XPost: chi.general, sac.politics, alt.politics.democrats   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.economics   
   From: leroysoetoro@usurper.org   
      
   A federal jury convicted John Bills on Tuesday on all charges, finding   
   that the former Chicago city official took up to $2 million in bribes and   
   gifts in return for steering tens of millions of dollars in red light   
   camera contracts to an Arizona company.   
      
   Bills showed no emotion as the verdict was announced in U.S. District   
   Judge Virginia Kendall's courtroom.   
      
   The largely suburban jury of seven men and five women deliberated for only   
   a few hours Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning before convicting Bills   
   on all 20 counts of mail and wire fraud, bribery, extortion, conspiracy   
   and tax evasion charges.   
      
   Kendall set May 5 for Bills' sentencing.   
      
   "John is going to continue to fight for his innocence," his lawyer, Nishay   
   Sanan, vowed outside the courtroom. "The fight is not over. The people who   
   are guilty of this know who they are, (but) we don't expect them to come   
   forward."   
      
   Bills hugged his wife, who was in tears.   
      
   The two-week trial offered a rare glimpse into the behind-the-scenes   
   intrigue at City Hall often referred to as the Chicago Way.   
      
   Bills, 54, was charged with accepting lavish gifts, meals and hotel stays   
   along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in a cash-for-cameras bribery   
   scheme that grew Chicago's network into the most prolific ticket-writing   
   machine in the nation.   
      
   Throughout the trial, Sanan portrayed Bills 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, who led the prosecution, 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.   
      
   None of the politicians named nor any of the phalanx of connected   
   lobbyists and political consultants hired by Redflex was ever called to   
   testify. Among them were William Filan, Mark Fary, William Griffin,   
   Michael Kasper and Greg Goldner.   
      
   Jurors heard from three admitted co-conspirators, including Bills' bagman   
   and the ousted CEO of Redflex, who are both cooperating with federal   
   authorities in exchange for leniency.   
      
   "He doesn't want to die in jail," Sanan said of the bagman, Martin   
   O'Malley, 75, who testified that he collected more than $2 million in   
   "commissions" intended for Bills. "Nor does he want to implicate the well-   
   oiled machine of Chicago."   
      
   "He was a salesman before, he's a salesman now, and he's trying to sell   
   you a load," Sanan told jurors.   
      
   Pacing about the courtroom as he spoke, Sanan said Bills always used cash   
   he collected from his lucrative side business selling sports tickets and   
   memorabilia, not from any bribery scheme.   
      
   "He paid for everything. He paid for the rental cars. He paid for the   
   hotels. He paid for the meals," Sanan said. "The government's entire case   
   relies on three admitted liars. They have failed."   
      
   To bolster the testimony of the government's three key witnesses, Fardon   
   pointed jurors to the shopping cart full of emails, expense reports and   
   other records the prosecution team carted to court each day.   
      
   "I like Mr. Sanan, but he misses the point," Fardon said. "This is not   
   about success and failure. There are no winners in this courtroom today.   
   This case is about one thing: justice."   
      
   Fardon concluded his remarks by talking about Bills' violation of the   
   public trust.   
      
   "Who really paid? Who really paid?" Fardon said. "The citizens of Chicago   
   who deserved an honest day's work for an honest day's pay — and they got   
   pillaged by this man."   
      
   dkidwell@tribpub.com   
      
   Twitter @davidkidwell1   
      
      
      
   --   
   Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $19 trillion in the six   
   years he has been in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood   
   queer liberal democrat donors.   
      
   Barack Obama, reelected by the dumbest voters in the history of the United   
   States of America.  The only American president to deliberately import a   
   lethal infectious disease from Africa, Ebola.   
      
   Loretta Fuddy, killed after she "verified" Obama's phony birth   
   certificate.   
      
   Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact to   
   improper vetting of Barry Soetoro aka Barack Hussein Obama, a confirmed   
   felon using SSAN 042-68-4425, belonging to a dead man.   
      
   Obama ignored the brutal killing of an American diplomat in Benghazi, then   
   relieved American military officers who attempted to prevent said murder   
   in order to cover up his own ineptitude.   
      
   Obama continues his muslim goal of disarming America while ObamaCare   
   increases insurance premiums 300% and leaves millions without health care.   
      
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