Is Alderman Thompson's Scatterbrain Defense Genius Or Cuckoo?

CHICAGO — Facing felony bank and income tax fraud charges, Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson — the grandson and nephew of Chicago mayors — plans to defend himself in a way that’s very relatable to Chicagoans with messy desks and short attention spans.

Thompson plans to call witnesses who will testify that he is “disorganized and inattentive and that, as a result of the countless demands on his time as a lawyer and public servant, he is forgetful of and frequently needs to be reminded of details,” according to court papers.

The scatterbrain defense, if it works, is as genius as the effective — and hilarious – “take my shorts” defense deployed by his former uncle, former Mayor Richard M. Daley, in response to a reporter’s question whether he would have faced increased scrutiny if the mayor’s brother didn’t drop out of the 2001 gubernatorial race.

“Scrutiny? What else do you want? Do you want to take my shorts? Give me a break. Go scrutinize yourself! I get scrootened every day, don't worry, from each and every one of you. It doesn't bother me,” Daley said back then.

In Thompson’s case, he wants his legal secretary to be able to testify that he is “one of, if not the, most disorganized lawyers.”

“His office contains disorganized piles of paperwork all over his desk, the chairs, and even the floor. The secretary will also testify to Mr. Thompson’s inattentiveness to detail, including the fact that he often does not read entire emails before responding,” according to court papers.

Thompson plans to call his chief of staff to testify that the 11th Ward boss has a terrible memory, and his aldermanic office is such a “disaster area” that his “staff frequently has to search the office for documents he has misplaced.”

How could a slob who has the attention span of a gnat also be the sophisticated commercial real estate lawyer who willfully scammed a bank out of mortgage payments, as portrayed by the federal government in the felony indictment?

Thompson's lawyers appear to want to say he couldn't be.

On charges that Thompson fibbed to the feds in phone calls with the feds about how much money he borrowed from Washington Federal, his attorneys say in court papers that the alderman wasn't lying. His statements were the product of a poor memory, lack of attention to paperwork.

“This evidence certainly makes it more likely that he simply forgot the amount he had borrowed during the two relevant phone calls,” Thompson’s lawyers asserted in court papers.

And Thompson’s struggles, his lawyers asserted in court filings Tuesday, aren’t conveniently limited to the charges that he lied about receiving more than $100,000 in loans that he didn’t pay back. Being disorganized and not paying attention to details are habits in Thompson’s life.

It almost seems that Thompson’s lawyers could suggest during trial that the alderman suffers from symptoms of attention deficit hyperactive disorder — including disorganization, problems focusing, poor planning and trouble multitasking — which affects 366 million adults around the world.

The feds, of course, aren’t buying it. After all, this is Chicago. They contend in court motions that somebody could be a total airhead in certain parts of his life but “very organized and mentally engaged in other aspects of [his] life.”

Bridgeport’s alderman could have a real shot at escaping conviction by reason of scatterbrain-messy-desk syndrome if a jury of Thompson’s peers includes at least one forgetful member who can’t remember to pay bills on time.

Imagine the sudden outbreak of messy desks and unfilled Adderall prescriptions at City Hall.

The prospect reminds me of what Thompson’s famous uncle once said after former Gov. Rod Blagojevich suggested fellow Democrats wanted him thrown in prison to stop a tax cut.

“I’ve said ‘cuckoo’ once. I’ll say it again," former Mayor Daley said. "Cuckoo!”

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, wrote and produced the Peabody Award-winning series "Time: The Kalief Browder Story." He was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docuseries on CNN and a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary "16 Shots."

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