East St. Louis precinct committeeman and former city councilman Michael V. Collins was convicted by a federal jury, last week, on eight of nine charges.
Following a week-long trial in which Assistant U.S. Attorney Norm Smith presented overwhelming evidence against Collins, the 49-year-old ESL politician was found guilty of three counts of tax evasion, three counts of failure to file tax returns and two counts of election fraud.
However, what was most striking was Collins’ ignorance, arrogance and sloppiness in managing his personal, political and business affairs, as well as the mountain of evidence confiscated from Collins’ home and trash by federal agents. Ever heard of a shredder, Mike?
Prosecution proved that Collins committed election fraud by providing false residency information, claiming to reside on Loisel Drive in East St. Louis, when he actually resided on Redfield Drive in Swansea, IL.
Collins used the ESL address to hold the seat of precinct committeeman in ESL’s 26th precinct, as well as to vote in federal elections in March 2006 and February 2008.
Yet, for that period, a U.S. Postal inspector testified that she found (during a search of the Swansea home) house-warming invitations for the Redfield address from “Chaya and Mike” as well as a holiday card from “Mike” as committeeman of Precinct 26 in ESL as key evidence that Collins lied about his residency.
Scott Harres, superintendent of Wolf Branch School District, also testified that Collins provided proof that he resided at the Swansea address from 2005-2009 in order for Collins’ daughter to attend school in the district.
Then, Collins’ flagrant disregard for America’s tax codes became apparent as the prosecution showed the ESL politician to be guilty of income tax evasion for 2003, 2004 and 2005 and failing to timely file income tax returns for those same years.
However, it’s understandable why Mike was so remiss when, according to prosecutors, Collins used a fake social security number, fake employer I.D. number, commingled his personal and business assets and falsified payroll data. That’s a lot of wrongdoing for one person to manage.
With that type of fancy bookkeeping it would take a Harvard economist to figure out Collins’ income-tax burden.
But, you should also know, this isn’t Collins’ first brush with the law. In 1981, Collins was convicted of battery. In 1989, he was convicted of obstruction of a police officer. In 2001, he was convicted of solicitation of perjury (and got probation). Collins’ girlfriend also received probation in that case.
U.S. District Judge William Stiehl was poignant in his statement to Collins: “It’s clear that you have a strong desire … you are bent on not following the law. Any violation of any conditions of your release (until sentencing) will result in your immediately being detained until I sentence you in this case.”
Perhaps if somewhere, during his previous convictions, someone else had shown less leniency, Mike Collins might understand the extent of his criminality and the repercussions for being so stupid and unethical in his dealings with others.
This time, however, Collins won’t get the customary slap on the wrist that he’s grown used to receiving, and there won’t be any question about his residency, because he’ll be an undistinguished resident of the federal penitentiary system.
As that scholar Forest Gump once said, “Stupid is, as stupid does.” Michael V. Collins, at the age of 49, will finally reap the consequences of his actions when he is sentenced on January 7, 2011.
Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com.