The Pope is Convicted

[Brandon]

Bill Cellini, aka "The Pope of Springfield" was convicted on Tuesday of extortion.  How is this important to roads?  Cellini was once a higher up in the Illinois state highway department and managed to downgrade the quality of asphalt used in road building so that it would not last as long and had to be reconstructed more often, enriching his own coffers.  He's the one man responsible for the poor quality of Illinois pavement from the 1970s until present.  His name even appears on the cover of the official 1971 Illinois state map.

Hired as Illinois' first transportation secretary by Republican Gov. Richard Ogilvie...

He began as a local politician in Springfield, parlayed that into a position as the state's first transportation director under Gov. Richard Ogilvie, then used those connections to take over the Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association, making it the state's most influential road-building lobby.

From his transportation background, Cellini went on to become the longtime executive director of the politically influential Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association.

Like I said, he enriched himself with subgrade asphalt.  And you wondered why Illinois' roads were always under construction, and usually constructed only of asphalt.

And I didn't spot another Friend of Bill, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, the former congressman from Peoria.

It's all connected folks, they're all the same party, D & R, in Illinois.

[realjd]

That sounds about right for Illinois politics.

[3467]

He was the guy that officially adopted the supplemental freeway system. It appeared on maps as freeways in his era only before corridor studies were undertaken. I am sure this is not sad news at IDOT.

Another thing he did was quickie widenings that are still being fixed US 67 north of Monmouth is an example. Many early roads were built with 9 foot lanes and curbs, Cellini odered widenings but to save money or pocket it himself he had them just pave over these curbs. This has led to terrible gutters on many routes that are still being repaired today

[tdindy88]

You know, when I saw the title of this post, for a second I thought you were talking about some other guy.

[NE2]

You know, when I saw the title of this post, for a second I thought you were talking about some other guy.

One with strong convictions?

[J N Winkler]

I had the same impression tdindy88 did.  I had in mind a weird scenario involving universal jurisdiction and trial in absentia.

[3467]

I did too but being from Illinois it registered immediatly once I clicked the link.
The Catholic Church used to have great power here but that is gone Illinois has civil unions and Catholic Chaities lost its adoption contract...Luthern Social Services eagarly grabbed the business(even though the state wont pay for a year or so)