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How the big money is made

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Illinois

* Smalltime stuff like patronage hiring and promotions do add up, but this is how the real money is made in Chicago…

Mayor Richard Daley took an hourlong boat ride on the Chicago River in fall 1997 and came back with a vision of improving the riverfront in the city’s neighborhoods.

Just about that time, Thomas DiPiazza, an ally of Daley’s, also took an interest in the riverfront, buying a highly contaminated piece of land that was slated to become a public park under the mayor’s plan. […]

DiPiazza and a partner bought the vacant, odd-shaped property in Daley’s native Bridgeport neighborhood for $50,000 in 1998. Six years later, the city paid them $1.2 million for the land.

As you might imagine, DiPiazza is hooked in but good. According to the article, his father was a prominent Democrat under the old Mayor Daley. DiPiazza and Tim Degnan have reportedly been doing real estate deals for years.

* The two men were recently sued by a developer who claimed that DiPiazza and Degnan shook them down for kickbacks and then shut down his project when he wouldn’t pony up. The suit was dismissed by a judge who claimed the two men “have no authority to make governmental decisions.”

* The way the appraisals worked on the DiPiazza property will make your whole day…

City Hall hired four appraisers to determine how much it should pay for the land. The first, in 1999, turned in an estimate of $220,000. In 2002 another appraisal report put the value at $520,000.

Two other appraisers reviewed and approved the $520,000 estimate, including Francis Lorenz Jr., who told the city in July 2003 that he agreed with the figure. DiPiazza and Ferro said they would sell their land for $520,000 at that time, but the city did not respond to the offer, Kralovec said.

Eight months later, in March 2004, Lorenz submitted another estimate, tripling the value to $1.6 million.

Amazing.

According to the article, the state gave the city a grant to pay for the land, which is still not yet converted to a park.

DiPiazza, a Bridgeport native and former sewer worker, drives a Bentley and a Ferrari, according to the Trib.

* More reform and renewal stories, compiled by Paul…

* Rep. Fritchey: Governor should issue executive order on pay-to-play

* Tribune Editorial: Protecting Illinois sleaze

* Editorial: Now is the time for Illinois to approve ethics reform

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 9:04 am

Comments

The Pantagraph Editorial Board wrote, “We shouldn’t wait for another governor or Illinois public official to be indicted before updating reform laws.”

This is one example of why we need a system of legally binding initiative and referendum here in Illinois. Illinois citizens have twice clearly indicated that they want this.

Comment by Squideshi Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 9:19 am
From Wikipedia:

George Washington Plunkitt (1842-1924) was a long-time State Senator from the U.S. state of New York, representing the Fifteenth Assembly District, who was especially powerful in New York City. He was part of what is known as New York’s Tammany Hall machine.

Plunkitt became wealthy by practicing what he called “honest graft” in politics. He was a cynically honest practitioner of what today is generally known as “machine politics,” patronage-based and frank in its exercise of power for personal gain. In one of his speeches, quoted in Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, he describes the difference between dishonest and honest graft as working solely for one’s own interests and working for the interests of one’s party, state, and personal interest whenever they can.

He made most of his money through land purchases, which he knew would be needed for public projects. He would buy such parcels, then resell them at an inflated price. (This was “Honest Graft”. “Dishonest Graft” according to Plunkitt, would be buying land and then using influence to have a project built on it.) Plunkitt was also a big party man, believing in appointments, patronage, spoils, and all of the corrupt practices that were curtailed by the civil service law. He saw such practices as both the rewards and cause of patriotism. He hated the civil service system that he believed would be the downfall of the entire United States governmental system.

The positive side of machine politics, as Plunkitt saw it, was the closeness between political bosses and their constituencies. He cites how Tammany bosses such as himself would assist the poor of New York in immediate and necessary ways (such as by providing emergency loans) while others, such as social reformers and the federal government, would only push for long-term improvements in the situation of the urban poor. Similarly, he argues that the machine listened to and defended the poor while others regarded them from a distanced, patronizing point of view. Thus, Plunkitt regarded the fragmented and independent format of machine governance to be the most perfect form of urban administration possible.

Plunkitt is also remembered for the line he used to defend his actions: “I seen my opportunities and I took ‘em.”

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 9:22 am
This stuff makes most corporate insider trading look small-time.

Comment by Greg Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 9:26 am
“We shouldn’t wait for another governor or Illinois public official to be indicted before updating reform laws.”

Why bother? The last governor was indicted and convicted, and still has yet to serve a day of his term. And probably won’t ever.

I say do nothing at let the system continue to rot. Only after a violent death will something better and stronger be reborn.

Comment by Johnny USA Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 9:42 am
The more we expect governments to do for us, the worst the level of corruption becomes within governments. How can we continue to expect governments to set up one social program after another and not realize how we set ourselves up for failure?

If Enron was a government agency, it would still be in business, wouldn’t it?

Our expectations on government graft and theft is too lenient. We have allowed issues of corruption to become politicized and often reduce it’s impact by partisanship. We actually blame large corporations for corrupting our governments, instead of vice versa, don’t we?

Instead of recognizing how businesses are blackmailed by the reality of power government regulations over them and hence the need for them to satisfy hungry campaign coffers for fear of retribution, we often only seem to see these corrupt bargains in terms of what the businesses got from government officials.

The larger we make governments, the more they rule not only over us, but over businesses within their jurisdictions. The larger we allow governments to become, the bigger the corrupt payoffs to government insiders and politicians.

Those who wish to see us provided from cradle to grave with presumptive government “freebies”, need to also recognize how their so-called societal policies cause us to lose vast amounts of our salaries in government corruption. Want “free” health care for all? Then be prepared to wake up one day and discover how the billions we were forced to feed this system had been wasted and stolen.

The bigger the governments, the less freedom and money you have, and the bigger the failures and thefts. It isn’t a political issue, it is simply a matter of reality.

If you are a pro-government supporter, and have been demonizing businesses and their profits with calls for taxes and power over them, you are either too naive to recognize the level of government corruption you favor, or just stupid.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 9:53 am
Does anyone else get the sense that we — citizens of Illinois and the Chicago Metro area incl. DuPage Co. — have been living in a Golden Age financed by wishful thinking and willful ignorance?

And that it is all about to come crumbling down?

Rome didn’t burn in a day.

– SCAM

Comment by so-called "Austin Mayor" Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 10:06 am
Stop the complaining! Why shouldn’t a “World Class City” have “World Class” corruption? You should all be proud of how far we have come.

You all love the Mayor, whether you want to or not, and we will consider this matter as closed.

Comment by Anon Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 10:14 am
LOL. Funny. I hope nobody takes that snark seriously.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 10:14 am
Which snark? VanillaMan’s?

Not at all

Comment by Leroy Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 12:33 pm
The kicker, which I don’t recall reading in the Trib article, was that Peoples’ Gas is paying to clean up the property. So DiPiazza bought a piece of highly contaminated property for 50K (which you would think had some factor in the purchase price) and turned it, as if it were clean, for a cool million+.

Comment by team america, world police Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 3:02 pm
Next you’ll say Fast Eddie V ws the lawyer and da guys don’t pay enough taxes. Wonder why it took the Trib 10 years to figure it out? Maybe ’cause the Speedway Wreckers got a little less for their ranchette

Comment by Reddbyrd Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 3:39 pm
Who did those two guys but the property from? People’s Gas?

When People’s pays for the clean up — we all do, through our gas rates, fools.

Comment by Truthful James Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 4:00 pm
Very small potatoes compared to Tim Degnan and Jeremiah Joyce, very small indeed.

Comment by Shecky Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 5:59 pm
Raise taxes, mama needs a new pair of shoes - to drive in my brand new Bentley/Ferrari. Corruption is the name of the game - how sad for the tax payers.

Comment by revenue rouser Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 7:41 pm
Redd, you are on a roll today.

I don’t know whether to be happy or ashamed that I can unscramble all the code.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 9:38 pm
I have lost faith in Fitgerald. Ryan still out and he cant put a case together against Daley Blago or Stroger machines. I hope I eat my words but Things like this are never going to change because the machine takes care of people with jobs and then gets out the vote to stay in power. sadly most in chicago cook and ill. are to ignorant or lazy to care.

Comment by fed up Wednesday, Oct 24, 07 @ 10:00 pm