You Can't Separate Conservatism From Corruption-- Not On Either Side Of The Aisle

Ahmad & Rahm-- two crooks

Yeah, yeah... Republicans stink-- all of them. I hope they all disappear off the face of God's earth (before they destroy it). But there are politicians who call themselves "Democrats," for one reason or another, who are every bit as bad as any corruption-mired garden variety Republican. Remember the crook Rahm Emanuel hired as Comptroller of Chicago, Amer Ahmad, who helped Rahm figure out how to illegally cut pensions for public service employees? His behavior could have been predicted long before Rahm hired him-- and probably was; Rahm was looking for a kindred soul. He found him. As socially "liberal" as careerist bribe-takers like Joe Crowley and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Ahmad was long a classic Wall Street suckup/fuck the little people sort of character. He was finally indicted Thursday.

A former deputy treasurer was among those indicted Thursday for his role in a bribery and money laundering scheme federal prosecutors say involved the Ohio Treasurer’s office.

Amer Ahmad, 38, of Chicago, a deputy under Ohio Treasurer Kevin Boyce, and attorney Mohammed Noure Alo, 35, of Columbus, were charged with conspiracy and honest services wire fraud. Ahmad is also charged with money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, federal program bribery and making false statements.

The charges resulted following an investigation that involved the FBI’s Central Ohio Public Corruption Task Force, which includes special agents from the FBI and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

In court documents, the government charges that from 2009 to 2011 Ahmad used his position to direct state broker service business to Douglas E. Hampton, a Canton securities broker, according to the Justice Department.

Hampton, the justice department said, was paid about $3.2 million for handling 360 trades on behalf of the state treasurer’s office.

In exchange, Hampton funneled more than $500,000 in payments to Ahmad and others, the Justice Department said. Alo, a lobbyist and friend of Ahmad, is accused of getting more than $123,000.

Hampton pleaded guilty to conspiracy Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Peter C. Economus of the Southern District of Ohio. Chiavaroli pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to commit money laundering.

Ahmad left the treasurer’s office after Boyce lost the 2010 election to current Treasurer Josh Mandel. More recently he had been comptroller for the city of Chicago under Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

After learning of the indictment, Emanuel announced he intended to have an audit done on Ahmad’s work for the city, the Sun Times reported.

“We have no reason to believe and have no knowledge of any such wrongdoing during his tenure in Chicago,” Sarah Hamilton, communications director for the vacationing mayor, said in a statement. “But we will take any action that is needed-- including conducting a review of Finance Department activities over the last two years-- to ensure that Chicago taxpayers are protected.”

Ahmad indicated to a reporter, via text message, that he would plead not guilty to the charges, the Sun Times said.

Mandel’s communications director, Seth Unger, issued a statement.

“The alleged conduct of Amer Ahmad from the previous Treasurer’s administration is deeply concerning. On behalf of Ohio taxpayers, we hope that he and the others involved are brought to justice,” Unger said.

A friend familiar with the FBI corruption investigation tells me Boyce, now the most corrupt Democrat in the Ohio House of Representatives is the real target and that they hope to get Ahmad to squeal on his former boss. It's because Democrats allow crooks like Ahmad and Boyce (not to mention Wasserman Schultz and Crowley) in their midst that the country gets saddled with sociopaths like Josh Mandel (another paragon of political corruption), who beat Boyce for state Treasurer in 2010.

Boyce is as corrupt as a Democrat gets, hiring his high school buddies, church friends and political cronies to fill key positions in Ohio’s Treasury, while wasting thousands upon thousands of taxpayer dollars to put his name on things like water bottles and hand sanitizer (which might be necessary for absolution after shaking his hand).

Boyce has also played corrupt games with campaign contributors and lobbyists, handing out, as though he were a Republican, state contracts for campaign contributions, and hiring a bank that defrauded the states of California and New York to do state business, because a friend of his Deputy Amer Ahmad was their lobbyist (this lobbyist's only client) and the lobbyist’s wife was Ahmad’s assistant.