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Whatever happened to the city hall probe? * UPDATED x2 Harvey cops probed; Rezko sentencing set *

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Illinois

* During the closing arguments of the corruption trial of Mayor Daley’s patronage chief Bob Sorich, a federal prosecutor promised the jury that there would soon be more heads on the wall…

“For those who are there and are responsible for this scheme, there’s another day,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Philip Guentert told jurors in 2006, during closing arguments. “City Hall is chock-full of the schemers.”

That was way back in July of 2006, and as the Tribune notes today, prosecutors have since been almost completely silent…

Since then, only former Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Al Sanchez, accused of being a co-schemer, and an assistant have been charged in the probe.

Federal prosecutors rarely announce publicly when secret grand-jury investigations have ended. But in a telling sign that the hiring investigation appears over, lawyers for the Daley administration say they last heard from U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald’s office on this issue in April 2007, a month after Sanchez was indicted.

Some bigtime folks with close ties to Mayor Daley were implicated during Sorich’s trial…

Evidence at Sorich’s trial indicated that former top Daley aides Timothy Degnan, Victor Reyes and John Doerrer may have participated in the fraudulent hiring scheme, according to a government filing.

And prosecutors have been a bit chummy with Daley of late…

At the funeral of Chicago Police Detective Joseph Airhart last month, Fitzgerald and Robert Grant, the head of the FBI’s Chicago office, were seen chatting with Daley for at least 20 minutes. And during the summer, Daley spoke at the FBI’s 100th anniversary celebration at Navy Pier. After the speech, Grant and Daley posed for photographs.

* I don’t think I’m the only one who has wondered what happened with this probe. Sorich was convicted on July 6th, 2006. That very same day, George W. Bush showed up in Chicago to have dinner with Mayor Daley on the president’s 60th birthday, which seemed kinda odd at the time.

Too tinfoil hatty? I dunno.

* Meanwhile, the Daily Herald obtained some documents via the Freedom of Information Act about how former Illinois Tollway chief Brian McPartlin recused himself from awarding a contract to McDonough Associates a few days after he spoke to the company about a job. McPartlin now wants a waiver from the state ethics laws to go to work for the company. Here’s a partial timeline, but you should definitely go read the whole thing…

On June 19, McPartlin informed Illinois State Toll Highway Authority Chairman John Mitola, he was looking for a job in the private sector. With three kids approaching college age, it was crucial to “make this career move to afford them the opportunity of a college education,” his letter says. His salary was $189,000 a year.

A month passed and McPartlin executed a $592,000 contract with McDonough July 17, according to his Sept. 8 petition to the ethics commission. The firm has done more than $30 million of work for the tollway.

Two weeks later, McPartlin talked to McDonough about setting up a meeting with top executive Feroz Nathani, his petition states.

“I am well aware of the restrictions on my employment activities and the prohibition of participating in any work involving the tollway by McDonough,” McPartlin wrote to commission Executive Director Chad Fornoff.

“I do not participate personally or substantially in the decision to award contracts, nor do I, or have I, influenced any decision to award contracts. However, I am one of three individuals at the tollway (including Catuara and Mitola) authorized to execute any contract approved by the board.”

Attorney General Lisa Madigan has asked the state Ethics Commission to delay approving the waiver while she looks into the matter. That seems prudent.

*** UPDATE 1 *** From the Tribune…

Federal agents were making arrests in south suburban Harvey this morning in connection with an investigation of police corruption, authorities said. A spokesman with the Chicago office of the FBI confirmed an operation was under way and said details would be coming.

From the US Attorney’s office…

Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, will hold a press conference at 2:00 p.m. today, Tuesday December 2, 2008, to announce a significant law enforcement operation involving alleged police corruption in the south suburbs. The press conference will be held in the U.S. Attorney’s Press Conference Room on the 11th floor, north end, of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, 219 South Dearborn St., Chicago.

Full details of today’s operation, including criminal charges and a detailed press release, are expected to be distributed after noon today, and the press conference room will be open to members of the media at 1 p.m. Approximately a dozen defendants being arrested today will have their initial court appearances beginning at 3 p.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Mason in Courtroom 2214 in the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

*** UPDATE 2 *** From the AP…

A federal judge in Chicago has set a Jan. 6 sentencing for political fundraiser Tony Rezko, who helped bankroll the campaigns of Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Barack Obama.

Defense attorney Joseph Duffy says Rezko just “wants to get on with his life.” Duffy made his comments while leaving court Tuesday after Judge Amy St. Eve set the date.

Duffy, however, left open the question of whether Rezko is still cooperating with the government’s investigation of corruption in the Blagojevich administration.

* Semi-related…

* Conflict of interest: Four Illinois Supreme Court justices have been asked to withdraw from hearing an appeal of a legal-malpractice case against Corboy & Demetrio, one of the nation’s top personal-injury firms, because the justices have gotten political contributions from the Chicago firm’s attorneys.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Dec 2, 08 @ 9:31 am

Comments

If McPartlin didn’t oversee contracts at the Tollway then what did he do to earn more than the Governor?

Comment by Oken Tuesday, Dec 2, 08 @ 9:53 am
Is there anyone in the leadership of the state who has not become an expert in self dealing?

The line workers seem to be working double duty while hoping they will not be next on the layoff list, but the bosses keep asking for and getting more money than ever.

It’s like the national financial crisis. The abuses got larger and larger until the whole system collapsed. How far will it go here before the state collapses?

Comment by Plutocrat03 Tuesday, Dec 2, 08 @ 10:08 am
The Daley, Fitz and Grant conversation is intriguing. It seems to me that if Daley was on anyone’s radar, they would all avoid conversation.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Dec 2, 08 @ 10:08 am
this is not the specific press release i was waiting for from the US Attorney’s office…

nonetheless, it does further the maxim that the USAG always indicts or arrests on tuesdays and thursdays…

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Dec 2, 08 @ 10:09 am
I don’t care if I have to get in my full body tin foil suit, Bush’s birthday party signaled the end to the city hall probe with the understanding that if business as usual stops-the investigation stops. It appears both sides have kept their part of the bargain.

The downside is the hiring might have been curtailed but you can rest assured the unholy trio of Timothy Degnan, Victor Reyes and John Doerrer are busy wetting their beaks in several Chicago watering holes.

Does anyone really think these men could actually work (meaning perform a service to benefit the public) for a living.

Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Tuesday, Dec 2, 08 @ 10:30 am
Phineas do you suppose that the US attorney’s office is so busy with other corruption investigations that they just declared victory and retreated on city hiring? There is a limit to what one office can do. Now Fitz is on to cleaning up the Harvey PD - a full time job in and of itself.

Comment by Leave a light on George Tuesday, Dec 2, 08 @ 11:17 am
Leave a light on George-When a Republican President flys in to celebrate his 60th birthday with a Democratic public official that is the target of a criminal investigation being conducted by one of his appointments on the day the key potential witnesses are convicted of crimes directly related to said investigation sends a clear message to lay off. Or maybe it is just the tinfoil?

Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Tuesday, Dec 2, 08 @ 11:30 am
Oken-

Of course McPartlin oversaw contracts, and everything else, at the Tollway, most likely indirectly with probably two layers of administration below him doing the actual “administrating”. That’s what agency heads do, and what they are expected to do.

LM’s investigation should solely investigate whether there was a quid pro quo here, and whether McPartlin had a direct or indirect role in steering tollway work to McDonough.

If there is any evidence of this, McPartlin should be concerned about more than his “one year wait”. If there is no evidence of any wrongdoing, and he can show that he went through all the proper channels to get the waiver and his new job, LM will, and should, allow this to go through.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Tuesday, Dec 2, 08 @ 1:26 pm
I beleive Mr. Whoopee couldn’t be more correct in his assertions regarding Da Mare and W…it’s heartening (or not) to feel like there is someone else out there that is either just as paranoid or clever as me…

Comment by Anonymous45 Tuesday, Dec 2, 08 @ 3:57 pm