Full Text of HR1191 97th General Assembly
HR1191 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Illinois State Representative Derrick Smith, | 3 | | representing the 10th Representative District in the State of | 4 | | Illinois, was arrested on March 13, 2012, by federal agents on | 5 | | the charge of violating 18 U.S.C. § 666(a)(1)(B), namely that | 6 | | Representative Smith accepted a cash bribe in exchange for | 7 | | recommending an Early Childhood Construction Grant (ECC Grant) | 8 | | to the Capital Development Board, an Illinois State agency; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, On March 12, 2012, a Criminal Complaint was filed | 10 | | in the United States District Court for the Northern District | 11 | | of Illinois, Eastern Division, against Representative Smith | 12 | | alleging that Representative Smith violated 18 U.S.C. § | 13 | | 666(a)(1)(B) by accepting a cash bribe in exchange for | 14 | | recommending an ECC Grant to the Capital Development Board; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Attached to the Criminal Complaint was an | 16 | | Affidavit sworn to and signed by Special Agent Bryan M. Butler | 17 | | of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Butler Affidavit), that | 18 | | contained numerous factual allegations supporting the ultimate | 19 | | allegation that Representative Smith violated 18 U.S. C. § | 20 | | 666(a)(1)(B) by accepting a cash bribe in exchange for | 21 | | recommending an ECC Grant to the Capital Development Board; and
| 22 | | WHEREAS, The Butler Affidavit alleges that Representative |
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| 1 | | Smith was covertly recorded engaging in several discussions | 2 | | with an individual cooperating with the federal government, | 3 | | known as the "Cooperating Source," between December, 2011 and | 4 | | March, 2012; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, The Butler Affidavit alleges that Representative | 6 | | Smith and the Cooperating Source were covertly recorded on | 7 | | several occasions in which Representative Smith indicated | 8 | | that, in exchange for a cash bribe, Representative Smith would | 9 | | be willing to write a letter on behalf of a daycare center in | 10 | | support of an ECC Grant from the Capital Development Board; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, The Butler Affidavit alleges that Representative | 12 | | Smith and the Cooperating Source were covertly recorded | 13 | | discussing on several occasions that the cash bribe | 14 | | Representative Smith would accept in exchange for writing that | 15 | | letter of support would be in the amount of $7,000; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, The Butler Affidavit alleges that Representative | 17 | | Smith did in fact sign a letter of support for an ECC Grant for | 18 | | the above-mentioned daycare center, and that he did so on | 19 | | official state letterhead; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, The Butler Affidavit alleges that, in exchange for | 21 | | writing this letter of support, Representative Smith did in | 22 | | fact accept $7,000 in cash; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, On March 21, 2012, under House Rule 91, 5 members | 2 | | of the Illinois House of Representatives filed a Petition | 3 | | containing suggested charges against Representative Smith that | 4 | | outlined the allegations contained in the Criminal Complaint | 5 | | and the Butler Affidavit (Petition); and | 6 | | WHEREAS, Under House Rule 91, following the filing of the | 7 | | Petition on March 21, 2012, the House Special Investigating | 8 | | Committee (House SIC) was formed, consisting of 3 members | 9 | | appointed by the Speaker of the House and 3 members appointed | 10 | | by the Minority Leader of the House; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, On April 10, 2012, a federal grand jury indicted | 12 | | Representative Smith on the charge of violating 18 U.S.C. § | 13 | | 666(a)(1)(B), which indictment further contained a forfeiture | 14 | | allegation under 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(C) and 28 U.S.C. § | 15 | | 2461(c) for unrecovered proceeds approximating $4,500 of the | 16 | | cash bribe that Representative Smith was alleged to have | 17 | | received; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, The House SIC held a public hearing on March 27, | 19 | | 2012, at which Representative Jim Sacia, one of the signatories | 20 | | to the Petition, submitted a suggested Charge as follows: | 21 | | "Representative Smith provided an official letter of support on | 22 | | his letterhead for a daycare owner's application for a state |
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| 1 | | grant from the [Illinois] Capital Development Board in exchange | 2 | | for personally accepting a $7,000 bribe."; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, The House SIC engaged in written and oral | 4 | | communications with the United States Attorney for the Northern | 5 | | District of Illinois in an attempt to determine (1) whether the | 6 | | House SIC could obtain evidence in the U.S. Attorney's | 7 | | possession, and (2) whether the U.S. Attorney would consider | 8 | | any independent investigation by the House SIC to be an | 9 | | interference with the federal investigation; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, The U.S. Attorney informed the House SIC that he | 11 | | could not provide the House SIC with any information or | 12 | | evidence in his possession and that he would consider an | 13 | | independent investigation by the House SIC to constitute an | 14 | | interference with the federal investigation, which he | 15 | | characterized as "ongoing"; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, The House SIC held public hearings on April 26, | 17 | | 2012, and on May 10, 2012; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, The House SIC entered into the Record eleven | 19 | | exhibits, including Exhibit 11, which was received from | 20 | | Representative Smith's counsel and which was entered into the | 21 | | Record by unanimous consent of the House SIC members; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, The exhibits, public notices, and transcripts of | 2 | | hearings are included in the House SIC Record, available for | 3 | | public view on the General Assembly's website; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, The House SIC Record is adopted and incorporated | 5 | | herein as if fully set forth; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, The House SIC gave ample notice to Representative | 7 | | Smith and his attorney of each and every hearing, and confirmed | 8 | | with Representative Smith's attorney that he had received | 9 | | notice; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, While the House SIC gave Representative Smith the | 11 | | opportunity to testify under oath, he declined to do so; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, While the House SIC gave Representative Smith's | 13 | | attorney the opportunity to specifically admit or deny various | 14 | | allegations in the Butler Affidavit, he declined to do so; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, The House SIC gave Representative Smith the | 16 | | opportunity to provide the House SIC with any information he | 17 | | deemed relevant to the House SIC's investigation; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, The Butler Affidavit contains lengthy excerpts of | 19 | | alleged statements that were recorded and attributed to | 20 | | Representative Smith, indicating that Representative Smith was |
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| 1 | | intentionally and knowingly trading a letter of support for an | 2 | | ECC Grant for a cash bribe of $7,000; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, The House SIC unanimously found that reasonable | 4 | | grounds existed to prefer a Charge against Representative | 5 | | Smith, to wit: "Representative Derrick Smith abused the power | 6 | | of his office by participating in a scheme to obtain a personal | 7 | | benefit in exchange for his official acts."; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, The Charge was supported by the following | 9 | | Specifications: | 10 | | (1) Representative Smith, in his official capacity as a | 11 | | State Representative, has an obligation to faithfully | 12 | | discharge his duties in the best interests of the people of | 13 | | the State of Illinois and not for his own personal benefit; | 14 | | (2) During the time period beginning on or about | 15 | | December, 2011 through March, 2012, Representative Smith | 16 | | agreed that, in exchange for a cash bribe, he would provide | 17 | | an official letter of support for a daycare's Early | 18 | | Childhood Construction Grant to the Illinois Capital | 19 | | Development Board; | 20 | | (3) On or about March 1, 2012, Representative Smith | 21 | | did, in fact, sign this official letter of support in his | 22 | | official capacity as a State Representative and planned or | 23 | | intended for that letter to be submitted to the Illinois | 24 | | Capital Development Board; |
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| 1 | | (4) On or about March 10, 2012, Representative Smith | 2 | | did, in fact, receive a cash bribe in exchange for | 3 | | providing this official letter of support; | 4 | | (5) Accepting a cash bribe in exchange for an official | 5 | | act, or even plotting or attempting to do so, constitutes a | 6 | | breach of Representative Smith's obligation as a public | 7 | | official to faithfully discharge his duties in the best | 8 | | interests of the people of the State of Illinois and | 9 | | warrants disciplinary action by the House of | 10 | | Representatives; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Under House Rule 93, the House SIC appointed | 12 | | Representatives Lou Lang and Jim Durkin to serve as the House | 13 | | Managers to present the case for disciplinary action against | 14 | | Representative Smith; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Under House Rule 94, a House Select Committee on | 16 | | Discipline (Select Committee) was formed, with 6 Members | 17 | | appointed by the Speaker of the House, including Representative | 18 | | Barbara Flynn Currie as Chairperson, and 6 Members appointed by | 19 | | the Minority Leader of the House, including Representative | 20 | | Chapin Rose as the Minority Spokesman; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, The Select Committee held a Final Hearing on July | 22 | | 19, 2012; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Representative Smith declined to appear at the | 2 | | Final Hearing, but was represented by counsel in attendance on | 3 | | his behalf; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, The Select Committee considered portions of the | 5 | | Butler Affidavit that were admitted into evidence by | 6 | | stipulation as part of Select Committee Group Exhibit 4; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, Those portions of the Butler Affidavit were | 8 | | accepted as credible evidence by the Select Committee; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, At the Final Hearing, the House Managers called | 10 | | Representative Smith as a witness to testify, but | 11 | | Representative Smith declined to do so; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, At the conclusion of the presentation of the | 13 | | evidence and argument at the Final Hearing, the Select | 14 | | Committee recessed to deliberate over the evidence; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, After this consideration, the Select Committee | 16 | | re-convened for the purpose of taking a record vote on the | 17 | | Charge and Specifications; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, The Select Committee unanimously voted to find | 19 | | Representative Smith at fault on the Charge and on each | 20 | | Specification; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Following this finding of fault, the Select | 2 | | Committee considered the appropriate penalty to recommend to | 3 | | the House of Representatives; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, By a vote of 11 Members voting "yes" and one | 5 | | member voting "no," the Select Committee adopted a | 6 | | recommendation that Representative Smith be expelled from the | 7 | | House of Representatives; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Under House Rule 96, the Select Committee prepared | 9 | | and filed a Report with the House Clerk; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, The Report of the Select Committee is adopted and | 11 | | incorporated herein as if fully set forth; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, In its Report, the Select Committee determined | 13 | | that credible evidence existed that Representative Smith | 14 | | engaged in and carried out a plot to write an official letter | 15 | | of support to a daycare center for a capital grant in exchange | 16 | | for a bribe of $7,000 in cash; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, In its Report, the Select Committee properly | 18 | | concluded that the principal purpose of disciplinary | 19 | | proceedings before the House is not to punish a Member but to | 20 | | protect the public from official misbehavior and to preserve |
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| 1 | | the people's trust in their representatives and in the General | 2 | | Assembly as a whole; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, In its Report, the Select Committee properly | 4 | | determined that Representative Smith's refusal to testify | 5 | | could be considered not to suggest the truth of the evidence | 6 | | against him but because a public official owes the people of | 7 | | this State an obligation to affirmatively assure them that he | 8 | | has put the interests of the people before his own and to | 9 | | assure them that he did not, in fact, trade an official act for | 10 | | a cash bribe; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, In its Report, the Select Committee emphasized | 12 | | that any consideration of Representative Smith's refusal to | 13 | | testify was ancillary to the credible evidence presented | 14 | | against Representative Smith, which by itself was sufficient to | 15 | | reach a finding of fault on the Charge and each of the | 16 | | Specifications; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, In its Report, the Select Committee, by a vote of | 18 | | 11 to one, determined that expulsion was the only appropriate | 19 | | remedy given the credible evidence against Representative | 20 | | Smith and given that the Charge against him was a breach of the | 21 | | public trust of the highest order; and
| 22 | | WHEREAS, The House finds that the Select Committee properly |
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| 1 | | interpreted House Rule 95(c), including the waiver of that | 2 | | Rule's protection, in all respects; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, The Select Committee Exhibits, the Procedural | 4 | | Rules adopted by Chairperson Currie, and the transcripts of | 5 | | proceedings before the Select Committee are adopted and | 6 | | incorporated herein as if fully set forth; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Article 4, Section 6(d) of the Illinois | 8 | | Constitution provides that no Member shall be expelled by | 9 | | either house of the General Assembly, except by a vote of | 10 | | two-thirds of the Members elected to that house; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, House Rule 97(f) provides that a resolution the | 12 | | effect of which is to expel a member may be adopted only by the | 13 | | affirmative vote of 79 Members elected; therefore be it
| 14 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 15 | | NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, That | 16 | | the House of Representatives finds Representative Smith to be | 17 | | At Fault on the Charge and on each of the Specifications | 18 | | against him as preferred by the House Special Investigating | 19 | | Committee and as determined by the House Select Committee on | 20 | | Discipline; and be it further
| 21 | | RESOLVED, That Representative Smith is hereby Expelled |
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| 1 | | from the House of Representatives, the Expulsion to take effect | 2 | | immediately upon adoption of this Resolution by a record vote | 3 | | of 79 Members elected.
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