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Hello again to all Chicago Clout Fans.

I have taken a few days off to relax and get some private time. A soon as I as took time off to recompose myself, several situations emerged. A current Chicago employee feels he is followed and is harassed by management. We a currently helping this person get the help needed. Some bosses think they can muscle employees, they have not been properly trained, just promoted because of clout. Another issue indirectly involved Emory Joe Yost, a personal friend of mine. Kevin Long was allegedly attempting to take knives into a Daley Center in Chicago. Joe was mentally and financially tortured by Kevin Long for years. In Chicago, employees are denied promotions when they stand up and protect the taxpayers and the children. I believe the Chicago Park District behavior against Emory Joe Yost has been criminal and retaliatory. The Chicago judicial community is tightly wound and when Kevin Long pulled his tricks on one of their members, it was finally time to apply the long arm of the law. I think the Chicago Park District owes a great deal of gratitude to Joe Yost. If you review some videos we have on Chicago Clout, you will see we touched on the Kevin Long situation months ago. I thank the Sun-Times Staff for interviewing Joe. During my rest break, I really noticed some differences in America. I noticed many signs for massages, x-rated material, and lotto sales. Many of the billboards are blank or in disrepair. Many of the hotels are out of business. Gas stations are filthy and the bathrooms stunk. Some the hotels and motels were partially demolished and abandoned. Route 41 in Sarasota was loaded with crime and felt dangerous. Many of the thriving businesses are gone and boarded up. Vacant land, abandoned homes and businesses, property values destroyed all over. I missed all the prefabricated homes and the new boats that were towed down the expressways. I was amazed by the lack of crowds at the beaches. The roads had dead animals and truck tires everywhere. The level of service has dropped. I wonder where America's wealth has gone. When I got back to Chicago, I had a pair of fresh eyes on things that need to get accomplished. Chicago is clearly working in a panic as the impending ax must fall and City Workers will take the brunt of the blame and terminations. I noticed unmarked cars following crews with their clipboards taking notes. Bosses are harassing workers and Daley has every department clearly in a panic. It is hard to determine if the new management style of the new Inspector General will ever match the professionalism and independence of David Hoffman. The legal fees to Daley's private contracted law firms are going to go through the roof defending lawsuits as City employees mistrust of unions continue. The Daley Administration is attempting to discredit workers and play the blame game to cover the years of mismanagement. This is going to be a amazing year in Chicago politics.

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Archive for Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Tommie Talley was under probe for allegedly overseeing private work done with city crews
By Hal Dardick
February 17, 2010

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The Daley administration on Wednesday moved to fire a political operative with ties to felonious former Ald. Isaac Carothers, 29th, from his high-paying job in the city’s water management department.

Deputy Commissioner Tommie Talley has five days to respond to the dismissal, after which Water Management Commissioner John Spatz will make a final decision on his employment, department spokesman Tom LaPorte said.

Spatz’s decision to fire Talley came after a recommendation for disciplinary action from Inspector General Joseph Ferguson. The office was investigating Talley for allegedly overseeing “side jobs” — private work done with city materials and crews, sources familiar with the probe said.

One of those alleged side jobs was done nearly two years ago at Nativity of Our Lord Roman Catholic Church, in the 11th Ward, Mayor Richard Daley’s native turf. Pastor Dan Brandt said Wednesday that water department workers checked on problematic water pipes in April 2008 but the church paid a private contractor “over $10,000” to make the repairs.

Talley, who had worked for the city since 1981 and was being paid nearly $128,000 to oversee water mains and sewers throughout the city, could not be reached.

Talley often was seen at City Hall with Carothers, who this month pleaded guilty to accepting bribes for a zoning change in his 29th Ward.

When Talley sought a promotion in 1993, he was backed by Carothers, according to a “clout list” once kept in the mayor’s office that was entered into evidence during the 2006 trial of Daley’s former patronage chief, Robert Sorich.

Carothers, a Streets and Sanitation Department official when the list was drawn up, was a ward coordinator for Daley’s 1995 re-election campaign.

Nearly five years ago, Talley was suspended for 15 days for what officials said was a failure to exercise proper supervision as part of a city investigation into a time-sheet scam at the Jardine Filtration Plant. That scandal also led to the firing of Water Management Commissioner Richard Rice and nine employees.

Tribune reporter Todd Lighty contributed.

hdardick@tribune.com

jebyrne@tribune.com

February 17, 2010

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
The Daley administration moved Wednesday to fire a $127,824-a-year deputy water commissioner accused of dispatching city crews to do drain work on private property.

Tom Talley, who has longstanding ties to John Daley's 11th Ward Regular Democratic Organization, was accused of ordering at least three jobs on private property. One of those side-jobs involved Nativity of Our Lord, the Bridgeport parish church of the Daley family.

In the 2006 trial that culminated in the conviction of Mayor Daley's former patronage chief, Talley was accused of helping to rig city hiring. In 2005, he was suspended for 15 days for failing to exercise proper supervision over employees at the Jardine Water Filtration Plant accused of participating in a payroll scam.

Many of those employees were assigned to a 24-hour "leak desk" dominated by 11th Ward loyalists. The cushy assignment called for answering phones and prioritizing repair requests.

Inspector General Joe Ferguson recommended that Talley be fired, sources said.

Get readt city workers, your vacation time is about to be taken away from you. Sad, very sad.