Former Ald. Willie Cochran was sentenced to a year and a day in prison Monday, becoming the latest Chicago alderman to add to the “long and pathetic tradition” of political corruption, according to the judge in the case.
U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso said Cochran abused the public trust, noting “this was not a one-time lapse of judgment.”
Assistant U.S Attorney Heather McShain told Alonso that the alderman’s victims were reluctant to cooperate with investigators out of fear of retribution.
In arguing for prison time, McShain cited legendary Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko, who wrote that corrupt Chicago politicians always ask: “Where’s mine?”
In court, before he was sentenced, Cochran apologized, saying, “I am better than this.” The former alderman talked about his family and good works and said it was an “honor” to serve. He called himself a community builder and asked for “a second chance.”
After sentencing, Cochran criticized the proceedings.
“There’s no justice in this . . . It’s never going to be right,” he said.
“The justice system is about Just Us.”
By sentencing Cochran to a year and a day — rather than just a year — the judge did give Cochran a break, so that the former alderman will actually serve about 10 months behind bars, since credits for good conduct time in the federal system apply to any sentence more than one year.
The sentencing hearing took place as even more members of the council have been charged or implicated in federal investigations. But that didn’t stop Cochran from arguing this month he should be spared prison time because it has yet to cure Chicago’s long history of corruption.
Federal prosecutors have said that argument is “tone deaf.” In court, McShain called it “bizarre.”
The judge noted that some of the longer sentences in recent political corruption cases have not had the desired effect but called that argument a “give up.”
The hearing comes after the blockbuster racketeering indictment of Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) and preceded last week’s raid on the ward office of Ald. Carrie Austin (34th).
Cochran pleaded guilty in March to wire fraud and admitted he took $14,000 from a charitable 20th Ward fund between January 2010 and April 2014, using the money for personal expenses. The admission ended his career on the City Council.
In court, McShain called that $14,000 “very conservative.” She said there were $64,673 in cash withdrawals, an amount Cochran’s defense attorneys disputed.
She noted that Cochran stayed in office after his indictment so he could still be paid.
“This is not a man who took his oath seriously,” she said.
In a court memo earlier this month, prosecutors listed several expenditures from the fund during that time period. They included nearly $25,000 in ATM withdrawals at casinos; $6,100 in payments for his daughter’s Eastern Illinois University tuition account; $1,100 for meals at McCormick & Schmick’s, Chez Joel, Hugo’s Frog Bar & Fish House and Ditka’s Restaurant; $1,350 at Z Gallerie; and $314 at Crate & Barrel for kitchen items, many of which were later found during a search of Cochran’s home.
Another $71 was spent on a fog lamp chrome bumper ring for a Mercedes.
“This is money that defendant obtained under the guise of a charity and then used, among other personal uses, to gamble, pay his daughter’s college tuition, and purchase items for his residence and Mercedes — such luxuries that are unfathomable to most of the citizens of the 20th Ward who are barely getting by and whose kids, if they make it to college, take out loans for their college education,” McShain wrote.
Cochran lawyer Christopher T. Grohman said Cochran put $37,500 of his own money into the fund and hosted “dozens of events” for the 20th Ward.
Grohman argued in court that one crime does not overshadow all the good work that Cochran has done over the years.
He also wrote in court filings that Cochran’s case is not a typical example of public corruption. Cochran’s wife “fell gravely ill” around late 2010, Grohman explained in a court memo. The family lost her income while her medical bills began to rise, and that strained their finances.
“Due to the stress on his family, Mr. Cochran succumbed to his gambling addiction, convinced that he could gamble his way out of his monetary problems,” Grohman wrote.
Once the gambling exacerbated his family’s money problems, Grohman said, Cochran “began dipping into the charity fund, thinking he could legally recoup the $37,500 that he had previously contributed.”
Ultimately, Cochran has admitted taking out $14,285 more than he put in.
McShain said in court that Cochran spent “hundreds of hours in casinos” as alderman.
Grohman argued that Cochran’s gambling addiction requires treatment, not punishment.
Cochran’s indictment landed during a December 2016 City Council meeting spent by aldermen singing the praises of then-World Series Champion Chicago Cubs. The news began to spread, and Cochran eventually ducked out of the council chambers.
More than two years later, a larger public corruption scandal has consumed City Hall. Burke, the city’s longest-serving alderman, faces a racketeering case built with the help of former Ald. Danny Solis, who faced his own corruption allegations but has not been charged with a crime. Federal agents then descended on Austin’s ward office last week, leaving with boxes of records and at least one computer as they investigate several areas involving Austin, including the purchase, construction and financing of her home.
