Ex-alderman, ex-con, ex-Dem, Jones seeks political comeback

From http://www.chicagogop.com/

by Lorene Yue - ChicagoBusiness

Former Alderman Virgil Jones' latest attempt to reclaim public office after serving time in prison lasted about two weeks.

Mr. Jones, a former police officer who served as alderman for the city's 15th Ward from 1991 until he was convicted of extortion and tax charges in 1999, had attempted to fill the vacancy on the ballot for state representative in the 32nd District.

He had even switched parties, from Democrat to Republican.

State law does not prohibit convicted felons from seeking office - unlike municipal law, which prevented Mr. Jones from reclaiming his aldermanic seat, a move he attempted last year. He was rebuffed by the city Board of Elections, and when he took his case to the Illinois Supreme Court, the judges sided with the board.

Mr. Jones said Thursday he will withdraw his nomination to run on the 32nd District Republican ballot after conferring with the leaders of the Cook County and city Republican parties. His nomination application was filed 10 days ago with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

"It's what is best for the party," Mr. Jones said. "There will be another time (to run for office)."

Though he was a member of the Democratic Party for years, Mr. Jones said his switch to the Republican Party represents his true political ideology.

"When I was a younger man, I was a member of the Young Republicans," he said. "In the city of Chicago, you can only get elected (if you're a Democrat)."

His previous attempt to reclaim public office came earlier this year, when he tried to secure a spot as the Republican committeeman for the 15th Ward.

Mr. Jones' application, supported by two Republican committeemen, touched off a spate of infighting within the Cook County and Chicago GOP when his intentions were publicized.

"He was not a consensus pick of the Republican Party," said Lee Roupas, chairman of the Cook County GOP. "It was an unfortunate situation."

Mr. Jones' application was supported by longtime friends William Delay, who was recently elected Republican committeeman for the 18th Ward, and Jacoby Crutcher Jr., a newly elected Republican committeeman for the 20th Ward. Mr. Jones' criminal record should not be a factor, Mr. Delay said.

"I feel that everybody should have another chance," said Mr. Delay. "He's entitled to another chance, just like everybody else."

Mr. Jones spent three years in prison after being convicted of extortion in the 1990s' FBI investigation dubbed Operation Silver Shovel, which exposed political corruption. The probe ended with 18 convictions, six of them sitting or former aldermen.

Mr. Jones maintains his innocence. "I didn't take any money. That was a lie," he said.

He's also preparing to file an appeal to have his conviction overturned. "I want to serve the people. I know what the people need."

The Fox guarding the hen house?

And we actually believe this BS

Fired city investigator cleared of shoplifting charge

She left store with groceries to get her debit card, lawyer argued

By Monique Garcia |Tribune reporter

12:21 PM CDT, March 28, 2008

A Chicago city employee who was fired from her job in the inspector general's office after being arrested for shoplifting was acquitted Thursday of the charge, her attorney said Friday.

Tracy Buckley, 36, who was an assistant chief investigator, was charged with misdemeanor theft after about $100 worth of merchandise was stolen from a Whole Foods Market, 6020 N. Cicero Ave., in January.

Her attorney, Ron Menaker, said Judge Stuart Katz found Buckley not guilty of the charge Thursday.

Menaker had argued that there was an "innocent explanation" for Buckley's actions. She had inadvertently attempted to leave the store with the merchandise to retrieve her debit card from her vehicle in the parking lot, he said.

Another Political hack gone

Emergency director Ruiz moved to tech job

March 28, 2008

Recommend (4)

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

The $162,912-a-year executive director of Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications was kicked upstairs Friday after only nine months on the job amid a blitzkrieg of complaints from disgruntled underlings.

Tony Ruiz, a former lineman for the city's Department of Streets and Sanitation, will now serve as the city's chief technology operations officer overseeing GPS, electronic inventory and biometric systems.

The surprise reassignment comes at a time when 911 center employees have been complaining privately to the Chicago Sun-Times about everything from broken chairs, job application tampering and promotions irregularities to excessive overtime and sexual harassment by 911 supervisors.

Morale reportedly took a further nosedive when Ruiz handed out uneven punishment to a pair of 911 dispatchers accused of failing to notify police about a brawl at a Southwest Side Park last summer. And underlings accused Ruiz of “giving” Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th) a $4,000 digital radio so she could monitor snow removal and emergency operations in her ward.

The radio was returned after the Chicago Sun-Times started asking questions.

Ruiz could not be reached for comment about his reassignment.

Hispanic aldermen who have complained about a shortage of Hispanics in the mayor's cabinet were taken aback by the reassignment to an obscure job.

Ruiz will be replaced on a temporary basis by 911 center veteran and technology expert Jim Argiropoulos.

“It bothers the community that we're putting aside talented [Hispanic] people without giving a good explanation. I don't know why he would take on that role when we need him as an individual who can handle so many emergencies we have at the 911 center,” said Ald. George Cardenas (12th).

The shake-up was announced in a press release distributed Friday, when bad news is traditionally buried. In it, Daley tried to put the best face on the cabinet shuffle.

“As part of our commitment to better manage government and protect taxpayers, we continue to identify ways to incorporate management efficiencies into our citywide operations. Having a point-person to coordinate operational uniformity across all departments will help us improve our processes and identify further economies of scale,” the mayor said.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported last month that a pair of police communications operators at the 911 center had raked in $114,591 and $113,136 in overtime last year — double their annual salaries — raising renewed questions about staffing levels that were supposed to be resolved two years ago.

As for the other complaints, OEMC spokesperson Jennifer Martinez said the chairs are being replaced, the radio has been returned and overtime is being reduced. She flatly denied the allegations about hiring and promotions irregularities and alleged sexual harassment.

From Crime file news

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Help SECOND CITY COP Save The Chicago Police Department

I must say that the City of Chicago has lost most its luster. Crooked politicians and their contractors have bled the city bone dry as they magically escape criminal investigation or Indictment. . Chicago has become the most unattractive place to live and work for all but the super rich or government freeloaders.

The once proud police department has been decimated through affirmative action and the massive lowering of hiring standards. Clout provides sub-standard officers promotions and a job for life or at least until age 63. Clout always was a help but most officers needed at least a little of their own merits to succeed. Not anymore.

The morale of the department is reflected in the overall lousy appearance of the officers. The officer’s grooming and image today is beyond saddening.

The FOP is only a group of yes men for the politicians collecting inflated salaries forked over by working cops. The rank and file can’t seem to overcome residency requirements, mediocre pay and little hope for respect or any improvement at all.

One day along came an anonymous blogger who created a first rate communications system for all officers to be able to penetrate and expose corruption, favoritism and bad management.

Every boss knows that stepping out of line will get him or her some well deserved attention. Second City Cop has given the street patrolman real power. 7000 people a day visit the site to find out what what’s going on and just how they may be affected in their professional lives. Officers commenting can reveal things that their bosses seek to cover up.

If the rank and file officers are to ever have pride again in their city and job it will because of Second City Cop and the other likeminded officers.

A concerted effort to get rid of Ed Burke, his puppet mayor and a truly worthless city council has to begin. Next their political hacks, and their cronies need to be removed. If all the cops would follow their oaths and expose the politician’s deeds they know about a great change would take place and the city may be a place working people would want to raise their families again.

Robert Cooley was a cop turned crooked lawyer turned white knight. He brought down a lot of slimy officials. If there were only ten Robert Cooleys instead of just one, we’d still have Meigs Field, far lower taxes and money to improve life in a dying metropolis.

Second City Cop is a true hero.

Forgotten Chicago and clout

http://www.forgottenchicago.com/bumpark.php

Most city parks consist of open land and facilities of some kind. They are administered by the Chicago Park District. Oscar D'Angelo Park is not a Park District park, and it has no facilities. It is not a park, it is a "park." Scare quotes and all. Actually, its more like a lame joke.

The most poorly located parks are wedged into otherwise unused expressway land. This "park" takes that to the extreme. It is located entirely in the middle of a ramp connecting the Eisenhower Expressway and Wacker Drive. There are no benches, no playlot, not even stakes for horsehoes. I would like to say that there is nothing at all in it, but I would be forgetting the trash cans.

I hate this thing. Can you tell? Part of the reason for this is the "park's" greasy namesake. I won't go into detail here. Read this article - Google the guy's name if you want to know more.

The picture of the plaque is unreadable. Sorry. It says: Oscar O. D'Angelo Park - This park is dedicated to lifelong Near West Side (Little Italy) resident Oscar O. D'Angelo for unselfish commitment, leadership and vision in the renaissance of his neighborhood, his city, and its parks. - Richard M. Daley, Mayor. October 24, 1990. Bullshit. Its named for him because he has clout. Nothing more.

Trash abounds. There always seems to be bum detritus in this "park."

Infact, the homeless seem to be the only people who use this "park". Nothing against them, the "park" is isolated and unwelcoming and probably provides a good refuge for those who do not necessarily want to be found.

Maybe I've been too negative about this place? How about I euphemistically refer to it as an "open-air restroom" - or an "alfresco room occupancy"? Yeah, sounds good.

Page authored 30 May 2007.
Written by Serhii Chrucky.

Firm lands 2-year deal to run Midway

March 5, 2008

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com

The Daley administration has chosen a new manager for Midway Airport, signing a two-year, $21.2 million contract that will tide the city over until the airport is privatized.

Skyline Management Group has replaced a clout-heavy partnership that's held the contract since 2001 and includes former Illinois Gaming Board Chairman Elzie Higginbottom, Mayor Daley's chief fund-raiser in the black community.

The new manager is a joint venture of three equal partners: Chicago-based Diverse Facility Solutions, Florida-based AvAir Professional Services and Linc Facility Services of Houston.

Skyline principals have "experience working with Midway Airport Management," the terminal's current manager, "some going back to 1994," according to the company's proposal, posted on the Procurement Services Department Web site.

The new manager is also promising to "maintain an appearance equal to a five-star hotel at Midway's main terminal, concourse and maintenance complex" by retaining the existing work force of janitors, engineers and electricians.

The staff will be "mostly comprised of incumbent personnel who have firsthand knowledge of Midway Airport and a proven track record of quality service delivery," the company stated.

Two custodians will serve as "restroom patrols" to keep six public and four private restrooms at the Midway terminal spic and span. A full-day workshop will be held with the outgoing Midway Airport Management to ensure "minimal disruption of ongoing work," the document stated.

Midway Airport Management was a joint venture of Enron Building Services, Transportation Building Services and Higginbottom's East Lake Management and Development Corp.

In 2005, Higginbottom voluntarily forfeited the minority business certification that gives his construction companies a leg up on city contracts after acknowledging that his net worth was "a heckuva lot more" than the $750,000 ceiling at that time.

Last month, Mayor Daley put a "For Sale" sign on Midway, the landlocked airport that came back from the dead after the demise of Midway Airlines.

It happened after five of seven airlines signed on to the deal, the first of its kind in the nation.

The city's "request for qualifications" set in motion a yearlong process that could end with a $3 billion windfall to shore up city pensions and rebuild Chicago's aging infrastructure.

On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the city's office of budget and management said the new Midway contract could be "terminated for convenience" at any time. "Our time table for the long-term lease has not changed," said the spokeswoman, Wendy Abrams.

Ex-alderman Dorothy Tillman arrested in Ala

The flamboyant former Chicago alderman and civil rights activist Dorothy Tillman was arrested Sunday in her native Montgomery, Ala., charged with criminal trespassing after a confrontation with hospital officials about Tillman's 86-year-old ailing aunt.

Tillman, best known for her work with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and for wearing vast array of hats, spent 102 minutes in the Montgomery city jail before a local pastor posted Tillman's $300 bond, officials at the jail said.

Tillman, 60, was headed back to Chicago on Sunday afternoon and said she planned to receive medical attention for injuries incurred during the arrest, she said.

They knocked me down on the ground. They knocked my hat off. One of them put his knees on my spine and threatened to Taser me," Tillman said during an interview before traveling to Chicago.

Tillman was charged with criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor charge, said Montgomery police Lt. Ron Cook. She was arrested at 6:32 a.m. and released at 8:14 a.m. Montgomery police officials declined to provide additional details.

The trouble began about 6 a.m. Sunday.

Tillman had taken her aunt, Mabel Barker, to Jackson Hospital the previous evening. Frustrated by what she described as her aunt's overnight stay that yielded little treatment, Tillman requested the medical records when hospital officials discharged Barker. Tillman said she was told the records would be mailed.

Unfazed, Tillman continued to request the records. Hospital security and police officials were alerted.

Jackson Hospital officials did not immediately return calls for comment.

"I don't think I was screaming. I didn't go like crazy, crazy," Tillman said. "My only concern was to get some treatment for my aunt."

Tillman said she was arrested and put in "leg chains and shackles."

"It was really something," Tillman said. "They did the real police thing."

Tillman traveled to Montgomery to attend the funeral of Johnnie Carr, who joined her childhood friend Rosa Parks in the Montgomery bus boycott and emerged as a prominent activist. Tillman plans to return next week to accept an award for her own civil rights work during the anniversary of the storied march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.

Tillman lost her seat on the Chicago City Council after 23 years in a bitterly fought election last April. Pat Dowell elbowed out Tillman in representing the city's 3rd Ward, an area that became increasingly diverse when a 2001 remapping brought Hispanic residents from the Back of the Yards and residents of the trendy South Loup.

Tillman spent her career advocating for African-Americans in everything from campaigning for city contracts to passing a slave-reparations ordinance.

Tillman is scheduled to appear in court March 31.

tmalone@tribune.com

Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th), felon in training

February 19, 2008
BY FRAN SPIELMAN AND CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporters


Federal investigators have requested city records on four West Side zoning changes pushed by Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th), amid questions about Carothers' relationship with a Chicago developer who made secret recordings as an FBI mole.

Last year, Carothers' New 29th Ward Campaign Committee got $11,000 in contributions from Morgan Properties Inc., which lists FBI mole John Thomas as "manager."

The contributions came in payments of $9,000, $500 and $1,500, with the last one made on Feb. 23, 2007 -- four days before the aldermanic election, records show.

Last April 9, the committee returned all $11,000, offering no explanation in campaign records except "refund of excess contribution."

Carothers, the powerful chairman of the City Council's Police and Fire Committee, did not return calls seeking comment. He also declined to answer written questions.

Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th), felon in training

February 19, 2008
BY FRAN SPIELMAN AND CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporters


Federal investigators have requested city records on four West Side zoning changes pushed by Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th), amid questions about Carothers' relationship with a Chicago developer who made secret recordings as an FBI mole.

Last year, Carothers' New 29th Ward Campaign Committee got $11,000 in contributions from Morgan Properties Inc., which lists FBI mole John Thomas as "manager."

The contributions came in payments of $9,000, $500 and $1,500, with the last one made on Feb. 23, 2007 -- four days before the aldermanic election, records show.

Last April 9, the committee returned all $11,000, offering no explanation in campaign records except "refund of excess contribution."

Carothers, the powerful chairman of the City Council's Police and Fire Committee, did not return calls seeking comment. He also declined to answer written questions.

More corruption

A curious tale of two properties

One parcel was owned by friends of Mayor Daley. One wasn't. Guess which rezoning request was OKd?

Friends of Mayor Richard Daley made out handsomely when land they owned was rezoned in the 11th Ward, helping them sell the property for about $2.4 million more than they paid for it.

A critic of the Daley administration didn't do so well, however. He couldn't get a zoning change, and the value of his property diminished by about $4 million, according to court papers.

Both decisions were made by a Daley ally -- James Balcer, the 11th Ward alderman who calls the shots on zoning in his South Side ward.

Zoning is one of the last bastions of power left for Chicago aldermen, who have been marginalized under Daley's control. The Tribune has shown that many of Chicago's 50 aldermen rely on campaign contributions from developers whose projects, in turn, depend on zoning changes.

In the 11th Ward, the ancestral home and power base of the Daley clan, Balcer enjoys so much support from the Daleys that he is the only alderman who doesn't have to raise campaign funds.

To get a view of how he has wielded his zoning power, you need look no further than two parcels that have been swept up in a wave of development that has turned this gritty industrial district into a hot neighborhood for homes.

On Archer Avenue, a familiar cast of Daley insiders benefited. Over on Iron Street, a City Hall antagonist lost out.

The Archer Avenue deal began in March 2002, when Richard Ferro, a political supporter of Daley, bought the property for $325,000. He and his business partner, Thomas DiPiazza, also a Daley contributor, later applied to City Hall to rezone the land for town homes.

DiPiazza and Ferro hired Jack George of Daley & George, the law firm of the mayor's brother Michael. In the last five years, Daley & George has handled 60 rezoning applications -- half of all the applications in the ward that weren't filed by Balcer himself, city records show.

"Mr. DiPiazza has developed a number of projects in the 11th Ward and they have all been a credit to the community," George told the City Council's Zoning Committee at a December 2003 hearing.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-zoning_daley_bdfeb10,0,7037743.story

Back to business as usual

Judge allows City Hall official to oversee hiring system

By Laurie Cohen |Tribune reporter

4:06 PM CST, January 18, 2008

In a victory for Mayor Richard Daley's administration, a federal judge Friday approved a plan to allow a City Hall official—instead of the independent inspector general—to oversee the city's scandal-plagued hiring system.

U.S. District Judge Wayne Andersen acknowledged that critics have questioned whether the Daley administration ever will keep politics free from hiring after years of abuses. But he said the city's plan contains "important safeguards" to make sure jobs aren't awarded based on political considerations.

"The city will be given an opportunity to show that the skepticism is ill-founded," Andersen wrote.

The plan he approved puts oversight of hiring in the city's newly created Office of Compliance. The judge modified the city's plan slightly to require that the official who supervises compliance with hiring policies not be a current or former city employee and not have any connections to Chicago politics.

Critics, including court-appointed hiring monitor Noelle Brennan, had pushed for Inspector General David Hoffman to handle the job. Hoffman, a former federal prosecutor, is widely considered to be immune to political pressures at City Hall.

Hiring abuses under the Daley administration have led to the convictions of the mayor's former patronage chief and four others. The city has created a $12 million fund to compensate employees and job seekers who were discriminated against for political reasons.

There goes our pension .....

Daley creates commission to confront choked pensions

BILLIONS UNDERFUNDED | Benefit cuts, 401(k) plans may be options

January 13, 2008

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter/fspielman@suntimes.com

Mayor Daley on Friday created a commission drawn from labor, business and banking to confront a problem that threatens to choke future generations of Chicago taxpayers: underfunded city pension funds.

The comprehensive solution Daley is seeking within 18 months could include everything from benefit reductions and increased employee contributions to a shift away from "defined benefit" pension plans and toward the "defined contributions" or 401-K plans favored by private industry.

The city could raise the age for new employees to become eligible for full pension, as the CTA has done. If union leaders agree to make sacrifices, half the net proceeds from the proposed privatizing of Midway Airport could be pumped into the pension funds, under legislation approved by the Illinois General Assembly.

The only thing certain is that something's got to give. The city's four pension funds alone have $10 billion in unfunded liabilities to employees and retirees. If they run out of money, Chicago taxpayers get stuck with the tab.

"They need to reduce the benefits. They need increased contributions by employees and... benefits more in line with what's offered in the private sector," said Civic Federation President Laurence Msall.

The 32-member commission that will confront the pension fund crisis at the city, Park District, CTA, CHA, City Colleges and Chicago Public Schools will be co-chaired by Daley's Chief Financial Officer Paul Volpe and by Volpe's predecessor, Dana Levenson, who now serves as head of North American Infrastructure for the Royal Bank of Scotland.

"There are no easy answers," Levenson said.

Volpe stressed that the pension crisis is "not an immediate problem," nor does he view the commission as "a forum by which we reduce employee benefits."

But, he said, "The longer we wait, the harder this problem will be to solve."

At the end of 2006, the firefighters pension fund had assets on hand to meet just 40 percent of its liabilities. The ratio was 49 percent for police, 67 percent for municipal employees and 92 percent for laborers.

Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue questioned why the city's two largest unions -- police and fire -- were not represented on the 32-member commission.

Donahue said his members are "realistic" and willing to consider increased contributions. But the FOP president said he would insist on maintaining defined benefits. And he rejected the widely held belief that pensions for city employees who get sharply reduced Social Security benefits are overly generous.

"Public service employees deserve better because of the sacrifice and commitment they make to the communities they serve. That's the trade-off. There are more opportunities in the private industry for advancement and greater wage earning," he said.

Last year, pension obligations cost the city $475 million -- more than 15 percent of Chicago's corporate budget.

The Chicago crisis mirrors the pension dilemma facing government agencies and private companies across the nation.

Levenson sounded the alarm about the pension crisis in June 2006, but his call for a dialogue with city unions went nowhere.

At the time, Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon reminded top mayoral aides of what happened in 1997, when the city robbed Peter to pay Paul -- and made the pension problem worse.

With union consent, City Hall reduced its contribution to the well-funded Laborers and Municipal Employees pension funds and funneled $20 million of that money into the underfunded police and firefighters pension funds. The landmark deal also paved the way for a $20 million property tax cut and $200 million worth of neighborhood improvements.

"I read 'em the riot act. I said, 'You came to us 10 years ago and we gave you relief.' We saved them hundreds of millions of dollars. They took money out of two good funds and gave it to police and fire. Now, they're saying those two good funds are in the same mess. And I reminded them that early retirement [which made the problem worse] was their idea," Gannon said then.

City watchdog fired

Inspector general fires employee for alleged shoplifting

January 11, 2008

FROM STNG WIRE REPORTS

Mayor Daley’s corruption-fighting inspector general fired one of his own employees Friday, six days after the $77,784-a-year assistant chief investigator was arrested for shoplifting at a Chicago grocery.

Fourteen-year veteran investigator Tracy Buckley was charged Jan. 5 with misdemeanor theft after Whole Foods employees watched her walk out of a store at 6020 N. Cicero with $131.43 worth of unpaid items.

Before deciding Buckley’s fate, Inspector General David Hoffman said he conducted interviews, read reports and viewed tape recordings made by Whole Foods security cameras.

They reportedly showed Buckley walking through several aisles, past a bank of cashiers and into an elevator leading to an underground parking lot without paying for a shopping cart full of food. Stolen items allegedly included a $44.84 boneless lamb stew and pork chops worth $21.17.

Buckley could not be reached for comment. She allegedly told police she was going to her car to get a different charge card that she intended to use upon returning to the store to pay for the items.

Hoffman apparently didn’t buy it -- and didn’t wait for the outcome of her criminal case.

“All city employees should be held to high standards of integrity, but these standards must be especially high for higher-ranking and prominent city officials. This higher standard definitely applies to employees of the inspector general’s office,” Hoffman said in a prepared statement.

Buckley is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 25.

Fox Guarding Hen House ?

City misconduct inspector accused of shoplifting

By Jeremy Gorner |Tribune staff reporter

1:09 PM CST, January 7, 2008

An investigator for a City of Chicago department that probes misconduct by city employees has been charged with shoplifting.

Tracy Buckley, 36, an assistant chief investigator for Inspector General David Hoffman, was charged with misdemeanor theft after trying to steal about $100 worth of merchandise Saturday from a Whole Foods Market at 6020 N. Cicero Ave., police said.

"We just learned about this on Saturday and today were beginning our inquiry into the matter," said Hoffman.

In the meantime, Buckley, who has been working for the inspector general's office since 1994, has been placed on paid administrative leave.

Attempts to reach Buckley for comment were unsuccessful this afternoon.

Rumor has it, ...

If you dont hear a good rumor by 11am start your own.

What City Commissioner will be moving to a new department due to him getting his secretary pregnant ?

The Feds are here....FRANK COCONATE

Former City Employee Says He's Been Contacted Regarding Patrick Daley's Involvement In City Sewer Contract
Reporting
Dana Kozlov
A federal investigation is now underway over a city sewer contract that involved the son of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

As CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports, Patrick Daley and the mayor's nephew invested in Municipal Sewer Services in 2003, but one former city employee says federal investigators are asking questions about it now.
A tearful Mayor Daley, responding to reports of his son, Patrick, and nephew Robert Vanecko's investment in a sewer company that did business with the city said, "I hope those people understand that Patrick is a very good son. I love him, and Maggie and I are very proud of him. I hope you respect I have nothing more to say on this."
Now, a former city sewer worker says the FBI wants to know more about those deals, and, through his attorney, asked to interview him.
"I believe there is definitely an investigation 'cause there is no way… I felt like them contacting me showed me they're pretty serious about getting to the bottom of this," said former city worker Frank Coconate.
Coconate worked for the sewer department for 27 years but was fired in 2005. Since then, he's been a vocal Daley critic. In this case, Coconate says Municipal Sewer Services, the company Daley and Vanecko invested in, was doing taxpayer paid work for the city, even though city crews could have done the work themselves.
"Here's this kid owning a company to clean sewers when we have the equipment and the manpower sitting in the yard," Coconate said.
Coconate says when he questioned those M.S.S. crews, his bosses told him they were Daley's people, and to leave them alone.
Better Government Association investigator Dan Sprehe says questionable contracts aren't the only concern. The timing of Patrick Daley's disclosure and who, with the city, knew about his connections and when are also potential problems.
"We just are continually hit with this barrage of things that stink," Sprehe said. "Of course, the question is, with M.S.S.'s business skyrocketing, what what was behind all that?"
In a statement to employees, M.S.S. Chairman Robert Bobb acknowledges there were "a number of mistakes or oversights with regards to filings," and that the person responsible is no longer with the company. He also states Patrick Daley and Vanecko's "investments were passive" and "made long after the company had been awarded city contracts."
Mayor Daley's spokesperson, Jackie Heard, says she's not aware of any federal investigation into the matter.
As for city workers and trucks sitting idle while the private, M.S.S. crews worked instead, Heard says she's still checking on that.
The FBI told CBS 2 the agency cannot confirm or deny the existence of any investigation until an arrest is made.

---

From Chicago Clout

Neil Steinberg describes Mayor Daley exactly

Neil, your honest writing skills and perfect description of Daley is worth a second look by all Chicago Clout fans. I would not have been so nice. Mayor Daley's globetrotting is costing taxpayers money, trust me.

Daley a pitchman? Hardly December 30, 2007 BY NEIL STEINBERG Sun-Times Columnist So let me get this straight . . . the argument is that Mayor Daley is taking all these trips abroad, wandering the globe like a milkweed puff, all expenses paid by his rich pals, in order to improve the image of the city abroad and help promote business? "This builds on the marketing of Chicago," Jerry Roper, president of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, which has paid for some of the mayor's jaunts, told the Chicago Tribune. Ah, hahahahahahahaha. Does anybody really believe that? Or should I say, does anybody who has ever spent time with Daley really believe that? Chicago's mayor may have transformed the city into heaven on earth -- at least in certain spots -- but in person he's an overbearing, charmless, abrupt man who couldn't sell tuna fish to cats. Awkward in his own skin, squirming, sputtering, uncomfortable, poorly spoken, vindictive, bored, florid, disheveled, mean -- really, this is the face that Chicago is projecting to the world? At least gin up an excuse that makes sense -- he likes to be able to walk in public without people lunging to kiss his ring; Maggie likes to shop in Milan; he wants to relax in cities where he doesn't have to worry about being asked about his son Patrick's business dealings. Something plausible. But Richard M. Daley, Chicago's own Keebler elf, ringing the globe like Santa, bringing awareness of our great city to unwashed Parisians and unaware Berliners? That's a joke. Tough to buy explanation of mayor's travels -- or that he could sell city

Whistleblower files suit to get job back

December 24, 2007

Sun-Times Staff Reports

Political activist, whistleblower and now-fired city employee Frank Coconate filed suit today in an effort to get his job back. Coconate, a former city water department employee since 1978, was fired in July 2005 for allegedly falsifying work sheets and related issues.

In November, a city board upheld his termination, leading to the lawsuit filed by attorney Frank Avila Jr. in Cook County Circuit Court.

Daley Corruption at it again

Clockwise from bottom left: Joseph McInerney, Robert Vanecko, Mayor Richard M. Daley, the mayor's son Patrick Daley, and Robert Bobb. (Sun-Times files)

Sun-Times Exclusive: Daley’s son had secret deal Mayor Daley’s son Patrick had a hidden interest in a sewer-inspection company whose business with the City of Chicago rose sharply while he was an owner, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found. Patrick Daley invested in Municipal Sewer Services in June 2003, along with Robert Vanecko, a nephew of the mayor. The pair cashed out their small investment about a year later.


What about the deal with concourse communications. Pat Daley worked there and now they have the wireless contract at midway & Ohare

What about phony Alderman ??????

Alderman want to crack down on phony city stickers

December 5, 2007

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

Chicago aldermen were poised to move today to shut down a “widespread black market” in counterfeit city stickers to boost city revenues by as much as $5 million a year.

At the request of Inspector General David Hoffman and City Clerk Miguel del Valle, the City Council’s Traffic Committee was scheduled to approve an ordinance imposing stiff new penalties for those who sell and manufacture bogus stickers and against motorists who purchase and display them.

Manufacturers would face six months in prison and an unspecified forgery fine. Those who purchase bogus stickers for as little as $25 — compared to $75 for passenger vehicles and $90 for SUV’s — would face the same penalty as those who display a counterfeit temporary license plate. They would have their vehicles booted, then impounded and be slapped with a fine as high as $1,000, plus towing and storage fees.

The ordinance gives police officers and parking enforcement aides “probable cause” to believe a sticker is counterfeit “whenever the sticker is missing one of its visible security features or the emblem appears on its face to be counterfeit.” Impounded vehicles would be returned only after the owner presents proof that a valid sticker has been purchased.

Hoffman urged aldermen to tighten the noose after a yearlong investigation that identified 388 counterfeit stickers — 94 percent of them at city auto pounds and at least one on a car that belonged to a city employee.

“If this was a counterfeiting problem that appeared to be caused by one high-volume manufacturer, the best solution to this problem would be to catch and prosecute the manufacturer. But that is not the nature of the problem here,” Hoffman wrote in a report to Mayor Daley and 50 aldermen in early November.

“This is a counterfeiting problem apparently caused by a large number of small manufacturers using relatively unsophisticated equipment…In this age of Photoshop, widespread scanners and color printers, it is very easy to manufacture poor- or medium-quality counterfeits…Anyone with a color ink jet printer can make a bad quality copy of one. Apparently that is sufficient to avoid detection most of the time.”

Hoffman’s projection that a crackdown would generate as much as $4.7 million in new revenue could not come at a better time.

Daley’s 2008 budget was precariously balanced with $276.5 million worth of increased taxes, fines and fees, including a new, $120 sticker fee for SUV’s.

The inspector general launched his investigation in September, 2006 after an unidentified motorist attempted to reclaim a vehicle at a city auto pound by presenting a counterfeit sticker. An alert auto pound employee noticed that she had recently released another car with that same sticker number.

After perusing an internal database for all city auto pounds, she noticed that several other cars processed over the prior two months bore that same sticker number.

Investigators subsequently interviewed more than 50 people who came to city auto pounds to pick up vehicles bearing counterfeit stickers. A “large number” of them said they had gone to a currency exchange with the intention of buying a sticker at the full price of $75 for a passenger vehicle only to be confronted on the street outside with someone selling stickers for $25-to-$40. They bought the bogus stickers at 15 different locations.

The investigation struck paydirt at city auto pounds, but didn’t stop there.

In April, a parking enforcement aide found two cars parked on one block with the same sticker number.

“As the PEA was writing a citation on one of the cars, she was confronted by the car’s owner. The owner turned out to be another city of Chicago employee, who was off-duty and lived in the neighborhood,” Hoffman wrote. The employee’s title and identity were not revealed. A footnote states, “This matter is the subject of a separate IGO investigatory report.” Hoffman refused to elaborate.

In June and July, Chicago Police officers made two arrests for possession of bogus stickers. One of the men had 18 bogus stickers and was “in the process of selling them” near a flea market.