One of the most controversial members of the US Congress is former cab driver turned Chicago alderman turned Congressman, Luis Gutierrez.
Gutierrez was raking in quite a bundle when his wife was working for the Town of Cicero under convicted felon Betty Loren-Maltese and then later under her seat-warmer and stooge for convicted felon Edward R. Vrdolyak, Romero Gonzalez. She was bringing in cash through her commissions and real estate deals. Until Gonzalez was ousted by Larry Dominick.
Suddenly, Gutierrez is the champion of citizen's rights in the Town of Cicero -- he's never been there or organized any programs to help residents there.
But we have the transcript of the interview Carol Marin did with Gutierrez for her puff piece on the congressman that didn't make it into her column:
Marin: Luoey, can I ask about the money your wife made from the Town of Cicero in real estate commissions?
Gutierrez: No beyitch! I told you we can't talk about my wife and her sweetheart deals and we can't talk about my ties to Tony Rezko. You said you were going to do a puff piece because the Sun-Times has it in for the Dominick administration.
Marin: Hey, I may be the Jerry Springer of newspaper reporting, but I thought we were going to do so advance work to head-off criticism. You know, I don't control all of the reporters here. Just a few and one of them might wake up a do a story on you.
Gutierrez: Look, I told you, just re-write that garbage that was published in El Dia. That's all you have to do. That's all you do do, right?
Marin: I just want to make sure when I write a puff piece that I look like I am being tough and readers don't see through the scam. I have a lot of things going. Political editor here. Political editor at WMAQ TV. Political editor at WTTW Channel 11 ...
Gutierrez: And you complain about double dippers? Any of your relatives working for the Sun-Times. We might as well get in to nepotism.
Marin: We're off track, Louey. Come on. We have a good thing going. You give me dirt, I publish it. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. If I say it's true, it's true. That's why they overpay me the big bucks.
Gutierrez: Look, our deal is you help me get elected and when you retire from the Sun-Times, WMAQ or WTTW or wherever, I'll help you get a job in government in the justice department so you can be close to your buddy there. The stash.
Marin: Well, the Sun-Times is dying. No one is reading the paper. A girl needs some help.
Gutierrez: Look, here's the story. I planned a speech in Cicero and they let me speak. But I don't want to say they let me speak. They changed rooms on me so you can write they tried to censor me.
Marin: Good. Good. Let me write all that down ... censored me ... Okay.
Gutierrez: No one showed up at the speech. Thank God no one covered it. But that doesn't matter. It's not about helping the people. It's about helping me and perception is reality. If the Sun-Times says I was targeted for political retribution, then who's going to challenge it.
Marin: Okay. Give me a second to write it down.
Gutierrez: Not all that beyitch! Write this down. So, my new congressional district is in Berwyn. Now, technically, I can't go there as a congressman or use government resources to promote myself there because I don't represent Berwyn just yet. In 18 months. But, since you won't write that I am violating federal regulations, I can go to Berwyn and basically use my office to campaign.
Marin: Good. That's a good story.
Gutierrez: No beyitch. You can't write that. This. Pay attention. You getting old? So I plan an event in Berwyn and we say that Berwyn cancelled it on orders from Cicero. I slander all my political foes there who kept my wife from making her highly justified and deserving six-figure commissions ...
Marin: highly justified and deserving ... yes. Yea.
Gutierrez: Right? We just say it and it becomes so! That's my motto. We just say it, and it becomes so.
Marin: Kind of like your phony campaign to defend the rights of illegal Mexican immigrants.
Gutierrez: Yes. I know. That's funny, isn't it. I'm Puerto Rican. Puerto Ricans are American citizens. We don't have no stinking immigration problems. So I have to pretend I care for Mexican Americans. And I don't. But you can't write that.
Marin: No. No. I won't write that.
Gutierrez: And I get arrested and who gets the attention? Mexican immigrants who are being harassed by the U.S Government and your buddies in the U.S. Justice Department? No. I get the publicity.
Marin: Great. Where you going to be later Louey?
Gutierrez: I have to keep the government from looking in to me real estate deals.Thank God Blagojevich got in trouble otherwise my goose would have been cooked. Why, what you want?
Marin: I have to run the column past you before I get it published.
Gutierrez: Oh yea. America. Where else can you manipulate the freedoms of the press? Come here baby. Let's have some freedom.
[Remainder of transcript too crumpled to make out.]
Faced with bankruptcy, the newspapers has been promoting itself as the 10th largest newspaper in the Midwest, based on circulation and 14th largest in Sunday circulation using the skewered system hoping to fool advertisers. Sunday is traditionally a newspaper's largest circulation day.