Former transportation official pleads guilty to offering bribe to Illinois senator

CHICAGO — A longtime Chicago political operative pleaded guilty Friday to a scheme to bribe then-state Sen. Martin Sandoval on behalf of a suburban construction company that needed state approval for a development in East Dundee.

William Helm, the onetime deputy commissioner of the Chicago Department of Aviation and a former state transportation official, also admitted in a plea agreement with prosecutors that he and others helped arrange $40,000 in bribes to other, unnamed officials.