Illinois Democrat stole union money, will spend a year in prison

Former Illinois state senator Tom Cullerton is on his way to prison for rerouting money from the state's labor unions. Cullerton, 52, confessed in February that he had been transferring union dues directly into his own pocket, which saved him the trouble of having to launder it through campaign accounts.

The Democrat conspired with a local union boss to create an imaginary job for him as a union organizer and he was paid quite well with benefits for doing nothing, which went on for three years.

His trial had been delayed numerous times, and finally a plead deal was struck in which the miscreant was only sentenced to one year and one day in prison, according to CBS News.

The deal, which was struck on Tuesday, three months after pleading guilty for stealing over $250,000 in salary and benefits in a ghost payroll scheme, had involved the Teamsters labor union.

At his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman rejected a request from Cullerton’s defense attorney to sentence him only to probation, sentencing him instead to one year and one day in the slammer. He will also have to repay the money he embezzled.

Cullerton had been a member of Teamsters Local Union 734 before becoming state senator in 2012. However, state law forbids elected officials from holding salaried jobs with labor unions or receiving employment benefits like health care and dental. In spite of that, Cullerton worked with former Teamsters boss John [E.] Coli to set up the non-job job the following year, in which he grossed over $250,000 in salary and medical reimbursement.

Cullerton stands for sentencing: at least he's wearing a cloth mask

The charges filed against the scumwafer were “embezzlement from a labor union” and “conspiracy to embezzle from a labor union.” The union boss also worked hand in glove with Cullerton to set it up, so the victims in this crime were the union members whose dues went into Cullerton's pocket.

According to the indictment, Cullerton conspired with former Teamsters boss John [aka "E coli"] Coli to arrange for a do-nothing job with the union in 2013.

Coli pleaded guilty to extortion charges just days before Cullerton was indicted.

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The question we need to ask ourselves is whether the money Cullerton pocketed as a state senator influenced his voting in various union matters. 

Big labor unions and Democrats have been in bed together all across the nation for years.

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