WAUKEGAN, Ill. - The former mayor of the Lake County village of Green Oaks has pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and is scheduled for sentencing June 10.
Prosecutors say 70-year-old Thomas Adams entered the negotiated plea Thursday after they agreed to drop the more serious charge of dissemination of child pornography.
Adams served as Green Oaks mayor from 1993 until his arrest in July of 2006. He also was chairman of the Lake County Republican Party from 2002 until 2004.
Prosecutors say Adams was arrested after officials in Florida traced an image of child pornography that had been e-mailed to an undercover police officer to a computer in Adams' home.
Back story from www.mchenrycountyblog.com: Tom Adams, village president of Green Oaks and former Lake County Republican Party Central Committee Chairman, was accused of distributing child pornography.
In their arrest stories, both the Daily Herald and the Chicago Tribune call Adams a “mayor,” but he isn’t. He’s just the village president of a tiny town of 3,500.
Adams was GOP chairman from 2002-2004 and now serves as chairman of the Mayor Richard Daley-dominated Metropolitan Mayors Caucus. It's financed largely by the John D. McArthur Foundation.
The caucus has been preparing the way for a state income tax and other tax hikes for several years.
In 2003, for instance, the caucus pushed for the state to pay 51% of the cost of local education. That would, of course, require a massive hike in state taxes.
The only tax that has been mentioned by supporters of that concept and which is capable of bringing in significant money has been the state income tax. The Mayors group calls it a “tax swap,” just as the Rev. and State Senator James Meeks, 1994 gubernatorial candidate Dawn Clark Netsch and former Governor Jim Edgar did when they proposed similar plans.
When the income tax was established and hiked, municipalities were cut in on the deal. Undoubtedly, they would expect a share of any future hike in the state income tax, again, proving that following the money is a good idea, if one really wants to know what is going on.
With this arrest, I wonder if Adams was blackmailed into supporting the tax hike, which would suck money out of his home area. Or maybe he just has bad judgment in public policy, as he admittedly does elsewhere.
Nicholas B. Blase, another guy who likes to call himself a mayor, but is really Village President of Niles, recently was arrested for “convincing” local businessmen to buy insurance from his favored broker, is the Mayors’ Caucus Legislative Committee Chairman. Blase is a Democrat.
Maybe investigators should be looking at all the guys and gals who have to assuage their egos by using the inflated title of “mayor” when they are really village presidents.
