Campaign Employees Convicted of Vote Fraud
On September 4, 2007, speaking from the floor of Council Chambers during a meeting of the Buildings Committee, Stone warned fellow aldermen of an ongoing investigation into absentee balloting.
On January 28, 2008, two paid workers for Stone's 2007 re-election campaign were arrested and charged with improperly steering primarily Indian and Pakistani voters toward absentee ballots for Stone. Anish Eapen, a 37-year-old employee of the city's Streets and Sanitation Department, and a Stone precinct captain, was charged with two counts of official misconduct, three counts of absentee ballot fraud and one count of mutilation of election materials. Eapen worked in tandem with Armando Ramos, 34, an unemployed student. Ramos was charged with two counts of absentee ballot fraud and two counts of mutilation of election materials. Stone accused the state's attorney's office of engaging in a political witch-hunt at the behest of U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky. "We know where this all started. We know it's politically based. ... Her aide was soliciting the state's attorney to investigate. It's absolutely a devious political trick," Stone said. Schakowsky denied she had instituted the investigation. Bond was set at $50,000 for Eapen and $40,000 for Ramos.
City Inspector General David H. Hoffman recommended that Eapen be fired. Eapen was placed on paid administrative leave from his $83,940-a-year job with the city's Streets and Sanitation Department for nearly 2 years. On October 8, 2009 Streets and Sanitation Department Commissioner Tom Byrne found a ob for Eapen helping with the tracking of equipment. Stone blamed Byrne's demoted predecessor for allowing Eapen to sit idle, saying "Mike Picardi has no cojones."
On October 24, 2008 Inspector General Hoffman appeared before the Committee on the Budget of the Chicago City Council, of which Stone was a member, during the annual budget hearing process. "It is my intent, Mr. Inspector General, to wipe your entire office out of the budget," Stone told Hoffman. "It is my intent to submit a budget amendment which will destroy your department." Stone's amendment came before the Budget Committee on Monday, November 17, 2008. "He’s come after me and my staff, and I’m going after him, and the only way I have to go after him is to cut his funds," Stone said. Stone's amendment was tabled in committee 14-2.
Eapen and Ramos waived their right to trial by jury. In a bench trial, four members of a West Rogers Park family testified that Eapen coaxed them to vote absentee, collected their ballots and then mailed them. The family members said Eapen came to their townhomes and watched them as they filled out the absentee ballot applications and forms for both the 2007 February general election and the run-offs in April 2007. One family member, who wasn't registered to vote, said Eapen filled out her ballot. She signed the ballot, as did all her relatives, but said, "I didn't mark anything." Another witness testified that when she told Stone that Ramos filled out her ballot in the 2007 aldermanic run-off, the alderman brushed her off, saying "This meeting is over." Stone commented on the testimony, "I have no recollection of what she is talking about."
Cook County Judge Marcus Salone found Eapen and Ramos guilty on June 24, 2010. Eapen was found guilty on nine different counts, including one count of attempted mutilation of voting materials and eight counts of attempted absentee ballot violations. Ramos was found guilty on 20 different counts, including one count of attempted mutilation of voting materials and 19 counts of attempted absentee ballot violations. On August 4, 2010 Salone sentenced Eapen to 364 days in jail and Ramos to 270 days in jail. Salone said the sentences were like a "kiss," essentially a slap on the wrist. "This is a kiss," Salone said. "I think the evidence is overwhelming. The reality is that Mr. Eapen and Mr. Ramos attempted to steal democracy and they did it in a vicious way." Stone called the case "a witch hunt," called Ramos and Eapen "political prisoners" and compared their crimes to "spitting on the sidewalk." Stone said former city Inspector General Hoffman singled him out in the ballot fraud investigation while failing to probe other aldermen. "They are not the ones who attempted to steal democracy. The one who attempted to steal democracy was David Hoffman," Stone said. "This is a miscarriage of justice."
Read more about this topic: Bernard Stone
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