Accused pol says she'll stay on ballot

With her mother and two dozen cheering supporters standing behind her, Ald. Arenda Troutman (20th) vowed Thursday to remain on the Feb. 27 ballot and "continue to fight for my people" while her attorneys fight charges that she shook down a corrupt developer.

At her attorney's insistence, Troutman refused to address the charges against her, nor would she talk about the incriminating statements she allegedly made on secretly recorded tapes.

Instead, she talked about what a gutsy alderman she has been by standing up to the mayor who appointed her. Troutman reminded reporters that she sponsored the groundbreaking ordinance that forced Mayor Daley's hand on affordable housing, held up construction of the new Kennedy-King College until there was a guarantee minority contractors would help build it, and continues to push for black contractors at O'Hare Airport, McCormick Place and other marquee projects.

"I have been an upstanding alderman for 17 years. ... I will still continue to fight for my people in this city, in the 20th Ward, and stand strong," Troutman said.

Voice choking with emotion, she said: "I am just overwhelmed to see all these people here. You have business owners who probably shut their business down today to stand with me. Thank you!"

Troutman was charged Monday with taking bribes -- $5,000 in cash with the promise of $10,000 more, along with free residential and commercial space -- to grease development of a strip mall that wasn't in her ward.

Declaring that "Arenda Troutman is back," her attorney Sam Adam Jr. advised the candidates against her to "bring your A game."

One of those candidates, attorney David Neely, tried and failed to disrupt Troutman's raucous City Hall news conference. He told reporters: "An alderman works for the people of the 20th Ward --not for gang-bangers, not for drug dealers, not for criminals."

fspielman@suntimes.com