Former Niles mayor pleads guilty
The longtime former mayor of north suburban Niles pleaded guilty Friday to taking more than $420,000 from an insurance agency in a kickback scheme.
Nicholas Blase, 80, appeared before U.S. District Judge Wayne R. Andersen and admitted steering customers to an insurance agency owned by his friend Ralph Weiner and in return getting 25 percent of the commissions the agency received from them.
He admitted that as mayor he did favors for businesses that bought insurance from the agency.
"I apologize to those I let down - my family, my friends and most of all the people of Niles," said Blase who was mayor for 47 years before recently resigning. "I was wrong."
He pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud involving the kickback scheme, which began in 1974 and continued through 2006, when he was indicted. He also pleaded guilty to failing to report the money he received as kickbacks on his 2005 federal income tax return.
Blase said he paid the $421,450 he received into a company he controlled.
In return for his guilty plea, federal prosecutors agreed to drop nine other counts involving the same scheme.
The hearing lasted about 15 minutes. At the start, Andersen turned up the volume on his microphone after Blase confessed that "I am real hard of hearing."
Responding to Blase's apology, Andersen seemed sympathetic and said: "The good things that happened fortunately will not be undone."
The mail fraud count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and fine of $250,000 or twice the proceeds of the crime. Filing a false tax return carries a maximum of three years in prison and a $100,000 fine. At his age, Blase is unlikely to get anything like the maximum on either count for a first offense.
Des Plaines Mayor Tony Arredia occasionally worked with Blase through the Northwest Municipal Conference.
"He was considered someone with a lot of experience," Arredia said. "We'd be working on a piece of legislation and he'd say something like 'We tried that 20 years ago and it didn't work.' People asked him questions all the time."
Blase announced in August he was resigning, making the abrupt retirement announcement in a letter posted on the village's Web site.
In his letter Blase did not mention the indictment, stating that fatigue determined his decision.
"(I) had no intention of running again because at 80 years of age and 47 years of Mayoring, I am tired," he wrote. "I am retiring early so a Mayor candidate can start campaigning now without the question 'is Mayor Blase going to run again?'"
Blase first ran for mayor in 1961, beating 20-year-incumbent Frank Stankowicz. In his initial years, he called for and received the resignation of the longtime police chief, pressured Chicago into annexing and cleaning up a gambling-infested area of Milwaukee Avenue known as "The Strip," and instituted the post of village manager.
Over the years, Niles gained a reputation for quality public works, low property taxes and such services as free public transit and a popular senior center.
In addition to serving as mayor, Blase was Maine Township Democratic Committeeman for nearly 30 years. He also ran unsuccessfully in 1972 in the Democratic primary for the 10th Congressional District seat against Abner Mikva.
His sentencing is tentatively set for Jan. 29.
• Daily Herald staff writers Sheila Ahern and Steve Zalusky contributed.