Connie Howard

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Springfield:

“Today, at 1:30 p.m., a court hearing is scheduled in Springfield, in federal court, for former Illinois State Representative Constance ‘Connie’ Howard to waive indictment and enter a plea of guilty to an information charging her with a single count of mail fraud.  Howard is expected to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Byron G. Cudmore.”

Howard was elected in 1994 and was one of the first blacks to take a big interest in the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Ironically, that interest led to her wrong-doing.

She resigned last July.

Howard admits to having raised money at a golf outings and diverting a large part of such funds–$28,000 out of $76,700–to her own personal and political use and to that of an unnamed collaborator.

Below is the paperwork for Howard’s guilty plea: