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ALD.
BURKE, SEN. SANDOVAL POLITICAL CRONY GUILTY OF LYING ABOUT BRIBES
Illinois Policy Institute/
Brad Weisenstein
A longtime political operative for two
Chicago politicians previously charged with corruption, Chicago Ald. Ed
Burke and the late state Sen. Martin Sandoval, on April 13 pleaded
guilty to lying to the FBI about bribes. |
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 Rudy Acosta Sr., 70, was charged with withholding information
in 2017 and 2018 from the FBI about Sandoval and other elected officials, even
as he was giving the investigators information about other criminal activities.
Acosta’s plea agreement states he and Sandoval received bribes from a
businessman and that Acosta also bribed Sandoval.
Sandoval last year pleaded guilty to engaging in corrupt activity with other
public officials and accepting $250,000 in bribes. He died in December 2020
after contracting COVID-19.
Acosta faces roughly six months in prison, but his sentencing was delayed to
give him more time to cooperate with federal investigators.
 Acosta was a city fire inspector for 33 years and served as a precinct captain
for Burke, the longest-serving alderman in Chicago history and former czar of
city finances, who was indicted on 14 counts of corruption in May 2019. Burke is
alleged to have used his Chicago City Council seat to steer business to his
property-tax appeals firm – one of the most lucrative in Chicago.
Acosta also worked for other aldermen indicted for corruption, including one
with mob connections.
He has also been linked to Mariano “Mario” Martinez, a bar operator who pleaded
guilty in 2019 to heroincharges and said he gave more than $6,500 in bribes to
public officials in Summit, Illinois. Martinez’s defense attorney wrote in court
records that Martinez had been part of Acosta’s political operation.
Acosta’s son, Rudy Acosta III, faces federal drug conspiracy charges. He is
charged with drug dealing in Chicago for a Mexican cartel.
The Acosta charges came on March 29 – the same day the Chicago Tribune revealed
a federal investigation into influence peddling by Chicago-based marijuana
company Green Thumb Industries. The company hired four close associates of
former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, including Madigan confidant Michael
McClain, who was charged in the $1.3 million ComEd bribery scandal that
implicated Madigan.
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Then on March 31 former state Sen. Annazette
Collins was charged with federal tax crimes. She is now a lobbyists
and has been tied to two ongoing federal investigations: the $1.3
million ComEd bribery scandal and a federal bribery probe into
unlicensed gambling machines.
Illinois is the second-most corrupt state in the
nation and that corruption comes with a heavy price tag for the
state economy – more than $550 million in foregone economic activity
per year.
Not only does this cost all Illinois taxpayers, but it shakes
residents’ faith in state and local politicians. The ongoing federal
corruption probes are a reminder that Illinois has a lot of work
ahead to undo the political culture of corruption.
State lawmakers are considering reforms that could help change that
culture by making the politics and oversight of state government
more transparent and ethical. Ethics reform bills being considered
in the General Assembly would ban lobbying by sitting lawmakers,
block the Statehouse’s revolving door between lawmaking and
lobbying, make financial disclosure statements more revealing, and
empower the legislative inspector general to investigate and publish
political misconduct without lawmaker approval.
Federal investigators can attack Illinois corruption one indictment
at a time, or state leaders can attack its base by boosting
transparency and ethical standards. Reforms may not stop every
criminal instance after Illinois spent decades building its culture
of corruption, but they would be making a very public rejection of
business as usual.
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