Convicted Sex Offenders and Felons Should Not Be Elected. Ever.

Mel Reynolds wants to be re-elected “So he can finish the work.”

Seriously?

What “work” would he like to “finish”?

Perhaps sexually assaulting more minors?

Perhaps committing more bank fraud?

Perhaps by lying more?

All this talk of convicted sex offender, Mel Reynolds, wanting to be a Congressman again, even though he is a CONVICTED FELON, made me realize that folks like him are really delusional. He thinks his crimes should be “forgotten” because they happened so long ago and he “paid the price” back to society by serving time in prison.

Sorry, Mel, people might forgive but they do not easily forget. And they shouldn’t. He is a sex offender and he also committed bank fraud. His crimes should not be forgotten simply because he is a Chicago Democrat. He should be treated just like every other registered sex offender.

Recently, my husband and I visited one of our sons in Bloomington. In their apartment complex, a new resident had moved in. Not unusual. What was unusual is that our son was visited by the local police department. The officer notified them to the presence of the registered sex offender who just moved in. He committed his crime when he was 18 years old by perpetrating an aggravated sexual assault against a 64 year old woman.

Guess what? That incident with the new resident in our son’s building happened  in 1988. This offender NEVER gets to forget it. And he should not be allowed to forget it. It was a heinous crime, just as that committed by Reynolds against his 16 year old victim. Here is the difference: the dude from Bloomington would not ever be endorsed to run for a Congressional seat; nor would anyone elect him.

The same should be true for Mel Reynolds. Do we really need to knowingly elect a scumbag like this to office? Generally, the hope of voters is that their candidate is a fairly decent person who runs for office and then, perhaps later, has the potential to become scum.

Reynolds was indicted for sexual assault and criminal sexual abuse back in 1994. He was convicted, in 1995, on 12 counts of sexual assault, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography. He was sentenced to five years in prison and expected to be released in 1998. However, the year before the release, he was convicted on 15 counts of bank fraud and also for lying to SEC investigators. He was given a 78 month sentence in federal prision. He only served 42 months because then President Clinton commuted the bank fraud sentence. Note, commutation of a sentence does NOT lift the guilty conviction.

Why would anyone want this man back in office? Our elected officials should be people who are positive role models. Not convicted felons. Not sex offenders. Not those who commit bank fraud. Illinois is already the laughingstock of the nation. Let us hope the voters in the 2nd Congressional District pony up and elect someone worthy of the seat. Given the recent re-election of Jesse Jackson, Jr., I will not hold my breath.