Illinois Corruption Watch: November 2014
In November, 13 of 53 Corruption Watch stories were related to policies and actions of criminal-justice authorities in Illinois.
Criminal-justice issues in Missouri, Ohio and New York dominated national headlines in November.
But headline-grabbing cases like these are far from isolated incidents. Our Corruption Watch series regularly documents instances of police misconduct and other wrongdoing within the criminal-justice system in Illinois.
In November, 13 of 53 Corruption Watch stories were related to policies and actions of criminal-justice authorities.
In Chicago, police officer Aldo Brown pled not guilty to an indictment charging him with punching and kicking a convenience-store worker; misdemeanor DUI charges were filed against an off-duty Chicago police officer accused of firing shots at another off-duty police officer; and a former Cook County Jail guard was sentenced to two years probation for ordering and taking part in the beating of a mentally ill inmate.
The village of Oak Lawn agreed to a $3 million payout to settle a lawsuit stemming from a 2010 incident wherein police officers opened fire on a suicidal man. And a former Skokie police officer was put on probation for violently shoving a woman into a concrete bench.
But November also featured stories of police officers in Illinois serving as whistleblowers on improper policies put in place by politicians or management.
In Normal, three police officers sued the town over ticket quotas. In Mount Prospect, authorities agreed to examine policies in response to a discrimination complaint by a police officer. And In Grundy County, the policy of giving police officers cash payments for extra duty came into question.
While the debate over policing strategies and civil liberties continues nationwide, these stories showcase the importance of addressing these issues in Illinois.
53. Nov. 30, 2014
Sun-Times: In hindsight, agency’s ‘2020’ land riddled with scandal
The Illinois Medical District Commission spent $8.8 million to buy back a property abandoned decades earlier by a medical school dragged into a scandal that helped bring down Gov. Rod Blagojevich, even though the obscure state agency had plenty of chances to reacquire the land for free, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found.
But the commission says it has a plan to change that. It’s giving control of the land to a group of clout-heavy developers to put up offices, hotel rooms, stores and apartments. The commission — seven people appointed by Gov. Pat Quinn, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle — won’t release terms of the deal, which could last 150 years.
52. Nov. 26, 2014
ABC 7: Blagojevich still awaiting appeal decision
It’s been nearly a year since lawyers for imprisoned former Governor Rod Blagojevich made their arguments before the Federal Appeals Court in Chicago.
“Have they reached a decision? Yes, I believe the 7th circuit has reached a decision,” said former prosecutor Ron Safer.
Safer is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney who suggests that the three appeals court judges may have reached differing conclusions in a multi-count conviction and that the chore has been finding language they all can accept.
51. Nov. 24, 2014
FOX 32: Off-duty CPD officer suspected of being drunk, firing at suburban cop near police station
An off-duty Chicago Police officer has been stripped of his arrest powers after he allegedly fired multiple times at an off-duty suburban cop who tried to pull him over after suspecting he was driving drunk, law enforcement sources said Monday.
No one was hit by the gunfire, which happened about 4 p.m. Sunday near the Chicago Police Department’s Marquette Park District station on the Southwest Side, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
50. Nov. 24, 2014
Daily Herald: Mount Prospect denies officer’s discrimination complaint
A Mount Prospect police officer has lost his appeal on discrimination claims filed earlier this year, but a village official said police department leaders hope to work with the officer to address issues raised in his complaint.
Assistant Village Manager David Strahl said he was disturbed by claims Henderson made in his appeal suggesting that fellow officers made “racial jokes and innuendos” toward him in regards to a bulletin board posting the officer found offensive.
49. Nov. 23, 2014
Sun-Times: After aid papers are forged, city colleges repay $4 million
A dispute over whether students at Kennedy-King College got more financial aid than they were entitled to has been settled with the City Colleges repaying the federal government nearly $4.3 million, the records show.
Nearly half the files failed to show Kennedy-King students qualified for the financial aid they got, according to the federal agency. Education Department officials said the files the City Colleges sent as part of their appeal “contained signatures of students and/or parents that were ‘cut and pasted’ from other documents or appeared to be forged.” Altogether, they counted 79 files with “suspect signatures.”
48. Nov. 21, 2014
Daily Herald: Councilman’s work meals cost Elgin $1,600
The city of Elgin has spent about $3,000 this year to pay for meetings conducted over meals shared by city council members and city staff members, with more than half stemming from meetings attended by one councilman.
The overall expense in 2014 is $3,063 for 81 lunches, breakfasts and dinners, according to information provided by the city. That’s an average of $37.82 per meal.
47. Nov. 21, 2014
Daily Herald: ‘I screwed up and have no defense,’ Cunningham says
Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham pleaded guilty Thursday to violating the county’s ethics ordinance for conducting campaign business using county email.
Cunningham appeared in Kane Branch Court in St. Charles before Judge Elizabeth Flood. He paid a $500 fine and $45 in court costs. “I deserve the maximum,” Cunningham told reporters afterward.
46. Nov. 20, 2014
State Journal-Register: Split court: Illinois red-light camera law stands
Red-light cameras will stay put across the state after a divided Illinois Supreme Court couldn’t reach a decision on their legality.
A one-page filing Thursday from the high court says justices considering an appeal couldn’t garner the four votes needed to render a ruling. That means a lower court ruling permitting the red-light cameras stands.
45. Nov. 20, 2014
Tribune: Oak Lawn police shooting of suicidal man costs village $3 million
Charles Petrishe was drunk and suicidal on the night his frantic wife called Oak Lawn police for help.
Earlier this month, nearly four years after the incident, the Oak Lawn Village Board quickly approved Resolution 14-29-56 without any public discussion, agreeing to a payout of $3 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Petrishe, who remarkably survived in spite of being shot six times.
44. Nov. 19, 2014
Sun-Times: Alderman candidate sorry for threats during ‘drunken breakdown’
Only days after filing the paperwork to enter the 27th Ward race and try to unseat Ald. Walter Burnett Jr., Gabe Beukinga is already facing his first campaign crisis, fueled by “drunken breakdown” where he threatened to “crush” a major developer in that ward, who he says engages in “pay to play” politics.
Beukinga is Senior Vice President at SomerCor 504, which helps small businesses secure Small Business Administration loans and his election bid has the backing of former 27th Ward Ald. Rickey Hendon, Wallace Davis Jr. and Dexter Watson.
43. Nov. 19, 2014
Tribune: Lawsuits challenge re-appointment of ousted school board member
Two lawsuits have been filed challenging the appointment last week of Kenneth Williams to the Thornton Township High School District 205 board — the same board he was ousted from last year over a decades-old felony conviction.
Williams left the board in October 2013 after a Cook County judge ruled he could not serve in the elected position because of his 1985 conviction in Indiana for aiding, inducing or causing a forgery. Under Illinois law, convicted felons generally may not hold public office unless their crimes have been pardoned.
42. Nov. 19, 2014
Sun-Times: Six months prison for tax-dodging Blago administration official
A former official in disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration is joining him in prison after he was sentenced to six months for tax evasion.
Jaime Viteri, who was appointed by Blagojevich to run the state’s Bureau of Entrepreneurship and Small Business at the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, was handed the sentence Wednesday morning for failing to file taxes in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
41. Nov. 19, 2014
Tribune: Veteran Chicago cop indicted on excessive force charges
When veteran Chicago police Officer Aldo Brown was allegedly caught on surveillance cameras punching and kicking a South Side convenience store security worker two years ago, the worker’s inevitable excessive force lawsuit cost taxpayers $100,000.
A federal indictment unveiled Wednesday accused the 12-year veteran of beating Jecque Howard at the Omar Salma convenience store in the South Shore neighborhood and then lying in a police report to cover it up.
40. Nov. 19, 2014
Tribune: Judge orders Harvey to pay Chicago $26 million in unpaid water bills
In an unusual legal battle over unpaid water bills, a Cook County judge ordered suburban Harvey on Wednesday to pay the city of Chicago $26 million — more than the troubled south suburb levies in property taxes in an entire year.
39. Nov. 19, 2014
Tribune: After Burge kept pension, Illinois House votes to curb funds for crooks
The Illinois House voted Wednesday to give the attorney general the ability to go to court to stop future cases in which a pension is being paid to a convicted public official even if a retirement board had approved payments.
The bill is inspired by disgraced former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge, who did not lose his $4,000-a-month pension despite costing the city tens of millions in legal costs because of police torture and abuse in the 1970s and 1980s. This measure would not affect Burge’s pension.
38. Nov. 19, 2014
Tribune: Higher Emanuel fees and taxes add up
As the Chicago City Council prepares to approve his latest budget Wednesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel repeatedly has reminded voters that he didn’t raise city property taxes during his first four years in office.
But that doesn’t mean homeowners haven’t had to pay. Under Emanuel, vehicle stickers cost more. Cable TV and phone taxes went up. And water and sewer fees increased significantly.
Taken together, Emanuel’s hikes mean the typical Chicago family will pay about $481 more to the city next year than it did in 2011. That’s the equivalent of a typical Chicago homeowner paying 60 percent more in city property taxes, which are nearly $800 a year for city and library services on a $250,000 home.
37. Nov. 19, 2014
Edgar County Watchdogs: Watchdogs: 2 Naperville councilmen late paying bills, so can’t serve
The authors of a government watchdog website called Illinois Leaks are challenging the eligibility of two Naperville City Council members to serve on the council based on utility bill debts uncovered through a Freedom of Information Act request.
According to documents Illinois Leaks received from the city of Naperville, council members Joseph McElroy and David Wentz have owed debts on their utility bills during the time they’ve been in office.
36. Nov. 18, 2014
State Journal-Register: Judge details IDOT monitor’s duties
A federal judge has provided details about the duties of a monitor reviewing hiring at Gov. Pat Quinn’s Department of Transportation and set a deadline for a preliminary report.
Anti-patronage attorney Michael Shakman has alleged improper patronage hiring at IDOT. Quinn’s administration eliminated some of the jobs in question but vowed to cooperate.
35. Nov. 18, 2014
The John Buck Co., a real-estate investment firm whose executives contributed substantially to the campaign of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, has earned more than $1 million in fees for managing city pension money. The details of the company’s fees emerged amid scrutiny over the propriety of the campaign contributions from company executives.
According to a newly released document from the Chicago pension system, the taxpayer fees paid to the John Buck Co. from one Chicago pension fund increased when Emanuel took office.
34. Nov. 18, 2014
International Business Times: Chicago Lawmakers Call for SEC Investigation of Mayor Rahm Emanuel
Chicago lawmakers are planning to send a formal request to the Securities and Exchange Commission for an investigation into donations to Mayor Rahm Emanuel from executives at financial firms that manage city pension money. The donations were first documented by International Business Times in a report quoting former SEC and federal prosecutors saying the contributions may run afoul of the agency’s pay-to-play rules.
The aldermen scheduled a City Hall news conference Tuesday to announce the action.
33. Nov. 18, 2014
A former Cook County Sheriff’s correctional officer was sentenced to two years of probation Tuesday for ordering two inmates to beat up another detainee and hitting the teenage victim with her police radio.
Pamela Bruce, 31, made no comment following the brief hearing before Judge James Linn, but her lawyer called her sentence “fair.”
32. Nov. 18, 2014
Tribune: Report card: Illinois schools in the hole as spending rises
Overall, more than 500 of the state’s roughly 860 districts spent more than they took in during the 2012-13 school year, struggling to cover losses in state and federal dollars and leaning more on local taxpayers. Even taking into account surpluses in other districts, the public school system’s red ink totaled $931 million, state data show. Districts that continue to operate in the red risk state intervention and other consequences.
Despite the deficits, spending per student continued to climb to an average of $12,045 statewide, with some districts in the Chicago region spending more than $20,000 per child, a Tribune analysis found.
31. Nov. 17, 2014
Forbes: The Fat Cats at College of DuPage (an Illinois Jr. College)
Gift bans be damned. It’s steaks, ribs, filet and crème brulee… for all.
In June, the College of DuPage (COD) lost a $20 million state construction grant because of corruption. In July, COD was exposed for paying up to $27,000 in fees and private membership dues at the presidents shooting club. In September, COD won a national “Golden Hammer” award for hiding $96 million in “Imprest” accounting payments that weren’t disclosed to the public or trustees. In October, COD was forced to publicly acknowledge “possible fraud” in the radio station for possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Therefore, it’s mystifying to many that the Board of Trustees and Senior Management Team have instituted zero reform measures- only Vice Chairman Kathy Hamilton has battled for reform. But thanks to the information made available by the Edgar County Watchdogs, we are starting to gain insight into how the elected trustees and entire management/oversight structures at COD have “gamed the system for personal gain.”
30. Nov. 17, 2014
Department of Justice: Centralia Man Sentenced For Defrauding Taxpayers
Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that on Friday, November 14, 2014, Jody Ray Wooters, 46, of Centralia, Illinois, was sentenced in United States District Court in East St. Louis, Illinois on one count of Health Care Fraud. Wooters was sentenced to six months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Wooters was also ordered to pay $53,098.15 in restitution back to the State of Illinois and a $100 special assessment.
29. Nov.17, 2014
FOX Chicago: Cicero animal shelter accused of neglect
It’s called the Waggin’ Tails Animal Shelter in Cicero.
However, some of the people who volunteered there have another name for it — “The Cicero Slaughterhouse.”
The shelter is owned and operated by the town of Cicero, and it’s run by a woman who apparently had no experience in animal care when she was appointed in 2009. However, she did have plenty of experience working in local politics.
28. Nov. 17, 2014
Tribune: Steven Salaita files lawsuit against the University of Illinois
Controversial professor Steven Salaita, whose job offer at the University of Illinois was rescinded after he made anti-Israel comments on social media, filed a lawsuit Monday alleging that the university has violated the state’s open records law.
The lawsuit, filed in Champaign County court, contends the university failed to comply with the Illinois Freedom of Information Act by refusing to produce documents that Salaita’s attorneys requested. State law requires government bodies, including public universities, to disclose records related to decisions, policies and other government activity upon request.
27. Nov. 17, 2014
Tribune: 3rd Ingleside teacher surrenders after being charged with failure to report abuse
The third of three Ingleside teachers charged with failure to report suspected child abuse by another teacher has surrendered to authorities, prosecutors said Monday.
The teachers, who at one point all taught at Gavin South Middle School, are accused of knowingly and willfully failing to report the abuse allegedly committed by fellow teacher Michael R. Vucic.
26. Nov. 17, 2014
Tribune: Lake Co. officer pulls over bus to deliver son’s lunch: authorities
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a complaint that one of its formerly top-ranking officers pulled over a school bus while on its route in Johnsburg — outside his jurisdiction — to deliver lunch to his son onboard, according to authorities and a police report.
Lt. Brian Keller used his unmarked black Dodge Charger with emergency lights to conduct a traffic stop about 7 a.m. Tuesday at McCullom Lake and Ringwood roads in Johnsburg in McHenry County, according to a Johnsburg police report filed Thursday by the bus driver.
25. Nov. 17, 2014
Sun-Times: Fire Chicago cop with rap sheet, Supt. Garry McCarthy urges
In 17 years as a Chicago cop, Richard A. Rizzo has been investigated 29 times over accusations he violated police department rules.
He’s been suspended seven times — for a total of 52 days — and has three additional disciplinary cases still pending.
Now, more than a decade after the officer’s first suspension, Supt. Garry McCarthy is moving to fire Rizzo, who was a subject of the Chicago Sun-Times’ “Tarnished Badges” investigation last year.
24. Nov. 16, 2014
Tribune: Second woman alleges abuse at Hubbard Woods School
Another person has made a claim to police in Winnetka that a longtime former teacher, now charged with sex crimes against two other children, had inappropriate physical contact with her when she was a student at Hubbard Woods School decades ago.
Bricker, now 94, is accused of taking “immoral and indecent liberties” with two boys in 1962 and 1985 in Wyoming where he worked as a summer camp counselor. Bricker, who spent decades at Hubbard Woods School and as a Boy Scout leader in Winnetka, was arrested at a nursing home in Michigan in September and is fighting extradition to Wyoming.
23. Nov. 13, 2014
Executives at investment firms that manage Chicago pension funds have since 2011 poured more than $600,000 in contributions into Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s campaign operation and political action committees (PACs) that support him, according to documents reviewed by International Business Times. These contributions appear to flout federal rules banning companies that manage pension funds from financing the campaigns of officials with authority over pension systems, say legal experts.
The contributions also potentially conflict with an executive order Emanuel himself signed in 2011 prohibiting city contractors and subcontractors from making campaign donations to city officials.
22. Nov. 13, 2014
Tribune: Tales differ on conditions at Cook County Jail
For two days, a federal judge listened to inmates testify about allegedly rampant abuse at the Cook County Jail — from gang fights among prisoners to guards with hair-trigger tempers who use violence to instill fear and control.
Then last week the same judge heard an entirely different story. A court-appointed federal monitor praised how the jail investigates use of force by guards, calling its methods the best in the nation, and concluded that significant progress had also been made in quelling inmate-on-inmate attacks and disciplining rogue officers.
21. Nov. 12, 2014
Bloomington Pantagraph: Police: Township supervisor funneled town business to himself
A Ford County township supervisor faces a felony charge of official misconduct after police said he funneled town business to a company he owns.
Dean Swan, who was arrested Friday, also is accused of felony violations of the Public Officer Prohibited Activities Act. He posted $3,000 and was released Saturday.
Swan, who also is a 20-year-member of the Paxton-Buckley-Loda Board of Education, “is accused of not disclosing his financial relationship with businesses hired to complete work for Button Township and the PBL school district,” according to an Illinois State Police news release. but ISP Master Sgt. Jeff Padilla with the investigations division said he’s not aware of any misconduct related to the school district.
20. Nov. 12, 2014
Bloomington Pantagraph: Three NPD officers sue town over alleged quotas
Three Normal Police Department patrol officers have filed a lawsuit against the town alleging they have been improperly disciplined for failing to meet arrest quotas.
Officers Deborah Weir, Brian Larimore and Todd VanHoveln filed the lawsuit in McLean County Circuit Court. It accuses the department of violating their rights under the state’s Whistleblower Act that protects workers from retaliation for reporting what they believe to be illegal acts.
Each of the night shift patrol officers claims in the lawsuit they have been disciplined for failure meet a minimum number of monthly arrests for traffic, criminal and ordinance violations.
19. Nov. 12, 2014
Sun-Times: Only in Cicero? Convicted ex-police chief pins badge on son
Former Cicero police chief Emil Schullo went to prison for two corruption schemes involving a reputed Cicero mob chief.
On Tuesday, the convicted felon pinned a new badge on his son’s crisp Cicero Police Department dress uniform as Cicero President Larry Dominick looked on.
18. Nov. 12, 2014
ABC 7: Former Skokie cop gets probation for shoving woman into bench
A former Skokie police officer received two years’ probation for shoving a woman into a concrete bench.
Michael Hart was seen on video pushing Cassandra Feuerstein after she was arrested in March 2013 for drunken driving. Feuerstein hit her face on the bench, breaking her eye socket and loosening some teeth.
17. Nov.12, 2014
Tribune: CTA cracks down on abuse of free, reduced-fare rides
The CTA is cracking down on fraud involving free-ride and reduced-fare Ventra cards, a problem fueled by schemes and illegal card-sharing that costs the agency millions of dollars a year, officials are set to announce Wednesday.
Newly implemented rail station enforcement stings have led to about 1,800 cards being confiscated in the past month or so, officials said. However, the CTA said, thousands more cards whose use patterns suggest fraud are still circulating.
16. Nov. 11, 2014
Daily Journal: Cash payments to sheriff’s deputies being investigated
Cash payments made to Grundy County sheriff’s deputies, a decades-old practice at the sheriff’s department, are being investigated by the county’s state’s attorney’s office.
It was brought to the attention of Grundy County officials last month that sheriff deputies were being paid in cash for after-hours work for Exelon Dresden Generating Station, a nuclear power plant near Coal City.
15. Nov. 10, 2014
US DOJ: Belleville Woman Admits To Defrauding Taxpayers
Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that on November 10, 2014, Connie D. Evans, 50, of Belleville, Illinois, pled guilty to an indictment charging that she engaged in a scheme to commit health care fraud. Sentencing has been set for February 5, 2015, in United States District Court in East St. Louis, Illinois. Evans will face up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and up to 3 years of supervised release.
During her plea hearing, Evans admitted that she had submitted false and fraudulent bills in relation to her alleged performance of personal assistant services in the Home Services Program, a Medicaid Waiver Program designed to allow individuals to stay in their homes instead of entering a nursing home. Evans admitted to falsely billing the program between November 15, 2012 and May 15, 2013. The indictment charges that Evans submitted claims for 140 hours of personal assistant services during times when the customer was in a medical treatment facility receiving dialysis treatments.
14. Nov. 10, 2014
Sun-Times: House ethics panel probes Rush’s free office rent for 20 years
The House Ethics Committee released details Monday of its investigation of U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., with the focus on whether he improperly received free rent for decades on a South Side office — something brought to light by a Chicago Sun-Times / Better Government Association investigation last December.
The bipartisan ethics panel also announced Monday it will continue its investigation of Rush, disclosing reports from the Office of Congressional Ethics concluding there was “substantial reason” to believe the free rent amounted to impermissable in-kind contributions, gifts or special favors.
13. Nov. 10, 2014
ABC 7: Fraud allegations emerge in tight Treasurer’s vote count
With reports indicating only a few hundred votes now separate the major party candidates, the Republican’s campaign alleges some voters in suburban Cook County cast ballots more than once.
After the initial count election night, Cross led State Senator Mike Frerichs by 22 thousand votes out of more than 3.4 million cast, a percentage difference of less than one percent.
But as mailed-in ballots were counted over the weekend, the Cross lead narrowed, reportedly to fewer than 700 votes statewide as absentee ballots cast in suburban Cook County and the city of Chicago overwhelmingly favored Democrat Frerichs.
12. Nov. 9, 2014
Sun-Times: While some Koschman cops await fate, many get big pensions
Nine months after a nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, not a single cop has been disciplined for letting Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko get away for nearly 10 years with killing David Koschman.
But only 21 of the cops and other police officials identified by Webb remain on the city payroll, still subject to possible disciplinary action. Their salaries total more than $2.2 million a year.
Twenty-eight others have retired and are collecting pensions totaling $2.6 million a year. Another has died, one is on disability, and two others have left the department.
11. Nov. 7, 2014
Sun-Times: Election judge robocaller ID’d, but case still full of mystery
The phone call that set off the big whodunit of the 2014 Illinois general election might sound innocuous enough.
But those words, Chicago election officials contend, were part of a “serious attempt to disrupt the voting process” that has touched off at least one criminal investigation and prompted Mayor Rahm Emanuel to demand answers.
Parrilli, 68, is the 19th Ward Republican committeeman and an unsuccessful candidate for a seat on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District in Tuesday’s election. I’m told it’s indeed his voice on that recording and two others obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
10. Nov. 7, 2014
CBS: Rep. Ford To Be Sentenced In Tax Case
Three days after being re-elected, Illinois state Rep. La Shawn Ford will learn if he’ll have to spend time behind bars for shortchanging the Internal Revenue Service of $3,782.
Friday’s sentencing in federal court in Chicago comes after prosecutors agreed to let Ford plead guilty to a lone misdemeanor tax charge. In return, they’re dropping nearly 20 felony bank-fraud charges that could have landed Ford in prison for decades.
9. Nov. 6, 2014
Sun-Times: Obama pal Eric Whitaker stonewalls feds in grant-fraud case
Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, one of President Barack Obama’s closest friends, has refused to answer federal prosecutors’ questions about whether he had a “sexual relationship” with a former aide who pleaded guilty to stealing $400,000 in taxpayers’ money in a scheme that began when Whitaker was her boss at the Illinois Department of Public Health, court records show.
Prosecutors announced the bribery and theft charges against Quinshaunta R. Golden, who’d been Whitaker’s chief of staff at the state agency, on Aug. 7, 2013. The following day, Whitaker told reporters he was “fully cooperating” in the federal investigation.
8. Nov. 4, 2014
Illinois Attorney General: Lake County Clerk in Violation of Election Code
Attorney General Lisa Madigan today filed two complaints alleging Lake County Clerk Willard Helander is illegally interpreting the requirements of the Illinois Election Code. The Circuit Court has so far ruled on one complaint, granting Madigan’s request for a restraining order to bar the county election official from depriving voters of their right to cast a regular ballot on election day.
“The Lake County Clerk is failing to follow the law,” said Attorney General Madigan. “These illegal practices risk disenfranchising voters throughout the county. I have asked the court to act immediately to protect Lake County residents’ right to have their vote be counted.”
7. Nov. 4, 2014
A former south suburban school teacher and coach has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for repeatedly sexually abusing a 14-year-old female student, according to the Office of Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.
Idris Bridgeforth, 42, of Riverdale, was previously convicted after a bench trial of Criminal Sexual Assault (Class 1 Felony), two counts of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse (Class 2 Felony), and Indecent Solicitation of a Child (Class 2 Felony).
According to prosecutors, Bridgeforth was the victim’s basketball and track coach and frequently drove the victim to and from sporting events. On multiple occasions over the course of more than one year, Bridgeforth inappropriately touched and sexually abused the victim while they were in his vehicle.
6. Nov. 4, 2014
Sun-Times: City: ‘Dirty trick’ on judges illegal, 6 precincts stay open late
Mysterious calls giving thousands of election judges false information leading them not to show up in the city on Election Day, warrants a criminal investigation, Chicago Board of Election Commissioners spokesman Jim Allen said.
Allen said the board is seeking court authority to open six polling places for a longer period of time because of robocalls that led to thousands of election judges not showing up to work. However, those votes will be considered “provisional ballots,” he said.
5. Nov. 3, 2014
Tribune: School district: $81K spent because old phone service not canceled
A south suburban school board president last month pointed to the results of a phone service audit and claimed the district had found a way to save thousands of dollars per year.
But after follow-up questions and an open records request from the Tribune, the Orland Park district acknowledged it had needlessly spent $81,000 because it hired a new phone service provider and forgot to cancel the old one for more than a year.
Most of the savings to the taxpayer will come from fixing the mistake and simply canceling the old service, not through creative belt-tightening.
4. Nov. 3, 2014
Sun-Times: Insiders game has no ending
Now this week comes another Chicago Sun-Times story, by investigative reporter Tim Novak, that three politically connected firms are getting a nice slice off the top of Chicago Public Schools spending on small renovation projects.
And, no surprise, all three firms — Lend Lease, Jacobs Project Management Co. and URS Corp. — just happen to have serious clout (there’s that word again).
Among Lend Lease’s 22 employees is Peter Ousley, a deputy city buildings commissioner under former Mayor Richard M. Daley and later chief of staff and chief operating officer for CTA president Richard Rodriguez.
3. Nov. 3, 2014
State Register-Journal: Chicago official: Election judges got ‘intimidating’ calls
The chairman of Chicago’s board of elections says a number of city election judges received “intimidating” phone calls over the weekend that prompted some to quit.
Langdon Neal told reporters Monday that dozens of party-affiliated judges who help oversee polling places received calls instructing them to attend additional training sessions. The callers also told them to only vote for the party for which they serve as judges.
2. Nov. 2, 2014
Sun-Times: Clout consultants cash in on CPS rehabs
After five years as a top Chicago Public Schools executive, Sean Murphy now runs his own company.
But he’s still doing work for the school system, overseeing design for small remodeling projects at schools across the city as a subcontractor to URS Corporation under its contract with the Chicago Board of Education.
The pay: $338,000 a year.
1. Nov. 2, 2014
Tribune: Tinley Park Disposal received no-bid contracts for years
In 2011, Tinley Park concluded its residents were paying more for garbage collection than people in neighboring towns.
But instead of trying to find a less expensive alternative, the village rehired the same garbage collection company, a firm tied to a political insider, without any competitive bidding. That contract extension in 2011, worth an estimated $24 million, won’t expire until 2019.
A Tribune review of records found that the garbage company, Tinley Park Disposal, has continued to receive no-bid contract extensions for nearly two decades. The company was founded by Al Siegers, who has been a volunteer village commissioner since 1993, just a few months before his business inked its first deal with Tinley Park. Siegers also is a campaign contributor and friend to longtime Tinley Park Mayor Ed Zabrocki.