- Sun-Times Media
- Former alderman Isaac Carothers, who served a federal prison term on corruption charges, is asking voters to send him to the Cook County board.
Isaac Carothers argues that there are good reasons he should be elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners. First and foremost, he says, he’s spent his whole career serving the public. And the federal prison time he served for corruption? He claims that just because he pleaded guilty to taking bribes doesn’t mean he actually did.
Since being released, Carothers has worked at the Safer Foundation, which helps ex-offenders find jobs. State law prohibits him from running for municipal office again, but with the incumbent First District county commissioner retiring, Carothers is aiming to get back into elected office. Among his four opponents in the March 18 Democratic primary is Richard Boykin, a former chief of staff for Congressman Danny Davis, a longtime Carothers rival.
“No one would have ever had to bribe me to bring something that I was going to benefit from, that the whole community was going to benefit from,” he says. “If I was in the business of trying to bribe people, get money for something, I think I would have been much more aggressive about it. This guy made six or seven million dollars, and not a dime of that came to me. He just paid for something.”
“I think Toni Preckwinkle would have said that even if I never had trouble,” Carothers said. “It’s also interesting when people would tell you in a heartbeat that they’re all for second chances but not for Ike Carothers. It lets you know where they really are.”
“Actually, I go to, uh, on Madison out there. Since Frank left.”
He stood up and looked around. “Come on—let’s go see if we can find my picture. I sure hope they haven’t taken it down.”
