Cullerton escapes storm of federal investigations but clouds linger

Cullerton has always been a unique case study — an old-style Chicago Democratic Machine stalwart wrapped in a lakefront liberal veneer. That’s not all bad, and it’s not all good, either.

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Illinois Senate President John Cullerton

Illinois Senate President John Cullerton speaking to the City Club of Chicago in 2017.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times file photo

Ex-state Rep. Luis Arroyo offered his colleagues a piece of unsolicited but sound advice in the resignation letter he submitted two weeks ago in the wake of being charged in federal court with bribery.

“…You should all keep in mind that public service should be for a duration of time wherein you are an effective member of the body,” the Chicago Democrat wrote.

“Once you have gone beyond your period of peak effectiveness, you should really call it a day and retire while you can still enjoy the later years in your life.”

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Look at what happened to me, the 65-year-old native of Puerto Rico seemed to be saying. Don’t stay long enough to find yourself in my predicament.

Although Arroyo directed his remarks to his colleagues in the Illinois House, they could have just as easily applied to his counterparts in the state Senate. 

Still, I don’t think anyone was expecting Senate President John Cullerton, 71, to be the first to heed the advice.

Cullerton’s surprise Thursday evening retirement announcement hit like a thunderbolt in Springfield, largely because it is so rare for anyone in Illinois politics to relinquish power voluntarily. 

Cullerton has always been a unique case study— an old-style Chicago Democratic Machine stalwart wrapped in a lakefront liberal veneer.

That’s not all bad, and it’s not all good, either.

As anyone who has been in the market for furniture knows, there’s nothing wrong with a good veneer. It serves its purpose and gets the job done, although at some point, it’s bound to chip.

Cullerton has been a highly effective legislator who helped pass a lot of progressive laws that, to my mind, served his constituents and the state well. Then there are the chips: questionable outside business interests and a law practice that included being a registered city lobbyist along with who knows what else.

Unlike his friend, House Speaker Mike Madigan, there has been no outward indication Cullerton is under an investigative cloud, although three other members of his Senate Democratic caucus are. One of those, his “distant” cousin, Sen. Thomas Cullerton of Villa Park, seems to have become more distant since being indicted for ripping off a labor union.

Cullerton’s resignation will not be effective until sometime in January, an indication he’s not leaving in any particular haste. Nor was he facing any imminent threat from voters, having been easily re-elected to a new four-year term just last year.

And despite my lead-in, I doubt Arroyo’s predicament — or his warning — played any role in the Senate President’s decision.

Nor am I aware of any drop-off in Cullerton’s “effectiveness” as a legislator leader. 

By all accounts, he remains a highly skilled politician, a master of dealmaking and compromise, somebody who likes to get things done.

Yet on some level Cullerton’s thinking must have mirrored Arroyo’s: that it’s best to get out while the gettin’s good.

Only the passage of time will prove definitively whether or not Cullerton is in the clear.

He’s definitely on the periphery of several aspects of the various federal investigations.

Cook County Commissioner Jeff Tobolski, whose McCook mayoral offices were raided by the feds, was one of his fundraisers. 

At least one of Cullerton’s fundraising events was held at the Countryside cigar lounge that was a favorite hangout of Tobolski and of Omar Maani, an investor in the SafeSpeed red-light camera business. SafeSpeed, Maani and the cigar lounge are all known to be focal points of the probe.

And former city deputy aviation commissioner William Helm, a paid sales consultant to SafeSpeed, has been moving closer to Cullerton’s political orbit since his own clout, former Ald. Patrick O’Connor, lost re-election earlier this year, sources say.

Then there’s the stuff involving Cullerton’s cousin, Thomas, a former mayor of Villa Park, who is accused of being the beneficiary of a ghost payrolling scheme involving the Teamsters; union boss John T. Coli has pleaded guilty to corruption charges and struck a cooperation agreement with federal authorities to ease his penalty. Thomas Cullerton has denied the allegations through his lawyer.

By the time legislators meet again in January to take up the question of who will replace John Cullerton as the Senate’s leader, there’s no telling who else may be charged and what new allegations will be in play.

Cullerton was right. It’s a good time to go.

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