Metro East Sun

Former Illinois state Sen. Tom Cullerton was recently sentenced for embezzlement; and Erica Harriss, Republican candidate for Illinois state Senate District 56, said she is committed to holding herself and others accountable for corruption.

Cullerton was recently sentenced to a year and one day in prison, a WAND news report said. 

In March, the former state senator pleaded guilty to improperly taking more than $240,000 from the Teamsters Union. The money allegedly was used to pay for Cullerton's personal expenses, including his mortgage, utility bills and groceries.

"One of the biggest complaints I hear from people in the Metro East is how corrupt our state is, and Tom Cullerton’s conviction is just more proof of that fact," Harriss told the Metro East Sun. "Illinois has one of the worst reputations for politicians trying to profit from their power and in recent years we have seen multiple Democratic members like Cullerton implicated in violating the public trust. Unfortunately, for every unethical or illegal act that becomes public, there are countless others that go unnoticed and unpunished. I am committed to holding myself and others accountable to the oaths they took to uphold the law and will work toward common-sense ethics reform in Springfield."

CBS Chicago reported that before being elected to the Illinois state Senate, Cullerton was a member of Teamsters Local Union 734. When elected to the Senate in 2012, he was no longer able to participate in the union's pension and health funds. Two months later, in 2013, Cullerton was hired by the president of the Teamsters Joint Council to be a union organizer with a full-time salary that included health and pension benefits.

Cullerton is a member of a longstanding Chicago political family that has occupied many levels of government office since the Great Fire of 1871, the WAND report said.