Ex-Chicago official convicted on 20 counts in red light cameras trial

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Throughout the trial, Sanan. Bills' lawyer, portrayed his client as a scapegoat who did not have the clout or authority to carry out such a massive scheme.

During closing arguments Monday, Sanan suggested that $2 million in bribes really went to some of Chicago's most powerful elected officials instead of his client.

"That money went to lobbyists who funneled it upstairs," he told jurors. "You don't give that kind of money to a guy like John Bills. You give it to people who can get things done."

But U{S. Attorney Zachary }Fardon called that contention "malarkey."

"That is baloney, that is crazy," Fardon told jurors Monday. "The idea that lobbyists were paid to funnel money to people like Mike Madigan and Ed Burke and Rahm Emanuel is pretty grandiose, but there is not one single shred of evidence that supports any of it."

Fardon's team presented evidence at trial that Bills met with Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and then-Mayor Richard Daley as part of his efforts to help camera vendor Redflex Traffic Systems Inc., but prosecutors have never implicated any elected officials in the scheme.

They did offer evidence that Bills counseled company executives on which well-connected lobbyists to hire to court favor with Daley and Madigan. In addition, they say Bills ordered the admitted bagman in the conspiracy to use bribe money to contribute a total of $5,500 to Madigan's political war chest as well as to a nonprofit foundation supported by the mayor.

You can understand why Dick Durbin picked Mr. Fardon to be U.S. Attorney. Hear no evil.