Word: kerner
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...years as boss of Chicago's Democratic machine, Mayor Richard Daley has seldom been so troubled. His most illustrious protégé, former Governor and now Federal Judge Otto Kerner, has been convicted of bribery, conspiracy, income tax evasion, mail fraud and perjury (TIME, March 5). Possibly even more damaging to the machine, one of Daley's oldest political associates, Edward Barrett, was recently convicted of bribery, mail fraud and tax evasion. Since 1955 Barrett had been Cook County clerk, an influential office that carries rich patronage powers. The clerk's office does everything from dispensing...
...most responsible for indicting both Kerner and Barrett, and shaking the once stubbornly secure Democratic domain, is James ("Big Jim") Thompson, 36. A coolly sagacious but easygoing 6-ft. 6-in. bachelor, he calls himself a "middle-of-the-road" Republican. In the 17 months that he has been U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Thompson has prosecuted scores of mostly Democratic politicians and city employees on a variety of federal charges. Among those indicted by Thompson and his aides are: 81 precinct workers, charged with vote fraud; eleven employees in the Democratic-controlled county assessor...
...ambition to succeed his father on the federal appellate court, Kerner was obviously willing to make a lot of compromises-so many, indeed, that he lost his moral bearings. He was offended by the chummy back-room politics of ward heelers who put brilliantine in their hair, so he relied on Theodore Isaacs as a go-between with the Daley machine. Isaacs always appeared at his side, managed his election campaigns, and, as Kerner's director of state revenue, helped arrange the race-track stock deal that led to their both being convicted last week. "Kerner's unblemished...
...Kerner never denied his race-track profits; he denied only that they represented a bribe. "Despite the verdict of the jurors," he said immediately after the trial, "at no time that I have held public office have I taken any advantage I have been in many battles where life itself was at stake. This battle is more important than life itself because it involves my reputation and honor which are dearer than life itself, and I intend to continue this battle...
That battle is spreading beyond Kerner. Cook County Clerk Edward Barrett is currently on trial on charges of taking kickbacks, and more racetrack stock indictments are expected to follow. "The judgment of the court is a tragedy for Judge Kerner and his family " said Illinois Senator Adlai Stevenson III. "It is also another verdict of guilt against our politics...