FBI probes Congressman Gutierrez ties to corrupt developer

The Chicago Tribune reports on Luis Gutierrez (Democrat- Tony Rezko):

The FBI has interviewed City Hall employees and Chicago aldermen about U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez's ties to a corrupt developer, according to records and interviews that raise new questions about the congressman amid an ongoing federal investigation.

A former alderman convicted in the investigation told FBI agents that Gutierrez boasted of helping his longtime political supporter Calvin Boender obtain a lucrative zoning change for a development on the city's West Side. Another alderman told agents this year she thought Gutierrez was going to buy a home in the development.

And several city planners told investigators they were stunned by the highly unusual intervention of a congressman in a local zoning matter.

The FBI asked about Gutierrez as recently as February, but most of the inquiries occurred during 2008, the Tribune has learned, as federal authorities prepared their bribery cases against Boender and former 29th Ward Ald. Isaac "Ike" Carothers.

Even though Gutierrez doesn't even live in his Congressional district, look for him to win re-election come November. The voters in Gutierrez's district aren't big on ethics.