IL Sen Tom Cullerton’s federal Indictment includes false Statement of Economic Interest filings –

ILLINOIS – (ECWD) –

By now, most already know Illinois State Senator Tom Cullerton has been Indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on 41 counts.

You can read the full Indictment below.

What we find interesting, and something we routinely focus on with elected officials is the inclusion in the Indictment of false Statements of Economic Interest filed in years 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

COUNT 1 of this Indictment includes the following when talking about the Conspiracy:

• Paragraph 1 (b):
  •  As an elected official, CULLERTON was required by law to
    annually file a “Statement of Economic Interests” with the Illinois Secretary of State,
    which would disclose, among other things, certain income received by CULLERTON
    during the prior calendar year, as well as the nature and source of such income. An
    elected official that filed a Statement of Economic Interests was required to verify that
    the information contained in the filing was true, correct and complete.
• Paragraph 13:
  • It was further part of the conspiracy that CULLERTON filed Statements
    of Economic Interests for calendar years 2013 and 2014 with the Illinois Secretary of
    State. These statements made it falsely appear that CULLERTON had received
    income each year for legitimately working as an organizer for Teamsters Joint Council
    25, when CULLERTON well knew that he was not legitimately employed as an organizer
    for Teamsters Joint Council 25.
• Paragraph 14:
  • It was further part of the conspiracy that CULLERTON filed Statements
    of Economic Interests for calendar years 2015 and 2016 with the Illinois Secretary of
    State. In these statements, CULLERTON falsely omitted income CULLERTON had
    received from Teamsters Joint Council 25 in 2015 and 2016.

In recent years, when we mention Statements of Economic Interest, those elected official and candidates generally dismiss it as a very minor “mistake” which rarely, if ever, gets prosecuted.

Below are a few we have written about, there are many more:

• Now-elected Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul apparently failed to file a truthful SEI and we stated he should resign after filing a false amended SEI filing – he failed to report his position as State Senator on both filings.
• Jack Franks, McHenry County Board Chairman apparently filed at least three false SEIs some of which failed to disclose his position as State Representative in the previous 12 months.
• Frank Mautino, Illinois Auditor General, apparently filed a false SEI by failing to disclose his position as Illinois State Representative on his 2016 SEI filing.
• Aaron Ammons, then-candidate and now current Champaign County Clerk (after “special” favors doled out by former Gov Quinn who Pardoned him on his conviction of dealing heroin) apparently filed a false SEI by failing to disclose his employment with the University of Illinois.
• Chasity Wells-Armstrong, Kankakee Mayor, apparently filed a false SEI by failing to disclose her appointment to the Kankakee River Metropolitan Agency.

While many have attempted to minimize the importance of this document we routinely report on, we believe the Illinois Appellate Court made it clear:

 The disclosures “are intended to avoid any conflict of interest between the government and its officers and employees and to instill in the public trust and confidence in its elected officials.” Crudup v. Sims, 292 Ill. App. 3d 1075, 1076 (1997).

In Culleton’s Indictment, false SEIs are claimed to have been used as part of the conspiracy to commit other acts he is Indicted for.

Cullerton-Indictment

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