CongressionalBadBoys.com | home | Mel Reynolds Mel Reynolds Democrat, Illinois (1993 - 1996) The Honorable Mel Reynolds:  Rhodes Scholar;  master's degree in Public Administration, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard; assistant professor at Roosevelt University;  executive director of Community Economic Development and Education Foundation;  founder and former president of American Scholars Against World Hunger. And convicted of having sex with an underage campaign volunteer, child pornography, and obstruction of justice.  Then convicted again of 15 counts of bank fraud and lying to the FEC. What's going on? Here's a timeline, from the Chicago Sun-Times (January 24, 2001) November 1992:  After a third try, Reynolds defeated Gus Savage to become congressman from Southside Chicago and southern suburbs.  During the campaign, Reynolds claimed he was the target of a drive-up shooting and accused Savage of inciting the attack.  Savage blamed his defeat on the "white racist press and the racist, reactionary Jewish misleaders" and compared himself to Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.   1994:  Reynolds won Democratic primary for re-election.  Three months later, campaign volunteer Beverly Heard approached police, claiming she had a sexual relationship with Reynolds when she was 16 years old. August 1995:  Convicted in state court of sexual misconduct, child pornography and obstruction of justice.  Reynolds was sentenced to five years in prison. October 1995:  Reynolds resigned from Congress. April 1997:  He is convicted in federal court on 15 counts of bank fraud and lying to the Federal Election Commission.  Sentenced to six-and-one-half years in prison. Reynolds becomes a two-time member of the House Prison Caucus January 2001:  President Clinton commutes Reynolds' federal sentence. January 23, 2001:  Reynolds arrives in Chicago to begin serving out his sentence in a halfway house. Pulls out the race card:  On CNN's Larry King Live in 1995, Reynolds announced his resignation.  He denied ever doing anything wrong other than have phone sex with a 17-year-old.  Then he complained that no black political reporters had covered his trial and that there were too few African-Americans working in the news media.  He claimed that racism had caused his accuser to testify against him.  ("He conveniently forgot that she had gone to jail for several days because she didn't want to testify against him, and that she had asked the jury to find him innocent because, she said, the sex that they had was consensual," wrote reporter Gregory Freeman). Sources:  Carole Ashkinaze, "Voters, Not 'Outsiders' Handed Savage His Loss," Chicago Sun-Times, March 22, 1992;  Gregory Freeman, "Playing Race Card is Easy Way Our for Reynolds," St. Louis-Post Dispatch, September 5, 1995.