From server@prairienet.org Thu May 25 02:13:28 1995
	id CAA29346; Thu, 25 May 1995 02:13:22 +0200
	id AA26472; Wed, 24 May 95 19:12:49 CDT
Subject: Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 4 Num. 98
X-Comment:  Conspiracy Nation



              Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 4  Num. 98
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                    ("Quid coniuratio est?")


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WHO IS SHERMAN SKOLNICK?
(And just what makes him so great anyway?)

I know I have been concentrating on material from Sherman 
Skolnick and the Citizens' Committee to Clean-up the Courts 
(CCCC) of late. Some are glad of this. Others write and complain 
"Enough! Enough of Skolnick, already!" One wrote, during the 
post-Oklahoma bomb, Klinton crack-down on free speech, "Who the 
fu** is Larry Lotnick!!?"

Personally, I think Mr. Skolnick is an excellent clearinghouse 
for various sources of information. Going to Mr. Skolnick saves 
me the trouble of digging on my own. He also has access to many 
confidential sources which, except for his talents, might never 
see the light of day. He also is a much more experienced 
investigator than yours truly. I am of the opinion that Skolnick 
is hitting closer to the truth than many "big shots" such as 
Lyndon LaRouche and Noam Chomsky. Sherman Skolnick is not 
infallible, but he most definitely should be heard, especially in 
these troubled times.

Not to say I am moving toward a Skolnick-only format; if that 
were the case, I would change the name to "Skolnick Nation". It's 
just that, for the moment, Skolnick and his group have got some 
of the best information.

So who is Sherman Skolnick?

I cannot vouch for all of the following, simply because I have no 
direct knowledge as to many of these matters. But here is how Mr. 
Skolnick himself answers the question:

Sherman Skolnick is the founder and chairman of the Citizens' 
Committee to Clean-up the Courts, a group dedicated to 
researching and investigating, in the public interest, certain 
instances of judicial and other corruption, and political 
murders. Mr. Skolnick has been chairman/founder since 1963. A 
summary of a few key events:

1. Mr. Skolnick, self-educated in law, led the campaign to re- 
apportion election districts in Illinois, on the "one man, one 
vote" idea. He brought and won in the federal courts a series of 
class actions -- 1967 to 1972, that accomplished this.

2. In 1969, his disclosures in a special court petition on behalf 
of his group caused the largest judicial bribery scandal in U.S. 
history, causing the collapse of the Illinois Supreme Court. The 
accused high court justices desperately used the last of their 
judicial power to jail Skolnick falsely for contempt -- he 
refused to inform them how his group investigated the matter. The 
Chief Justice resigned as well as an associate Justice. A third 
high court justice died under fire. Skolnick was vindicated and 
released from prison. The state high court was in effect for a 
period of time put out of business. Appeal lawyers condemned him 
for interfering with their business -- they had gotten used to 
the corrupt ways of the high court.

3. In another special court petition Skolnick accused 7th Circuit 
federal appeals judge, Otto Kerner, Jr., former Illinois 
Governor, of bribery. Kerner held a press conference, calling 
Skolnick, "a liar". A fellow judge tried to harass Skolnick with 
false contempt charges. Kerner died an ex-convict, convicted as 
Skolnick charged. The highest level federal appeals judge to go 
to prison for bribery, while still a sitting judge, in U.S. 
history.

4. In 1977, the chief judge of Chicago's Traffic Court allowed 
Skolnick to interview him on tape in his office. Skolnick had 28 
witnesses, waiting in the hall, prepared to charge the judge with 
corruption. The Chief Judge called Skolnick's charges, "Just part 
of your imagination, Mr. Skolnick. There is no corruption here." 
Skolnick's accusations led to the Justice Department's "Operation 
Greylord", in which the same chief judge and some twenty other 
state judges and about 40 lawyers all went to prison for bribery.

5. Of course, none of the state and federal judges, accused by 
Skolnick, and later ended up convicted of bribery, ever 
apologized to Skolnick for calling Skolnick a liar in the press.

6. In 1969-70, the chief deputy clerk of Chicago's federal 
district court, formerly of the Bankruptcy Court, Robert P. 
Steine, was sent to prison for using his office to shake down 
insurance companies who were also litigants in the court system. 
The matter had been heavily documented by the U.S. District 
Attorney and the Chief Postal Inspector, who stonewalled. The 
matter was broken open when their records somehow fell into 
Skolnick's hands and he showed them at a press conference. The 
Chief District Judge had called Skolnick a liar, saying Skolnick 
conveyed "diatribes" against innocent public officials. That 
Chief Judge narrowly avoided prison himself in a multi-million 
dollar real-estate swindle.

7. Skolnick is a regular panel member on a hugely popular Cable 
TV public access program since 1991. They obtained the secret 
files of one of Hillary Rodham Clinton's cronies, Diane Lewis, a 
worldwide arms smuggler. Ms. Lewis was using signs and signals 
for up-coming deals through a religious TV station in Chicago, 
where she was close to the station boss. Ten days after her 
records were demonstrated on Skolnick's one-hour TV show, Ms. 
Lewis and 14 others were arrested. She was released on a plea she 
is with CIA.

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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et 
  pauperem.                    -- Liber Proverbiorum  XXXI: 8-9 

 Brian Francis Redman    bigxc@prairienet.org    "The Big C"
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    Coming to you from Illinois -- "The Land of Skolnick"        
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