Rep. Paul Jacobs (R-Pomona) | reppauljacobs.com
Rep. Paul Jacobs (R-Pomona) | reppauljacobs.com
James T. Weiss, a businessman and son-in-law of a former Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios, has been found guilty of bribing two former Illinois state lawmakers for pushing legislature to benefit him, and also lying to the FBI.
State Rep. Paul Jacobs has been vocal about corruption in Illinois, and he took to social media to voice his concerns.
“It's clear that the laws already on the books are not enough to prevent corruption in our state government,” said Jacobs in a Facebook post that included a link to a story by the Chicago Sun-Times. “If we hold lawmakers to the highest ethical standards, then we can stop bad behavior BEFORE it happens and prove to the people of Illinois that we are working in their best interests. The culture has to change in the statehouse if we want to earn the trust of our residents.
Jacobs has been vocal about the corruption in the state before, including a post on May 5 about the ComEd Four Trial where he asked constituents for input.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Weiss was convicted for bribing former state Rep. Luis Arroyo and former state Sen. Terry Link. Arroyo and is currently serving time in prison. Link cooperated with the FBI but is facing imprisonment for tax crimes.
The bribes were reportedly an attempt by Weiss to have legislators change laws to benefit him and his business, which he then lied to authorities about. In the federal trial the jury of seven women and five men took only several hours to convict him on all seven charges of honest services wire and mail fraud, bribery and lying to the FBI.
The Sun-Times reported that Weiss paid Arroyo at least $10,000 to have him push the sweepstakes legislation, as Weiss is the owner of a company that operates sweepstakes machines, which are unlicensed video gambling machines. The indictment says the bribes went from November 2018 to October 2019. Link recorded several conversations with Arroyo which were played in court. He was not named in the indictment.
Fox 32 reported that Link testified that he was working with the FBI. Link previously denied this information. Link was reportedly trying to lessen the sentences for his pending tax crimes. Weiss is the sixth person convicted by a federal jury this year in Chicago.
The State Journal-Register reported that Weiss is facing a minimum of 20 years for the most serious charge, but also that public corruption convictions have brought different sentences.
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