KADNER: ‘Fast Eddie a Disgrace’

February 27, 2009 by CookReformer
Filed under: Corruption, Crime

Phil Kadner hits it on the head with this article:

“Fast Eddie” Vrdolyak, who spent much of his life undermining the public’s confidence in government, has done it again.

Vrdolyak, a former power on the Chicago City Council and former chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party, was fined $50,000 and sentenced to five years’ probation in a real estate scam that could’ve sent him to a federal prison for more than three years.

In taverns throughout the 10th Ward folks had to be hoisting beers Thursday night, laughing and shouting, “Eddie’s done it again.”

That’s the real problem with guys like Vrdolyak. They become heroes to Chicagoans. They’re so smart, so slick, that even when they get caught red-handed or on an FBI wire, they manage to come out smelling like a rose.

The mopes of the world are the honest guys, the ones who don’t cut deals behind closed doors and play by the rules. They don’t get elected to nothing, don’t get any city contracts and, should they ever be in need of a government job, can’t find one.