By LORRAINE SWANSON
Editor
Ald. Berny Stone (50th Ward) and one of his top lieutinants Alan Crown are on the witness list in the vote fraud trial of two Stone political workers.
Anish Eapen, the former Chicago Streets and Sanitation Ward Superintendent, and paid campaign worker Armando Ramos, face multiple counts of absentee vote tampering, mutilation of election materials, and misconduct stemming from the 2007 aldermanic race in the 50th Ward. If convicted, both men face up to five years in prison. Their trial started Monday.
Stone has maintained Eapen’s innocence, who was recently called back to work by the City of Chicago after being suspended from his ward superintendent’s job with pay during his court case.
Crown is the secretary of the Democratic Club of the 50th Ward and on Stone’s payroll for additional money Stone receives as vice mayor of the Chicago City Council.
In an interview with Chicago Journal last year, Stone maintained that the charges against Eapen and Ramos “were political in nature” and that the joint investigation conducted by the Chicago Inspector General and Cook County State’s Attorney’s office was flawed because the investigation only targeted “people who voted for me.”
During the February 2007 general municipal election, Stone faced three challengers and was forced into a contentious runoff against Naisy Dolar when he failed to win more than 50 percent of the vote. Stone was able to hang on to his seat on the Chicago City Council after he won the runoff by 600 votes.
Ramos’s attorney, Rohit Sahgal, confirmed that Stone and Crown may be called as witnesses when the trial resumes next week. Attorneys for both defendants argued in opening statements that Eapen and Ramos were victims of poor training in election law when delivering and picking up absentee voting applications and ballots to mostly Indian and Pakistani voters during the 2007 aldermanic race.
Both men, their attorneys said, were acting on instructions from Stone and Crown.
Sahgal said that Stone may be called, depending on how the trial is going. Crown is a distinct possibility to be called to the stand. Neither has been accused of wrongdoing.
Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Lynn McCarthy said they hoped to wrap up the state’s case when the trial resumes on Monday, Nov. 16. She did not know how long the trial would last, but she expected it to run into Tuesday, Nov. 17.
Eapen and Ramos have waived their rights to a jury trial and are appearing before Cook County Judge Marcus Salone, who is hearing their case from the bench.
The trial will resume at 11 a.m. Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 16 and Nov. 17, in room 706 in the Cook County Criminal Court building at 26th and California.
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