From The Chicago Tribune:
Sen. Martin Sandoval resigns amid federal corruption investigation
State Sen. Martin Sandoval, the Southwest Side Democrat whose statehouse offices were raided by federal agents in September, is resigning his legislative seat effective with the new year, State Board of Elections officials said Wednesday.
Sandoval, in his 16th year as a state lawmaker, had previously resigned his chairmanship of the powerful Senate Transportation Committee. He has been a member of the leadership team of Senate President John Cullerton, who is retiring in January.
“It is with a heavy heart, I, Martin A. Sandoval, do hereby resign the office of state senator” effective Jan. 1 at 12:01 p.m., Sandoval, who has not responded to requests for comments since the raids, said in a letter to the office of the secretary of the Illinois Senate.
And not just his statehouse offices:
Federal agents raided Sandoval’s Springfield office on Sept. 24 with a search warrant seeking a vast array of information involving construction, transportation and power company officials, lobbyists, gambling interests, a red-light camera company and at least three suburban mayors. Agents also were at his Cicero office and his home. The Sandoval raid was quickly followed by federal law enforcement actions in McCook, Lyons and Summit — all towns in the senator’s district.
Sandoval's fingers were in many pies. And not just him:
The raid also was the latest action by federal agents investigating corruption nearly a year ago when FBI agents descended upon the City Hall offices of Ald. Edward Burke, Chicago’s longest-serving City Council member and the then-powerful chairman of its Finance Committee.
While there has been no indication that the raid on Burke was connected to the later Sandoval raid, the action of federal investigators has unnerved many Democrats.
In addition to Burke, who has pleaded not guilty to corruption charges, federal agents have separately indicted state Sen. Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park, over an allegedly no-show union job, and former state Rep. Luis Arroyo, D-Chicago, over allegedly attempting to bribe a state senator to support gambling-related legislation. Arroyo resigned after his indictment.
More at the site. Chicago is just plain corrupt. Dirty.
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