Chicago Plumbing Inspector Michael McGann hired Frank Avila Jr. as his lawyer. What is Plumber's Local 130 doing about this unfair punishment? The shameful treatment to a professional Chicago employee doing the right thing needs further investigation. Chicago Sun-Times superstar Fran Spielman hits the nail on the head. JONATHON BRANDMEIER attempted to contact Michael McGann, but this is not a joke. Chicago school children deserve clean drinking water like the rich white kids. Read Fran Spielman's take below, Patrick McDonough Whistleblower suspended 18 days
CITY | Plumbing inspector punished after reporting on violations at school
February 19, 2008
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
An $85,068-a-year Chicago plumbing inspector who uncovered two pages of building-code violations that left 1,100 children at Jose de Diego Community Academy without water for weeks has been hit with back-to-back suspensions of three and 15 days.
Michael McGann said Monday the actions are in retaliation for his faxing a copy of his inspection report to the school's principal, talking with a Chicago Sun-Times reporter about the threat of disciplinary action and cooperating with an inspector general's investigation into what McGann calls "a rash of" substandard cast-iron pipe being used on city jobs.
The Sun-Times reported in late November that McGann faced disciplinary action for violating internal rules that prohibit preliminary inspection reports from being shared with outsiders until they're officially approved.
McGann said he gave the Oct. 24 report to de Diego principal Alice Vera so she could use the information to expedite repairs that had languished for weeks at the 116-year-old school at 1313 N. Claremont.
On Jan. 18, McGann was told he was being suspended for three days. McGann said he pulled out a tape recorder because, "I wanted a record of the event — who was saying what, who was issuing what."
The inspector said he served his suspension even as he filed an appeal with the same officials who suspended him.
Then, on Friday, he was hit with another suspension, this time for 15 days. Among other things, he was accused of "borderline insubordination" for taping the earlier meeting.
Found E. coli
"They're trying to get rid of me because I'm honest, and I'm exposing corruption," McGann said. "They were totally disregarding the health and safety of students in that school, using plumbing contractors they want to put Band-Aids on it. Eighty days after the water main broke, I showed up and found E. coli bacteria in three different locations. There was still contaminated drinking water in that school. They had a full kitchen and swimming pool they couldn't use."
Building Department spokesman Bill McCaffrey said McGann "is not being punished for sending that report out," nor is he being targeted for blowing the whistle on alleged wrongdoing.
One Reply to “Chicago Drinking Water for children deadly? Whistleblower punished again by Mayor Daley?”
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Do you really want the corruption to end?
“re ignore-ranter
February 25th – 2:44 a.m.
It’s not that Tony Peraica is ‘perfect’, we don’t need him to be ‘perfect’.
It’s that Alvarez will do nothing to investigate, indict and prosecute criminal corruption in our city and county governments.
‘Nothing’, concerning said corrupt activities, being what she, and her co-workers, including her boss Devine, have been doing for 20+ years now.
So, given the choice between more nothing being done, via Alvarez being elected, and something certainly being done, via Peraica gaining the authorities of the County State’s Attorney’s office, I’ll take something over nothing every time.
The fact that Tony Peraica is verifiably not Alvarez, verifiably not Devine, or Milan, or anyone incestuously connected to the Crook County Democratic Corruption Machine, is more than enough for me to cast my vote for Peraica and to encourage every honest resident of this city and county to do the same.
That is, if you, the city or county resident actually want to have the chance to see substantially honest city and county governments, for the first time in several generations.
Yes, it sounds like fantasy, to most all of the residents of this city and county.
That’s because of the pathetic, generational ‘doing nothing’ that our County State’s Attorney’s office has been for decades.
Why do you think little Richie made the move from the State Legislature to the comparative obscurity of the office of a County State’s Attorney?
It wasn’t only because he used it as a stepping stone to the mayor’s office, albeit one that took a bit longer than he, and his cronies, had planned it would take, what with Jane Byrne throwing a monkey wrench in their plans, thus ‘allowing’ Harold Washington to win City Hall, twice.
It was primarily to have a major ‘playa’ in this office, there to protect the various and numerous activities of ‘all the usual suspects’.
It’s worked, so far.
Peraica is the best, most recently viable chance we have, of intterupting the flow of our hard-earned dollars down the drain of the gigantic black hole that is our city and county governments.
This is the moment, boys and girls, to get registered to vote and to vote in Peraica.
Anything less and we can say hello, once again, to ‘business as usual’.
If you’re one of those bloodsuckers feeding at the taxpayer financed trough, you’ll, no doubt, be busting the balls you don’t have, putting in boo coo hours of your paid, and unpaid, time, working to play every race card, ethnic bigotry, dirty trick and criminal vote fraud you’ve got to play, all to protect your incestuous and illegitimate system of picking the taxpayers’ pockets.
Honest citizens would expect no more of your breed.
This contest, for the office of Cook County State’s Attorney, is the most important contest the residents of this city and county will be voting on.
More important than any other this November.
The Democratic Corruption Machine of Crook County hopes to ride the tail of the Presidential Contest, and will be ‘strongly encouraging’ everyone to vote a straight democratic ticket.
Allow yourselves to be fooled by their persuasions and you’ll be encouraging the continued rape and pillaging of your pocketbooks.
More Daley thievery, more Stroger hypocrisy, more Burke and Madigan chicanery, more of the same arrogant, aristocratic dictatorship government we’ve all come to know and despise.
Whatever your race, ethnicity, creed or culture, the one thing we all have in common is the unnecessarily bloated tax burdens being imposed upon us.
All the bullshit being fed to us as truth to the contrary.
When our ‘illustrious leaders’ cut to the bone their own bloated salaries, reduce their own obscene pensions and trim their own, selectively controlled patronage hirings, then they can honestly talk about reducing those services vital to the health and well-being of the citizens, who pay for everything.
Until such time, they will remain the liars, cheaters and thieves they’ve proven themselves to be.”