Democratic party. Alderman Carothers is also on the Democratic party
slating committee for Cook County judges ( check out the picture of Carothers on the left side of the Sun-Times article). Carothers also got
campaign contributions from Tony
Rezko. 28 convicted Chicago Alderman since 1972. Few professions can claim a higher felony conviction rate than that and they have the power to pass laws!
