Story posted Wednesday, July 1, 2009
What's Next For Alpogianis?
By TOM ROBB Journal & Topics Reporter
After Niles Village Trustee George Alpogianis resigned his seat on the village board last week, forced out by the Cook County State's Attorney because of past felony convictions, he spoke with the Journal & Topics Newspapers about his plans for the future.
Illinois law prohibits convicted felons from holding elected office.
He said his plans include securing a pardon from Gov. Pat Quinn after which he would again seek elected office in Niles. He also wants to see the law changed.
Alpogianis stepped down last week, one month after being sworn in, after the Cook County State's Attorney's office threatened to remove him because of multiple felony convictions on his record dating back to the mid 1980's when he was in his late teens but charged as an adult.
Those convictions were first brought to light through a Journal & Topics Newspapers investigation last February during a contentious election campaign.
Speaking with a Journal & Topics reporter last Wednesday, Alpogianis thanked the newspaper for its fair coverage and said his lawyer, Michael Lavelle, would be filing papers this week with the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, the first step in the pardon process, to have his convictions overturned.
Besides securing a pardon, Alpogianis said he wants to see the Illinois Officials Convicted of Infamous Crimes Act changed and clarified. He said while some crimes should remain disqualifiers for convicts to hold office, others should not be and said time lines should be in place so crimes committed decades earlier do not bar someone from service later in life.
Alpogianis' record includes six felony convictions for aggravated battery dating back to 1984. Court and Chicago police records reviewed by the Journal say Alpogianis and six other friends went to a house party in Chicago and attacked three people leaving the party with pipes and boards with nails.
Alpogianis acknowledged participating in the melee but said he was also assaulted and only charged after receiving treatment at an emergency room himself.
At a Niles Village Board meeting last week, held one day after Alpogianis tendered his resignation, trustees Andrew Przybylo and Joe LoVerde and Mayor Robert Callero reiterated their support for Alpogianis.
LoVerde and Callero questioned the wisdom of the law while Przybylo said the law "is what it is" but said it should be changed.
Callero questioned the State's Attorney's findings at the meeting stating he had reviewed documents supplied by Illinois State Police indicating Alpogianis had no criminal record.
Alpogianis acknowledged that his lawyer had recently reviewed the same records the Journal & Topics did in the public information office of the Clerk of Cook County Circuit Court and found it consistent with the newspaper's findings.
At last week's meeting Przybylo said he would do "everything in my power" to change the law, adding, "if I had any power in Springfield."
Last year, when Przybylo was considering his own run for Niles mayor, State Rep. Lou Lang (D-16th), working on Przybylo's behalf, successfully moved a bill through the Illinois House that would have changed the Liquor Control Act to allow Przybylo to be mayor and perform the mayoral duty of liquor commissioner while holding a liquor license in the village as an owner of White Eagle Banquet Hall.
At the time legislative leaders and then Gov. Rod Blagojevich were embroiled in bitter budget battles. The bill never made it through the Illinois Senate to Blagojevich's desk.
Alpogianis' immediate plans include trying change a very different record. The Guinness Book of World Records will be at his restaurant company's booth at the Taste of Chicago as he tries to set the record for serving the world's largest hot dog.
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