COMMISSIONER BILL BEAVERS: HOG WITH THE BIG NUTS, REAL LIFE FRANK PANTANGELI, OR BOTH?

3/22/13

Former 7^th Ward Alderman and current County Commissioner Bill Beavers was convicted yesterday on several counts of tax fraud.   Loyal readers know that I have written on Mr. Beavers several times in the past (My latest discourse on Bill Beavers,  JESSE JACKSON, JR. RESIGNS:  DON’T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU IN THE KEISTER ON THE WAY OUT, which was written for the now defunct Rant Political, was reproduced on my 2/7/13 post, JUST HOW DID SANDI JACKSON END UP UNDER THAT BUS?...and is reproduced at the end of this post for your reading enjoyment and convenience.) and that I have a degree of admiration, or at least respect, for the man.   As something of a Bill Beavers fan, and a long time commentator on Chicago politics, I would be remiss if I weren’t to write something in the wake of Mr. Beavers’ conviction.  So, in declining order of importance, are several things worth considering about Mr. Beavers and his conviction.

First, there is no excuse for corruption of any kind.   We tend to minimize, and sometimes revel in, corruption in Chicago and its environs, or at least we used to before it got so ridiculously expensive.   Our basking in our hair shirt reputation is one of the reasons that our city and state have been so corrupt for so long, as I explain in the early chapters of my first novel, The Chairman, A Novel of Big City Politics.   So I am by no means exonerating the behavior of Mr. Beavers.

That having been said, I have long contended, and continue to contend, that an old-fashioned (I would say “old school” if I weren’t so averse to now hackneyed expressions.) pol on the take is far less dangerous than a high-minded professed reformer with a messianic complex.   Even a guy like Bill Beavers, who has, according to his conviction, made off with anywhere from $30,0000 to several hundred thousand dollars, depending on whom you believe, is small potatoes when compared to someone who is certain s/he is right and who has access to the billions upon billions government can conjure up to induce people to behave in accordance with its conception of the good of humanity.  Even the rare politician who has never taken a dime for himself can cost society far more dearly than the most corrupt pol when that ostensible Mr. Clean is determined he knows what is good for us.

Second, Mr. Beavers continues to insist that the federal case was brought because he refused to wear a wire on Cook County Commissioner John Daley.  As Mr. Beavers put it,

“They thought I was a punk.”

but

“I’m not a stool pigeon, never will be.”

Mr. Beavers argues that “even Ray Charles could see” that it was the desire to get Mr. Daley that led the feds to try to squeeze the hog, perhaps by its big nuts.   And he’s right.   There are very, very few people who believe that Mr. Beaver was NOT pursued as part of a bigger plan, probably against John Daley.   John Daley is the only person publicly denying this, and one wonders whether he is just whistling past the graveyard.

The feds found out that Mr. Beavers is not a “punk” or a “stool pigeon;” instead, he is a stand-up guy and is one bad hombre, as we used to say before something very crude was substituted for hombre in that expression.    Such a trait can be regarded as honorable or reprehensible, but there is a larger question here:  will the next guy the feds go after be so tough?   Will the next guy, perhaps after seeing the now 78 year old Mr. Beavers going away for an especially meaningful stretch, given his age, be willing to go away rather than give the feds something on their larger target(s), whomever those targets might be?

Third, part of the image I have of Mr. Beavers has been nearly completely destroyed.  It wasn’t the indictment or conviction that wreaked so much havoc on that image.  I, and most people, were not surprised that Mr. Beavers was not squeaky clean.  We knew he didn’t enter politics for the good of humanity or some such drivel; Mr. Beavers, as George Washington Plunkett once said, saw his opportunities and he took ‘em.   No, what hurts Mr. Beavers’ image in at least my eyes was that he blew whatever money he blew playing slots.  Slots?   I can’t imagine tough guy Bill Beavers, despite his advanced age, playing slots with the little old ladies who come to the casino on the bus.   I always thought he’d fit in better at the craps, roulette, or blackjack table.   Tough guys, big shooters, don’t play slots, do they?     

See my two books, The Chairman, A Novel of Big City Politics and The Chairman’s Challenge, A Continuing Novel of Big City Politics, for further illumination on how things work in Chicago and Illinois politics. 

PROMISED REPRODUCED POST:

COMMISSIONER BILL BEAVERS ON ALDERMAN SANDI JACKSON:  DIOGENES, PUT DOWN YOUR LANTERN

1/13/13

Chicagoans, and Illinoisans in general, are far too tolerant of corruption in our politicians.  We continually complain about our high and increasing taxes, our so-so level of services, the crime in our streets, and the enormous public pension and health care liabilities that will soon make our state financially uninhabitable.   But we continue to elect the same scalawags, rogues, or worse.

On the other hand…

It has long been my contention that a corrupt local pol looking to put some ill-gotten dough in his pocket is far less dangerous than a national pol, or even a local pol with a national reputation and ambitions, who comes to his job with a messianic complex and the unwavering certainty that s/he knows what is good for “the people,” despite his or her never having had a real job.   Further, at least our corrupt local pols provide plenty of entertainment value and provide us with much of the swagger that we feel is our inherent right as Chicagoans.   As we like to say when someone speaks of the latest manifestation of corruption,  “Hey, this ain’t Minneapolis.”  The problem of late, is that the price of this corruption has been exceeding its entertainment value, and the taxpayers are justifiably displaying some at least rhetorical opposition.  But I digress.

As loyal readers know, I’ve so far written novels about the politics of my hometown, The Chairman and its sequel, The Chairman’s Challenge.   While these books are widely read and enjoyed even by people who have no special affinity for politics, let alone Chicago politics, because of the searing insight they provide into the human condition and their often page turning plot lines, those who have some knowledge of the politics of this most American of cities enjoy trying to determine who the characters are in “real life.”   On more than one occasion, I have been asked if the fictional Alderman Isaiah Parker is indeed Cook County Commissioner and former 7^th Ward Alderman, Bill Beavers.  The answer, of course, is no; Isaiah Parker is a lot of people, as are all the characters in my book.  But it would be hard to make up a character more colorful, or more reflective of Chicago politics, than Bill Beavers.

I met Commissioner Beavers, a large, imposing man who refers to himself as “the hog with the big nuts,” maybe twenty years ago, when he was 7^th Ward alderman.   He was appearing before a small group of Chicago civic leaders to discuss, among other things, the gang crime problem at the time that, in the retrospective light of today’s problems in that area, seems akin to a jaywalking problem in the city.   Then Alderman Beavers, who was a Chicago police officer earlier in life, displayed an amazingly intricate degree of knowledge, down to the street corners over which various factions of gangs presided in and around his 7^th Ward, of the problem and had plenty of ideas on how to address it.   He was one of the most impressive of the many politicians yours truly has ever met.

On the other hand, Bill Beavers has never been very shy about turning public office, and political power, into cash.   Such a propensity has finally landed the Commissioner in serious trouble; he is currently under federal indictment for misuse of campaign funds and related tax evasion.   The 77 year old Mr. Beavers contends that he is guilty of only honest bookkeeping mistakes and that the feds brought the charges only to pressure him to wear a wire on fellow Cook County Commissioner, County Finance Committee Chairman, and 11^th Ward Democratic Committeeman John Daley.    When he refused to give them what they wanted, Beavers contends, the U.S. Attorney’s people indicted him.   Mr. Beaver’s most succinct comment on the indictment is that it’s “horses—t that I’m not worried about.”   He went on to call Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. Attorney whose office indicted him, a “rooster with no nuts.”

It is this degree of willingness to speak his mind where lesser men flee for cover that, in perhaps a strange way, endears Bill Beavers to people, including yours truly.   Such honesty and fearlessness has surfaced most recently in the wake of the resignation of 7^th Ward Alderman Sandi Jackson, who claims that her abandonment of her office arises out of concern for her ailing husband, former Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., who contracted his mysterious malady about the time the federal government started sniffing around his many apparent ethical lapses, including his role in trying to buy the Senate seat once held by President Obama.   (See my 11/11/12 post, JESSE JACKSON, JR. RESIGNS:  DON’T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU IN THE KEISTER ON THE WAY OUT)   While not yet facing heat on those matters, he is under federal investigation for misuse of campaign funds.   One of the many areas of federal interest just happens to be the hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars paid to a firm controlled by, you guessed it, Sandi Jackson, for consulting services.  Another area is the thousands of dollars he spent on gifts for female “friends.”

So while in the wake of Alderman Jackson’s resignation, the Chicago media, which can’t seem to decide whether it swoons more energetically for Mayor Rahm Emanuel (See my 12/28/12 piece, RAHM EMANUEL:  MAYOR FOR LIFE…OR UNTIL HE BECOMES PRESIDENT) or Alderman Sandi Jackson, swallows whole such drivel from Alderman Jackson as

“I am unapologetically a wife and a mother and I cannot deny my commitment to those most important personal responsibilities,"

and such a reputed straight talking tough guy as Mayor Emanuel utters such fluff as

“As Sandi takes this time to focus on her family, we give her our deepest thanks and support for her service to our city and the residents of her ward.  Her leadership has been greatly appreciated in the Chicago City Council,”

Commissioner Beavers tells the truth about Sandi Jackson:

“She was a ghost alderman.   She was never here.   She always lived in Washington.  People come in my office to find out where she’s located.  I have pre-printed information with her office address and phone number.   They’re coming to me for aldermanic issues that I don’t handle because they can’t find her.”

“She wasn’t very effective because she was never there.  She never attended any meetings and, when she came to a meeting, she left right away.  I don’t feel sorry for her.  I’ve got my own problems.   I think she’s gonna be part of it and Jesse Jr. is cutting a deal to save her.”  (Emphasis mine)

Some will argue that Commissioner Beavers has an axe to grind, and he does.   He was 7^th Ward Alderman until he left to run for the County Board to watch over young Todd Stroger, who surely needed, but clearly refused, Mr. Beavers’ help.   When Bill Beavers left his aldermanic post, he installed his daughter, Darcel, in that office.   Darcel Beavers lost that job to Sandi Jackson in 2007 on the strength of the name of the family into which Sandi Jackson married.   So, yes, Mr. Beavers has reason to dislike Sandi Jackson, but can anyone deny the truth, or the honesty, of his contentions?  As Jackie Hudson, a lifelong resident of the 7^th Ward and a constituent of both Sandi Jackson and Bill Beavers, said of Mrs. Jackson’s resignation

“It’s a good thing.  She doesn’t do anything over here.  She was just riding her husband’s coattails.”

Another constituent, Dianna Mott, added

“I’m in total shock, and I’m looking for some answers.  I want to know the real motivation behind her leaving.  We understand what’s happening to you (Alderman Jackson) and your family, but where does that leave us?   What happens to the ward?”

While the local media mavens want to make us believe that poor, put-upon Sandi Jackson ought to be pitied for enduring so much and our supposedly tough guy Mayor utters inane praise of an absentee alderman for fear of alienating some imagined constituency concocted in his north side yuppie head, south side old school pol Bill Beavers tells it like it is…and doesn’t give a damn what people think about it.

Hog with big nuts indeed.   Bill Beavers is indeed the last of a breed and I, for one, will miss his like when he is gone.