Former Cook County Commissioner Sentenced to 6-Month Prison Term

Deborah Bayliss | As of Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Former Cook County Commissioner William Beavers was sentenced to a six-month prison term following a March tax evasion conviction.
Former Cook County Commissioner William Beavers was sentenced to a six-month prison term following a March tax evasion conviction.

Former Cook County Commissioner William Beavers' was sentenced last Wednesday by U.S. District Judge James Zagel to six months in prison for failing to declare campaign funds he spent at casinos as taxable income, a sentence, Chicago's acting U.S. attorney Gary Shapiro reportedly criticized as too lenient.

Prosecutors said Beavers' tax evasion was no different than the public corruption that has plagued Illinois for decades.

Zagel, who sentenced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to 14 years in prison for corruption in 2011, agreed during the hearing that Beavers' tax dodge had further eroded voters' faith. But he also said not all violations of public trust are equal, arguing that misdeeds by more consequential figures higher up the chain, such as governors, should be punished more severely.

"…There is, in fact, no claim of great public achievement," Zagel said of Beavers, who also served for years as a Chicago alderman. "There is nothing in particular that distinguishes him."

Shapiro countered saying, "I think this tends to undercut what we say about public trust in public officials."

Beavers has been described in news reports as exuding a “you-can't-touch-me” persona.

"Listen, I'm a hero in my community," a smiling, cheerful Beavers told reporters following his sentencing. "My people love me ... for standing and fighting the government, one on one."

In arguing earlier that Beavers deserved nearly two years behind bars, prosecutor Matthew Getter told Zagel that corruption-minded politicians hadn't been deterred by watching a steady stream of colleagues go through federal court.

"This (corruption) isn't going to change until the risk-reward analysis of these people changes," he said.

Zagel noted the government didn't prosecute Beavers for selling his influence or some other variant of public corruption.

"This is a common, ordinary offense ... of tax evasion," he said.

Gambling with political donors' money isn't against the law. Beavers' crime was not declaring its use as income.

Prosecutors said Beavers lost $500,000 at Indiana's Horseshoe Casino, sometimes writing himself one $2,000 campaign check after another on daylong gambling binges.

Beavers has said the government charged him in retaliation for his refusal to wear a wire in 2009 for retrieval of evidence in a potential case against a fellow commissioner. He repeated that claim after Wednesday's hearing.

"They sent the FBI to try and make me a stool pigeon," he said. "I'm not a stool pigeon. I ain't begging for nothing," said Beavers, 78.

In sentencing Beavers, Zagel barred him from gambling or even walking into a casino for a year after his release. Zagel also fined him $10,000 and ordered he pay $30,848 in restitution to the IRS.

At Wednesday's hearing, prosecutors highlighted the unapologetic chord Beavers has struck since his 2012 indictment.

Getter, the prosecutor, handed the judge a copy of an article that ran in last Wednesday's Chicago Sun-Times in which Beavers was quoted as saying in an interview, "I'm not going to change."

"He remains absolutely unrepentant for what he did," Getter said.

Beavers was ordered to report to prison Dec. 2, though his attorneys reportedly will seek permission for him to remain free on bond while he appeals his conviction.

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