01301992 - News Article - Roti spends campaign money for his defense

Roti spends campaign money for his defense
Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
January 30, 1992
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/0EB3739583FACDA1?p=AWNB
Former Ald. Fred Roti (1st), facing a federal corruption trial, used more than $127,000 in political funds last year to pay his lawyers.

Reports filed Wednesday show that his political committee, Friends of Roti, paid $120,000 to Roti in July for legal fees and $7,025 in September to lawyer/accountant Charles J. Schneider.

Neither Schneider nor Roti's criminal defense lawyer, former U.S. Attorney Dan K. Webb, could be reached for comment. Roti, contacted at his Chinatown home, referred questions to Schneider.

Roti, 71, is scheduled to go on trial March 16 along with 1st Ward power broker Pat Marcy on charges that they took money to fix court cases, including murders, and a zoning matter.

Rather than seek re-election last year, Roti retired from office after 23 years, with a political warchest of more than $300,000.

After withdrawing the money for legal fees, Roti had $169,405 in his campaign fund at the end of the Dec. 31 period covered by the latest reports.

Roti is not the first Illinois politician with legal troubles to dip into his campaign funds, but others have taken smaller amounts and called it a loan.

State Sen. John A. D'Arco Jr. (D-Chicago), who was convicted in the same Operation Gambat investigation that snared Roti, reported previously that in 1990 he took a $45,000 loan from his campaign fund for an undisclosed purpose. Records indicate he has not repaid the money.

Former Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Morgan M. Finley, serving a 10-year sentence for taking a bribe, borrowed $25,000 in political funds in 1986 to help pay his legal expenses. Former aides said he repaid the loan.

Illinois is lenient about how politicians spend their campaign money, requiring only that they disclose who gets it.

Former Illinois Attorney General William Scott, who also went to prison, set the precedent by spending $16,000 in campaign funds for his legal bills.

When an opponent objected in 1978, state election officials ruled that they had "no power to judge the legality or propriety of the expenditures challenged."

The Internal Revenue Service requires politicians to declare campaign funds as income if they use the money for personal purposes. Roti declined to say whether he is reporting the $127,025.