Bar patrons saw end for Soderquist as trial began
Chicago Tribune
September 12, 2015 - 2:36 PM
Like many Lake Station residents, patrons of T.J. Norton's Bar and Grill on Central Avenue in paid attention to the public corruption trial of Mayor Keith Soderquist and his wife, Deborah.
All of the speculation and debate of guilt or innocence ended late Friday with 11 guilty verdicts: one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud, seven counts of wire fraud and three counts of filing a false income tax return.
But for T.J. Norton's customers, the evidence was overwhelming as the trial got started the first week of September.
"He got his hand caught in the cookie jar," said Jim Low, of Portage. "And it makes us proud to see us on the Chicago news every day."
Terry Shaw, also of Portage but originally from Lake Station, said then he's known the mayor for at least 30 years. He's never spoken to the mayor about the allegations, preferring to keep recent conversations to business.
Still, he suspected the worst.
"I think he's just got a gambling problem," Shaw said. "And like drinking or drugs, it can get away from you.
"He did a good job in the city, but now, they've followed him too hard and too long to not have anything against him. I figured he would have a plea deal, cut the deal and go."
The trial at the federal courthouse in Hammond, which ended Friday after about five hours of jury deliberation, was built on the Soderquists' use of campaign funds and personal use of the city's food pantry funds.
The federal prosecutors argued that Soderquist and his wife lied to people who donated to the mayor's campaign fund and the Lake Station Food Pantry when they used those funds to pay for more than 50 gambling trips they took from 2010 through 2012 and then failed to report that money as income on their income tax returns.
Even with the allegations, the men at Norton's were surprised Soderquist continued his primary campaign in May to be the Lake Station Dems nominee for mayor. He lost handily to Lake Station Judge Chris Anderson.
"The FBI trucks were down there two, three times. He didn't think we saw it?" Shaw said. "Did he not think we read the paper?"
Another patron, who goes by "Music Bob," said he hasn't paid much attention to the trial details but did compliment Soderquist on his leadership.
"He's done some good things, like the Police and Fire Station down there (on Central)" Bob, of Hobart, said. "He deserves whatever he gets. If he's guilty, burn him. If he's not, let him go."
Reesee Battie, a Hobart resident who works at Johnson's Fish and Shrimp, said she's been talking about the case with a friend who works for an attorney. She thinks the evidence against Soderquist is air-tight.
"He's on tape, you know what I mean? He's absolutely guilty," Battie said.
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