More jail time?
How the Grinch stole Xmas from Charlie Powell
By James T. Ingram For the St. Louis American
There’s an old holiday song that asks the question: “What are you doing New Years, New Years Eve? However, you might not want to pose that question to ex-East St. Louis political boss (and jail bird), Charlie Powell or his political overlords in St. Clair County.
Their answer (to the question) would be “We’re sweating bullets and biting our nails”, and for good reason.
Eagerly anticipating his release from the federal pen, Powell was recently slapped with a federal appeal court order which states that Powell’s 21-month sentence (for vote fraud) was insufficient. That’s the understatement of the year.
In fact, Powell has been ordered to be resentenced by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, agreeing with federal prosecutors who appealed Powell’s sentence.
Prosecutors allege that the district court failed to take into account Powell’s abuse of his position of trust as party chairman, during the vote buying scandal of 2004.
The appellate court agreed, stating that “A position of trust carries with it an assumption that the person entrusted with the position will act in accordance with the law..”
Recall, Powell was convicted for being the architect of a vote buying scheme in which voters were paid $5 or $10 each to vote for the democratic slate in the 2004 general elections.
How this will affect Powell’s sentence remains to be seen. Judge G. Patrick Murphy, who goofed (intentionally or not) in his sentencing of Powell, will have to redo the whole sordid mess.
But that’s no consolation. Murphy also botched up Powell’s subsequent sentencing for illegal asbestos removal by allowing the sentence to run concurrent with his vote fraud sentence.
The question is how could a federal judge, short of being politically motivated, not feel that Powell violated the public’s trust? Powell flagrantly and deliberately abused his political position and influence to buy votes. For Powell to receive sentencing on the low end of the scale (21 months) was an insult to the voters of ESL and St. Clair County.
And to allow Judge Murphy to resentence Powell is even more absurd. If he (Murphy) didn’t get it the first time, then (duhh) he probably won’t get it now.
All this aside, it looks like the feds are about the business of “shaking down” Powell. Apparently Powell wasn’t cooperative enough following his recent indictment.
In addition, Ayoub “Dave” Qattoum is back on the streets. Remember Dave? He’s the Palestinian felon who bribed former ESL police chief (and federal prisoner) Ron Mathews to recover an illegal handgun, following a scuffle with an ESL cop.
Qattoum also testified that he had given Powell (and other politicians) money in order to gain political influence.
Well, not only was Dave NOT deported; but he’s back in the gasoline business in “the 618”. One can only imagine what other information he’s revealed about Powell and their political cronies. Can anyone say “testing 1-2-3”?
At any rate, between now and Powell’s “resentencing”, I’d advise my old buddy Charlie to jog his memory or (I suspect) the feds will probably become very creative in convincing him to cooperate.
Darn that old federal Grinch. First they stole Xmas from Charlie. Now it appears that he’ll be spending the next year in the comfortable confines of his prison cell. Well, Happy New Year, Chuck! Looks like checkout time at your federal hotel may be postponed for a while.
Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com