“Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense”
“There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.”
----- Winston Churchill (British Orator, Author and Prime Minister during World War II. 1874-1965)
Whether you hate the man ...or not, I'm not sure how you obtained the video, but obviously Hansen has his platter full with embarrassment, and I don't see the need to actually drive the stake into his heart any further with this video. It's been well known he has been charged with a DUI already. Glad I don't hate anyone this much, besides the fact Pat that what goes around, comes around...and that is a fact. Seems a bit over board but this is your site...and obviously it makes you feel good. Amazing how the video fell into your lap...thought this would definitely be State Only Property... I was wrong once before... Go get'em Tiger!
Top zoning official resigns after Tribune report
August 13, 2010 8:10 PM | No Comments
A high-level Chicago zoning official resigned today, a day after allegations that he clouted an unqualified job applicant into a well-paying inspector's job were reported by the Tribune.
Michael Grochowiak resigned from his $78,000-a-year position as director of code enforcement, a spokesman for the Department of Zoning and Land Use Planning said. The resignation came after the city took steps to "discipline" Grochowiak, the spokesman said.
Probe claims zoning inspector embellished resume
August 12, 2010 8:58 PM | No Comments
When Anthony Peluso applied to be a city zoning inspector, he listed his work experience as a lifeguard, a martial arts instructor and a longtime boss at a construction company, sources say.
But Peluso's claim that he spent more than 13 years as a construction manager at his father's company was suspect -- he would have been 10 years old when he started. That didn't matter to those who clouted him into the city job over several more-qualified applicants, according to sources familiar with a probe by Chicago's top internal watchdog.
Now the inspector general is recommending Peluso and a top zoning official be fired. The No. 2 zoning department official has resigned, and another zoning employee in the case was laid off during Daley administration budget cuts before the investigation was finished.
Peluso, who's now 29 and makes more than $69,000 a year, is the latest zoning worker to come under fire by the city's Office of the Inspector General, led by former federal prosecutor Joseph Ferguson.
In Operation Crooked Code, launched by the city's previous inspector general and the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago, more than two dozen workers in the zoning and building departments have been charged in a bribery scandal since 2007.
Peluso is not charged in that federal investigation, but he is accused by the inspector general of getting the city job by falsifying his application to state that he had the required experience when he did not meet the minimum qualifications, the sources said.
Ferguson also recommended firing Michael Grochowiak, the zoning code enforcement director and a lawyer, for falsely giving Peluso's application a high rating. Grochowiak recognized that Peluso could not have been a foreman at age 10, so he simply deducted years of experience Peluso claimed instead of rejecting him, the sources said.
Reached at City Hall on Thursday, Grochowiak declined to comment. He told investigators that he did not rig Peluso's hiring but made a mistake in rating his application, the sources said. Attempts to reach Peluso and his father were unsuccessful.
Peluso and Grochowiak still work for the city, a spokesman for the Department of Land Use Planning said Thursday. The spokesman said the department has responded to the inspector general's recommendations and started disciplinary proceedings against one of the employees.
The inspector general also recommended that former Assistant Administrator Michael Tinerella, who resigned in March amid Ferguson's probe, be placed on the city's do-not-hire list. Tinerella, who was paid nearly $115,000 a year as the zoning department's second-in-command, ordered subordinates to take steps that ensured Peluso would get hired, the sources said. Tinerella did not meet with investigators.
Keerthi Ravoori, who was laid off in December 2008 after 26 years on the city payroll, made sure Peluso was among the final applicants considered for the job as instructed by Tinerella, but he cooperated with the probe, the sources said. Had Ravoori stayed on the job, the inspector general would have recommended a three-day suspension, sources said. Attempts to reach Tinerella and Ravoori were unsuccessful.
Tinerella was a friend of Peluso's father, Ralph, a former city inspector, the sources said. Peluso Builders had been a regular political donor to then-Ald. William J.P. Banks and his 36th Ward Democratic Organization. Banks was City Council Zoning Committee chairman until he retired last year. Many zoning department workers had connections to him.
The younger Peluso, whose work experience consisted of being an iron worker for one summer, a martial arts instructor and a lifeguard, claimed on his 2004 city job application to have been a manager at his father's company since 1991. But he couldn't tell inspector general investigators whether his father's company had an office or what its address was, the sources said.
Peluso is not the first case of a young man with little experience being clouted into a job during Mayor Richard Daley's tenure. In 2004, a 19-year-old and 23-year-old quit their $50,000-a-year building inspector jobs after being accused of falsifying their resumes. They were sons of Carpenters Union Local 13 officials.
THE HUGE REPUBLICAN ANTI OBAMA BACKLASH THIS NOVEMBER WILL GET DALEY UNSEATED TOO> SOMEBODY>>>ANYBODY PLEASE RUN AGAINST THIS MAYOR AND GET RID OF HIM VIA THIS VOTER BACKLASH. THE CONSERVATIVES HATE DALEY.......
Comments
“Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense”
“There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.”
----- Winston Churchill (British Orator, Author and Prime Minister during World War II. 1874-1965)
Posted by: I will vote for Scott Lee Cohen | August 13, 2010 10:23 AM
Illinois is over party politics. We need one of us in the governor's mansion. Keep it up Scott! You've got my vote!
Posted by: Renew Illinois | August 13, 2010 12:40 PM
Whether you hate the man ...or not, I'm not sure how you obtained the video, but obviously Hansen has his platter full with embarrassment, and I don't see the need to actually drive the stake into his heart any further with this video. It's been well known he has been charged with a DUI already. Glad I don't hate anyone this much, besides the fact Pat that what goes around, comes around...and that is a fact. Seems a bit over board but this is your site...and obviously it makes you feel good. Amazing how the video fell into your lap...thought this would definitely be State Only Property... I was wrong once before... Go get'em Tiger!
Posted by: Tom Plumb | August 13, 2010 1:51 PM
Top zoning official resigns after Tribune report
August 13, 2010 8:10 PM | No Comments
A high-level Chicago zoning official resigned today, a day after allegations that he clouted an unqualified job applicant into a well-paying inspector's job were reported by the Tribune.
Michael Grochowiak resigned from his $78,000-a-year position as director of code enforcement, a spokesman for the Department of Zoning and Land Use Planning said. The resignation came after the city took steps to "discipline" Grochowiak, the spokesman said.
Posted by: Nice bust Chicago Tribune | August 13, 2010 11:30 PM
Probe claims zoning inspector embellished resume
August 12, 2010 8:58 PM | No Comments
When Anthony Peluso applied to be a city zoning inspector, he listed his work experience as a lifeguard, a martial arts instructor and a longtime boss at a construction company, sources say.
But Peluso's claim that he spent more than 13 years as a construction manager at his father's company was suspect -- he would have been 10 years old when he started. That didn't matter to those who clouted him into the city job over several more-qualified applicants, according to sources familiar with a probe by Chicago's top internal watchdog.
Now the inspector general is recommending Peluso and a top zoning official be fired. The No. 2 zoning department official has resigned, and another zoning employee in the case was laid off during Daley administration budget cuts before the investigation was finished.
Peluso, who's now 29 and makes more than $69,000 a year, is the latest zoning worker to come under fire by the city's Office of the Inspector General, led by former federal prosecutor Joseph Ferguson.
In Operation Crooked Code, launched by the city's previous inspector general and the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago, more than two dozen workers in the zoning and building departments have been charged in a bribery scandal since 2007.
Peluso is not charged in that federal investigation, but he is accused by the inspector general of getting the city job by falsifying his application to state that he had the required experience when he did not meet the minimum qualifications, the sources said.
Ferguson also recommended firing Michael Grochowiak, the zoning code enforcement director and a lawyer, for falsely giving Peluso's application a high rating. Grochowiak recognized that Peluso could not have been a foreman at age 10, so he simply deducted years of experience Peluso claimed instead of rejecting him, the sources said.
Reached at City Hall on Thursday, Grochowiak declined to comment. He told investigators that he did not rig Peluso's hiring but made a mistake in rating his application, the sources said. Attempts to reach Peluso and his father were unsuccessful.
Peluso and Grochowiak still work for the city, a spokesman for the Department of Land Use Planning said Thursday. The spokesman said the department has responded to the inspector general's recommendations and started disciplinary proceedings against one of the employees.
The inspector general also recommended that former Assistant Administrator Michael Tinerella, who resigned in March amid Ferguson's probe, be placed on the city's do-not-hire list. Tinerella, who was paid nearly $115,000 a year as the zoning department's second-in-command, ordered subordinates to take steps that ensured Peluso would get hired, the sources said. Tinerella did not meet with investigators.
Keerthi Ravoori, who was laid off in December 2008 after 26 years on the city payroll, made sure Peluso was among the final applicants considered for the job as instructed by Tinerella, but he cooperated with the probe, the sources said. Had Ravoori stayed on the job, the inspector general would have recommended a three-day suspension, sources said. Attempts to reach Tinerella and Ravoori were unsuccessful.
Tinerella was a friend of Peluso's father, Ralph, a former city inspector, the sources said. Peluso Builders had been a regular political donor to then-Ald. William J.P. Banks and his 36th Ward Democratic Organization. Banks was City Council Zoning Committee chairman until he retired last year. Many zoning department workers had connections to him.
The younger Peluso, whose work experience consisted of being an iron worker for one summer, a martial arts instructor and a lifeguard, claimed on his 2004 city job application to have been a manager at his father's company since 1991. But he couldn't tell inspector general investigators whether his father's company had an office or what its address was, the sources said.
Peluso is not the first case of a young man with little experience being clouted into a job during Mayor Richard Daley's tenure. In 2004, a 19-year-old and 23-year-old quit their $50,000-a-year building inspector jobs after being accused of falsifying their resumes. They were sons of Carpenters Union Local 13 officials.
Tribune reporter Todd Lighty contributed.
--Hal Dardick
Posted by: City of Chicago Water Clout Monkey | August 13, 2010 11:31 PM
THE HUGE REPUBLICAN ANTI OBAMA BACKLASH THIS NOVEMBER WILL GET DALEY UNSEATED TOO> SOMEBODY>>>ANYBODY PLEASE RUN AGAINST THIS MAYOR AND GET RID OF HIM VIA THIS VOTER BACKLASH. THE CONSERVATIVES HATE DALEY.......
Posted by: tom ryan | August 14, 2010 6:24 PM