* The plot thickens…
City Treasurer Stephanie Neely submitted hundreds of election petitions bearing the names of two notaries who say they didn’t sign them — the same notaries who say their signatures were forged on petitions submitted by four candidates running for mayor.
The two notaries — Alex Caplan and Maricela Rodriguez — say their signatures were forged on 725 of the 2,331 petition pages that Neely submitted to city election officials last month so she could run for re-election in February. One of Neely’s petition sheets contains both Caplan’s forged signature and Rodriguez’s notary stamp.
We may be about to get to the bottom of what Mark Brown accurately called a longtime Chicago “street racket” this week - the neighborhood hucksters who make a few bucks every election doing things like circulating petitions and setting up “events.”
Neely’s campaign claims innocence, and there’s no reason yet not to believe her…
Neely’s petitions were circulated by ward organizations and volunteers, according to her spokesman Paul Stewart, who says she didn’t pay anyone to collect signatures. Stewart said he doesn’t know who gathered the petitions that bear the names of Caplan and Rodriguez.
“It’s horrible that people who say they were out helping us did something fraudulent,” he said. “Whoever turned in those sheets, it had to be the same source’’ who circulated petitions for the four mayoral candidates — former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, businessman Rob Halpin, state Sen. James Meeks and community activist Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins.
* Back when George Ryan was governor, some of his friends got themselves in trouble because they needed some untraceable (by their wives) cash to take care of their goomahs in style. All those guys made plenty of legit money, but they also thought they needed some on-the-side cash for their mistresses. By the looks of things, Phil Pagano might have had the same problem…
Metra’s longtime chief was supporting two other households in addition to his own, leaving his wife with staggering debts after he took his life, according to a lawyer for Phil Pagano’s widow.
James Mullally, who represents Barbara Pagano, made the disclosure in federal bankruptcy court last week, claiming that she was left with more than $1 million in debts.
Saying he didn’t want to get involved in “innuendo and hearsay,” Mullally said that “in addition to the household in Crystal Lake … Pagano had not one, but two additional households, one in Palatine and one in downtown Chicago,” according to a court transcript.
It wasn’t known who belonged to those households. Mullally on Monday declined to provide any names or details. Nor would he say if Barbara Pagano had determined who might belong to the “other households.”
There’s no proof yet, so keep things toned down in comments, please.
- CircularFiringSquad - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 10:33 am:
By keep it down do you mean who would want that stuffed Salami even if was picking up the tab?
- lakeview - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 10:41 am:
With Pagano, I figured it either had to be gambling or a second family, but a third? That’s crazy. And why isn’t this come to light until now?
- Levois - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 10:41 am:
You just can’t trust anyone to do your petitions, can you?
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 10:42 am:
Not to speak ill of the dead, but Pagano wasn’t exactly a Casanova in the looks department. To me, he seemed pretty lucky to have one woman in his life. I was guessing it was the casinos that caused his cash problems.
As for the street rackets, one of the things that always struck me about candidates and wannabes was how they overlooked the petition process. Most think of it as some sort of technical formality, or worse, nickle and dime work that is beneath them. In fact, it is the most crucial part of a campaign and it needs to be done correctly each and every time. You can’t outsource it. And yet…every year the same stories come up. Nobody learns.
- John Bambenek - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 10:45 am:
Palatine, huh? What is it with sex scandals and Palatine?
- Team Sleep - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 10:47 am:
This reminds me of the scene in “Goodfellas” when Ray Liotta talks extensively about keeping the girlfriends separate from the wives and how much cash it took to ensure that separation.
- Aldyth - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 10:47 am:
Whatever Pagano had going on, I am sorry his wife and family have been left with this mess to deal with.
- Ghost of John Brown - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 10:47 am:
I got to know Mr. Pagano years ago. I didn’t know him well, but he always treated me with class and dignity. Very sad. Very, very sad.
- soccermom - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 10:51 am:
This petition thing is deeply disturbing. I hope the feds are investigating — this type of illegal campaign “dirty trick” should not be tolerated.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 10:54 am:
Goo-Maud ….”God Mother” taking care of “needs”
Goo-Mah - is a Godmother, Catholic term of endearment …
This ends “Know Your ‘Girl on the Side’ Slang”
- CircularFiringSquad - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 10:58 am:
So the Treasurer fingers “ward organizations”
Which ward organizationhad ties to McKenna, Meeks, Halpin and …..Hmmm
- OneMan - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 10:58 am:
Besides the whole ‘on the side’ thing being just wrong IMHO, I guess the other question that comes to mind is who in the heck has the time?
Dealing with one ‘household’ is time consuming enough…
There is a reason your junk does not have a brain, because you are not supposed to think with it.
- Living in Oklahoma - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 11:10 am:
Simply Amazing. No wonder we are in the shape we are in.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 11:12 am:
If there’s such a thing as a three-ended candle, it sounds like Pagano was burning it.
Some guys are just adrenaline junkies. They get off on secrets, lies and getting away with it, with the risk/reward ratio far out of whack.
A rational person would have just gotten a divorce and dated, for crying out loud.
I read a book on the old Spilotro crew in Vegas. For kicks, when bored, they would go shoplifting — candy bars, gum, just junk.
These are guys who had thousands of dollars in their pockets, already led dangerous lifestyles, yet would risk violating parole and going back to prison for nothing.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 11:13 am:
“Saturday night was for wives, but Friday night at the Copa was always for the girlfriends.”
- Loop Lady - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 11:15 am:
more Italian: Coumare-friend, or paramor-the “c” sound changes to a hard “g” sound rendering goumare, Americanize spelling to Goomare
then shorten to gooma…NOW the lesson is over…
I hate to sound mean in refering to the late Mr. Pagano, but what kind of despicable creep does this to his family? I hope the creditors take pity on his family, especially his wife…
- shore - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 11:17 am:
there’s a way to deal with the pagano situation and that’s to make all top political appointees or folks making over 100k file a financial disclosure statement every year.
the petitions thing is a wow moment for me. it’s a different game in the city.
- Objective Dem - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 11:25 am:
I think it is appropriate to investigate if the “other households” were employees of Metra or another government agency. It would be appropriate to look at how they obtained their job and if their salary is appropriate.
- Objective Dem - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 11:27 am:
Shore,
I think all political appointees for the City and State already file financial disclosure statements and the threshold is far under $100k.
- cermak_rd - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 11:30 am:
I don’t have a problem with folks out on the street making a little extra cash by circulating petitions as long as they are actually getting real people to sign their real signatures.
It has always occurred to me that a good way to sabotage a campaign would be to sign up and intentionally submit bad sigs. Get enough people to do it and it could really do damage. I guess there’s a reason folks submit thousands of sigs, that way they’re guaranteed to get the statutory minimum.
- Leroy - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 11:35 am:
You got to admire Pagano’s efficiency: Crystal Lake, Palatine, and downtown Chicago are all on the NW Metra line. Must have made getting around a little bit easier. And I’m sure he got train fare for free, and could count time on the train as work.
I’d double check Park Ridge and Norwood Park and see if he has any other families there.
- Honest Abe - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 11:42 am:
The late George Dunne used to have his captains submit the petition sheets that they had circulated early and then the petition was harvested. Obviously bad sheets were culled out. Not too many organizations function like this any longer. Many others try to bury the opposition in thousands upon thousands of signatures to scare off challengers, but with computerized voting records it has become much easier to work the petitions that it was in when voting cards had to be pulled and viewed manually.
So many candidates make the fatal error of learning the election laws after filing their petitions rather than spending a few hundred dollars to meet with an attorney while they are circulating. Lawyers who are first time candidates are amongst the worst offenders actually.
- truthman - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 12:20 pm:
Why tha slam on George Ryan’s friends in connection with this story?
Seems to be an unfair comparison.
Plenty of folks in government, of both parties, have the same “problem”.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 12:22 pm:
===Seems to be an unfair comparison.===
Why?
- MrJM - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 12:33 pm:
I once told my wife that she never, ever need worry about me cheating on her because, I could never, ever deal with all of those logistical headaches.
She understood my point — and after a week of sleeping on the couch, I understood hers.
– MrJM
- Robert Hiyane - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 12:37 pm:
I thought it was Gumaud or Gumad
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 12:40 pm:
OK, I changed it.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 12:54 pm:
james -
My Goomah Lucille only had to tell me once she was my Goomah, “I am Goomah Lou or Aunt Lou, I am not your Goomaud!”
I don’t think she had a “thing” for mob movies, she just didn’t like to be called something she wasn’t.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 1:03 pm:
MrJM, you were just a little too honest, lol.
- CircularFiringSquad - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 1:06 pm:
Capt Fax must have censored the Ryan reference…btw it was Ryan’s top guy who first went to slam to protect his squeeze and then spilled his guts. What a hero
- SFW - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 1:23 pm:
Perhaps I’m being naive, but is it possible one of Pagano’s families was actually a blood relative? IE maybe he had a brother who was an idiot, and his wife didn’t want him supporting his brother. Supporting two girlfriends does seem like a stretch, particularly for a government employee.
- Aire - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 1:23 pm:
Regarding the petitions, has anyone considered that it might have been a set-up to lock up the 20 slots. They did not want any other valid candidates to run since someone interesting might turn up.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 1:38 pm:
===a set-up to lock up the 20 slots.===
Explain.
- Quinn T. Sential - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 3:19 pm:
Speaking of “street rackets” and Gumad’s, it appears as though today’s hot lunch special in Northlake was only offered on the carry out menu:
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/12/leyden-township-fire-chicago-gentlemans-club-northlake.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ChicagoBreakingNews+%28Chicago+Breaking+News%29
- Ken - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 3:38 pm:
I can’t wait for the movie Unstoppable 2 to come out. That is when the director jumps in front of the train to avoid termination, bills and his family. Wesley Snipes or Willie Nelson can play the role of Pagano.
- Aire - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 3:48 pm:
It might be a stretch….But, they use “dummy” candidates to fill the slots before other potential candidates can get their petitions in and then discredit some of them. This is all assuming that the so-called fix is in for Rahm. They wouldn’t want someone to come out of no where and be so captivating that they could win/dominate the election.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 3:50 pm:
===to fill the slots===
How do you fill slots? I have never read anything about a limit on the number of candidates who can file.
- Obamarama - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 3:57 pm:
===How do you fill slots? I have never read anything about a limit on the number of candidates who can file.===
Maybe he is confusing candidates with ballot questions–of which I believe only three are allotted per public body.
- Who Cares - Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 6:32 pm:
I don’t know what but some sort of new policies need to be put into place for petitions.
I was involved in a race and one of the candidates had 10,000 signature thrown out as bad but they still had enough to stay on the ballot. Bottom line is the candidate is responsible for what he or she turns in to the board of elections. That amount of fraud on petions is very telling about what kind of elected official that person will be.