Illinois State Sen. Donne Trotter, having been arrested for attempting to board a flight at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport with a .25 cal. Beretta in his luggage, is still hoping the Chicago Democratic machine will nominate him for Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s former seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Chicago Tribune quoted Trotter as saying: “Certainly I would like to have the support of the Democratic slating committee on Saturday, which ultimately and hopefully will lead to me getting the vote of the people.” Given the long record of Chicago pols winning election even when videotaped committing crimes, his hopes are by no means unrealistic, if he gets the machine’s backing.
Trotter let his lawyer do the talking about the gun charge, and the latter minimized it: “It’s a cloud hanging over his head that we’re not happy about,” the attorney said. “But life goes on. People make mistakes.”
Well, Chicago politicians make mistakes. Just about any SGN reader who found himself in the same spot would have been said to have committed a crime, not made a mistake.
I don’t happen to think Trotter committed much of a crime. But if it is a crime, it’s just as much a crime for a member of the Chicago machine as it is for anyone else. We’ll see how the notoriously politicized Chicago courts handle this particular hot potato.