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Illinois
Department of Corrections
July 30, 2008 AP
Fighting back tears and apologizing to his teenage daughters, the former head
of the Illinois prison system was sentenced to two years in federal prison Wednesday
for taking payoffs from lobbyists. ''What I did was absolutely
wrong,'' said Donald Snyder, who admitted pocketing $50,000 from
lobbyists when he was director of the Illinois Department of Corrections. He
said he hoped his conviction on the charges would not bias employers against
his daughters when they grow up and look for jobs. ''I'm sorry, girls,'' he
said, turning to the bench where they were sitting. As he tried to finish his
statement, his face turned dark red, he grimaced and was unable to speak.
Judge James B. Zagel chastised Snyder, who pleaded
guilty, volunteered to be a federal witness, secretly recorded corrupt conversations and testified at the trial of one of the
lobbyists. ''I didn't believe much of your testimony and I didn't believe
much of your testimony because of your claimed lack of memory,'' Zagel told him. He said Snyder diminished the stature of
government officials by setting a terrible example and making people doubt
their integrity. ''You hear over and over against that all government
officials are corrupt,'' said Zagel, a one-time
Illinois law enforcement director. Zagel brushed
aside letters from Snyder's neighbors in downstate Pittsfield, vouching for
him as someone well liked in the community. ''You should have stayed in
Pittsfield,'' Zagel said. Snyder admitted that he
took $30,000 from Larry Sims, a lobbyist for two vendors. He said he pocketed
up to $20,000 from two other lobbyists, former Cook County undersheriff John
Robinson and Michael J. Mahoney. Sims and Robinson have pleaded guilty.
Mahoney was acquitted in a bench trial before Zagel
who said he didn't believe Snyder's testimony. The case drew the spotlight
not only because of Snyder's position but because Mahoney had lobbied the
prison system while executive director of the John Howard Association, a
prison reform organization. At his trial, Mahoney admitted what he had done
but argued that whatever the ethical lapses, he simply had not done anything
illegal. Zagel agreed, though he said the defense
was ''inherently unattractive.''
July 20, 2007 Sun
Times
The former director of the Illinois Department of Corrections was indicted
Thursday for allegedly taking $50,000 in illegal kickbacks to hand out state
contracts to favored companies, including $20,000 in bribes from the former
undersheriff of Cook County. The former undersheriff, John Robinson, who left
his job under a cloud, had a side job as a lobbyist for companies such as Addus Health Care of Palatine, trying to get them state
business. He succeeded in getting Addus a contract
providing health-care services in Illinois prisons in part because he bribed
then-state Corrections Director Donald Snyder with $20,000, according to the
indictment. $30,000 in alleged bribes - "Addus
Health Care has not had a relationship with Robinson for several years, is
not accused of any wrongdoing, didn't know the alleged activity was taking
place, and is assisting authorities every step of the way," said Dave
Bayless, a company spokesman. Addus is referred to
as "Company A" in the indictment. Also indicted Thursday was Larry
Sims, a lobbyist who allegedly gave Snyder $30,000 in bribes so state
business could go to an unnamed Pennsylvania health-care company. Snyder, 52,
of Downstate Pittsfield, was director of the state prisons under former Gov.
George Ryan, from 1999 until 2003. Thursday's indictments grew out of the
Operation Safe Road probe of corruption in the Ryan administration. Robinson,
59, of Barrington Hills, was undersheriff of Cook County from 1991 until
2000. He resigned amid a grand jury probe of him allegedly using his
undersheriff stationery to solicit business for a British Virgin
Islands-based company that ran an alleged investment scam. He was never
charged. Robinson was undersheriff for part of the time he allegedly passed
money -- in increments, totaling $20,000 -- to Snyder. 5 counts of mail fraud
- "John is in a proper manner facing his charges. He will do what is
right," Robinson's lawyer, George Collins, said. Robinson is currently
unemployed, Collins said. Sims, 58, of Downstate Pleasant Plains, was a
lobbyist for several vendors, including the Pennsylvania company. Snyder and
Robinson were each charged with five counts of mail fraud. Sims was charged
with one count of perjury for allegedly lying to the grand jury during the
investigation. Attorneys for Snyder and Sims could not be reached for
comment. [Indictment is at www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2007/pr0719_02.pdf
] [US Attorney Press Release]
April 10, 2003
The Southern Illinois
Union picket lines could begin appearing as early as next week
at eight Illinois Department of Corrections facilities because of stalled
contract talks between health care workers and the private vendor that
employs them. Health care workers have been without a contract since
Dec. 31 and have set Monday as a strike date, said Mark Samuels, public
affairs director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, the state's largest public-service employee union. AFSCME
Regional Director Buddy Maupin said Tuesday that HPL is one of three primary
suppliers of health care services to the state corrections system. Wexford
and Addus are the other two principal contractors.
Maupin said HPL's contract proposals are not only "inferior" to
wages and benefits earned by state employees in IDOC who provide the same
services, but they are also below those paid by Wexford and Addus.
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