Chicago City workers are facing the ax while Mayor Daley is in Denver partying while Barack Obama is kissing Joe Biden’s wife on the lips. Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony or as the song goes. Chicago politicians were hugging and praying to God Obama gets the White House before Patrick Fitzgerald finds anymore corruption. Meanwhile I want to assure you, Chicago Clout is still uncovering corruption and waste. Yesterday I saw another one of Mayor Daley’s contractors laughing it up in the middle of the street. I believe they were doing work for Mayor Daley’s patronage heavy MBE “Hired Truck” replacement program called “Private Drain Program”. In fact one of the pictures was of the workers making a muscleman pose, a chunky older man. I hope the Chicago Taxpayers enjoys the future city worker replacement. This company enjoys a massive multi-million dollar contract doing the work that private contractors did just a few years ago. http://216.146.77.178/objGW/OMImages/888/00002JNK/IMEDGE~1.PDF The original contract was for about 4,500,000.00, but the contract was upped another 2.5 million. It sure pays to be disadvantaged with Mayor Daley. Emil Jones a former sewer inspector benefited from this arrangement. This company also gives money to elections in the suburbs; maybe Chicago had an interest in elections in Stone Park. In this picture you will see a man wearing a City of Chicago employee uniform. The Chicago Department of Water Management has given away many city vests to private companies and the persons responsible should be fired for that foul act. City Construction Company, Inc. has a group of workers laughing and joking on Chicago’s taxpayer’s dime. I asked the company who sends the work assignment over to them, their secretary said, “They just fax them over”. According to city documents Suzanne Kim handles that contract. I was told, “Charley Johnson sends the work over”, by a man by the name of Mohammed of City Construction. I called the company and asked, “Are you Union?”. She lady answering the phone said, “Not sure, I guess so”. Hired Truck Scandal was loaded with non-union companies because many got around the law by claiming to be a MBE. I hope a City of Chicago Inspector signed off on the work completed, we will find out. When the City of Chicago is going broke, how can they hand away over $7,000.000.00 in just one contract affecting the North Side of Chicago? How can a contractor be disadvantaged with millions of dollars in Chicago Taxpayer’s contracts? I guess it pays to be poor in Chicago? I also hope you go to this City of Chicago link and ask why the company is not on this list, http://www.cityofchicago.org/Transportation/contractors/ Photo by Patrick McDonough.]]>Campaigning on the job
Witness says Sorich told her to get out the vote for Daley, allies
By Dan Mihalopoulos and Michael Higgins, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff reporters Laurie Cohen and Matt O'Connor contributed to this report
May 18, 2006
In a meeting at his City Hall office, the patronage chief for Mayor Richard Daley directed Mary Jo Falcon and her group of Asian city workers to help the mayor's re-election effort, Falcon testified Wednesday.
In election after election, Falcon said, Daley aide Robert Sorich instructed her group to walk Chicago's wards, knocking on doors to get out voters for the mayor and other candidates in North Side neighborhoods.
"There were more Asians or immigrants in those precincts," Falcon told jurors in the federal corruption trial of Sorich and three other former Daley administration officials.
As the prosecution's first witness, Falcon vividly detailed how she recruited her underlings in the city's Sewers and Water Management Departments for hands-on, street-level campaigning. Patronage hiring, a hallmark of the classic Chicago political machine, is at the center of the trial, and Falcon's testimony suggested a close link between politics and hiring.
Sorich and his three co-defendants are accused of rigging city hiring and promotions in favor of pro-Daley political workers such as Falcon's foot soldiers, who helped politicians ranging from presidential contender Al Gore to Chicago aldermen.
Shortly before Daley was re-elected in 1999, Falcon said, she met with Sorich and Suzanne Kim, a city official who led a Korean-American group of precinct workers. At the City Hall meeting in the mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, where Sorich worked, Falcon said Sorich asked the women to deploy their troops to the 39th Ward on the Far North Side for Daley.
Falcon's group consisted of about 30 Asian-Americans, almost all of them city workers, she said.
She would shut the door of her office, Falcon said, when she asked workers in her departments to campaign during their time off the job for the mayor and candidates he endorsed. "I would ask them to knock on doors" on weekends to ask people to vote for Daley, said Falcon, who was born in the Philippines.
When Rahm Emanuel was running successfully for the Democratic congressional nomination, she again answered the call from Sorich: "They needed some Asians to be at a rally that the Korean-American group held, if I could bring some Filipinos there."
Falcon made clear that her group and others sometimes worked for politicians that they did not even like. Falcon said she and Kim grudgingly agreed to commit their forces to help re-elect Ald. Patrick Levar (45th) "because Mr. Sorich asked us."
Kim, now an assistant commissioner in the Water Management Department, did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday.
Falcon also said she used her city phone on paid time to organize workers to call voters for Lisa Madigan, now the Illinois attorney general. Jurors were shown a list that Falcon said she kept in a notebook.
According to the list, Fleet Management Department workers helped make calls for Madigan on a Monday, Sewers Department workers on that Tuesday, Transportation Department workers on Wednesday and Water Department workers on Thursday.
She never spoke to the mayor's official campaign managers in the 1999 or 2003 elections, and she could not name them, she testified. "I dealt with Robert Sorich," Falcon said.
It was Sorich who received a city job application from a political worker in Falcon's group, she said. The Transportation Department soon gave the job seeker seasonal work, Falcon testified. She said she thanked Sorich.
That was one of more than 10 meetings with Sorich to discuss how he could help her political allies "go forward"–the City Hall jargon for getting a job or a promotion, she said.
Several city departments had their own pro-Daley political groups, which often were organized along racial lines, Falcon said.
Daley, who has denied knowledge of any wrongdoing, was in China Wednesday. The city's top lawyer declined to comment.
For years, the mayor denied suggestions that patronage hiring and machine politics remained alive in Chicago. "My political organization is myself," he said last year.
On cross-examination, Sorich's lawyer, Thomas Anthony Durkin, questioned Falcon about Daley, eliciting her praise for the mayor. Falcon acknowledged that she liked the mayor, had been proud to introduce him at a public event and believed he favored diversity in hiring.
She also acknowledged that prosecutors had asked her about what her higher-ups knew about hiring practices. But when Durkin asked whether prosecutors had ever asked whether Daley was involved in creating hiring lists, Falcon replied, "I don't remember that question, sir."
Falcon said a grand juror had asked her that question. When Durkin asked for more detail, prosecutors objected and U.S. District Judge David Coar sustained their objection.
Falcon testified Tuesday that she falsified documents to make sure that the city offered plum union posts to people on "blessed lists" from Sorich as well as his aide and co-defendant Timothy McCarthy. The practice ended and the city hired on merit only after it became clear that federal authorities were investigating possible City Hall corruption, she said Wednesday.
Falcon told jurors she met last year with McCarthy, who had replaced Sorich, to discuss openings at the city's water purification plants. That time, she said, "He gave me names but also told me, `Go screen and just pick whoever I thought was best.'"
Falcon resigned as the Water Management Department's personnel director in June.
She testified under immunity from prosecution, saying she cooperated with authorities out of "fear of going to prison."
She said when the FBI searched her city office last year, she did not think she had committed a crime, although she "thought there was something wrong with what I was doing."
Falcon conceded that Sorich never told her to falsify records to get favored job candidates on the payroll. Sorich also did not tell her to lie on forms where she swore that hiring had been done in compliance with a decades-old federal court decree against patronage.
She did it anyway, she said, "because that was my job and that was part of the culture."
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Jurors of Chicago inspections supervisor view alleged exchange of cash
Tiny video camera was attached to chest of star witness
By Jeff Coen | Chicago Tribune reporter
12:16 AM CDT, August 28, 2008
City inspector Travis Echols wandered toward his boss’ desk as he said he had done before , telling the supervisor he was fresh from a building site with a pocketful of bribe money from a contractor who needed him to look the other way.
“I got a package for you,” Echols told his supervisor, Gregory Toran, who wore a baseball cap and continued to shuffle through papers, barely looking up.
“Put it in the drawer right there,” Toran answered, almost in a mumble.
But this time, the alleged exchange of cash was different. It was captured by a tiny video camera on Echols’ chest as he was working undercover for the FBI in a probe of corrupt Chicago inspectors, prosecutors said.
A jury on Wednesday watched the jumpy, black-and-white tape that Echols made of his boss in 2006 as Toran sat frowning nearby in a suit and flanked by his attorneys. Federal prosecutors have described the alleged conduct as the kind of corruption that’s commonplace in a city where some inspectors seem to expect payoffs like waiters expect tips.
Recent years have been fruitful for federal investigations in the Buildings Department. Most recently, authorities charged 15 people in a bribery investigation called Operation Crooked Code.
Echols told the jury this week that he accepted bribes almost daily as a plumbing inspector, allowing unlicensed plumbers to do work, ignoring violations and shrugging if a contractor had put up drywall before he could get a look at pipes. Closing arguments in Toran’s trial are expected Thursday.
Toran, charged with attempted extortion in 2007, was part of the corrupt routine, Echols testified, first as a fellow inspector and later as Echols’ supervisor in the Buildings Department. When Toran, a 20-year city employee, was no longer on the street, Echols said he split bribes with him when he was paid off to sign permits that Toran would review back in the office.
Echols quickly decided to cooperate in 2006 after he was caught up in an undercover sting the FBI ran through a contractor, authorities said. Echols agreed to work against his boss and began calling agents when he was involved in an inspection of the kind that would typically lead to money changing hands, authorities said.
One was in October of that year, he told the jury. He had been to a South Side work site where a contractor wanted to use unlicensed plumbers.
Under questioning by Assistant U.S. Atty. Christina Egan, Echols explained how, at the FBI’s direction, he told Toran that the contractor had offered to give him “a stack,” a code the men used for $1,000.
Echols recorded the phone conversation that followed.
“I’ll support whatever play you make,” Toran could be heard saying. “Just tell me what you need.”
In his cross-examination of Echols, Toran’s lawyer, Keith Scherer, tried to trip up Echols on the times he said he took bribes with Toran. In one instance, he apparently told a grand jury that he passed Toran $100 in Toran’s car, but on the stand he said he put the money on the floor of the car while leaning through the window.
Should you not be working instead of taking pictures. You might want to review the law regarding public agency and the bidding of work
Prevailing rate-required
unionized-not required and illagal to require
You might also want to register for a Journalism class at a local university as most classes just started.
(Response) after you my friend!
Jurors of Chicago inspections supervisor view alleged exchange of cash Tiny video camera was attached to chest of star witness By Jeff Coen | Chicago Tribune reporter 12:16 AM CDT, August 28, 2008 City inspector Travis Echols wandered toward his boss’ desk as he said he had done before , telling the supervisor he was fresh from a building site with a pocketful of bribe money from a contractor who needed him to look the other way. “I got a package for you,” Echols told his supervisor, Gregory Toran, who wore a baseball cap and continued to shuffle through papers, barely looking up. “Put it in the drawer right there,” Toran answered, almost in a mumble. But this time, the alleged exchange of cash was different. It was captured by a tiny video camera on Echols’ chest as he was working undercover for the FBI in a probe of corrupt Chicago inspectors, prosecutors said. A jury on Wednesday watched the jumpy, black-and-white tape that Echols made of his boss in 2006 as Toran sat frowning nearby in a suit and flanked by his attorneys. Federal prosecutors have described the alleged conduct as the kind of corruption that’s commonplace in a city where some inspectors seem to expect payoffs like waiters expect tips. Recent years have been fruitful for federal investigations in the Buildings Department. Most recently, authorities charged 15 people in a bribery investigation called Operation Crooked Code. Echols told the jury this week that he accepted bribes almost daily as a plumbing inspector, allowing unlicensed plumbers to do work, ignoring violations and shrugging if a contractor had put up drywall before he could get a look at pipes. Closing arguments in Toran’s trial are expected Thursday. Toran, charged with attempted extortion in 2007, was part of the corrupt routine, Echols testified, first as a fellow inspector and later as Echols’ supervisor in the Buildings Department. When Toran, a 20-year city employee, was no longer on the street, Echols said he split bribes with him when he was paid off to sign permits that Toran would review back in the office. Echols quickly decided to cooperate in 2006 after he was caught up in an undercover sting the FBI ran through a contractor, authorities said. Echols agreed to work against his boss and began calling agents when he was involved in an inspection of the kind that would typically lead to money changing hands, authorities said. One was in October of that year, he told the jury. He had been to a South Side work site where a contractor wanted to use unlicensed plumbers. Under questioning by Assistant U.S. Atty. Christina Egan, Echols explained how, at the FBI’s direction, he told Toran that the contractor had offered to give him “a stack,” a code the men used for $1,000. Echols recorded the phone conversation that followed. “I’ll support whatever play you make,” Toran could be heard saying. “Just tell me what you need.” In his cross-examination of Echols, Toran’s lawyer, Keith Scherer, tried to trip up Echols on the times he said he took bribes with Toran. In one instance, he apparently told a grand jury that he passed Toran $100 in Toran’s car, but on the stand he said he put the money on the floor of the car while leaning through the window.
Former inspector for Chicago convicted of attempted extortion
Gregory Toran was accused of taking bribes from contractors
By Jeff Coen | Chicago Tribune reporter
9:55 PM CDT, August 28, 2008
A federal jury on Thursday convicted a former supervisory plumbing inspector of attempted extortion in a videotaped sting that saw an underling pass him $500 he thought was coming from a corrupt contractor.
Gregory Toran was found guilty after the jury deliberated for less than three hours. He was accused of taking what he thought was a payoff from inspector Travis Echols, who had testified that contractors often bribed him to give them passes on plumbing violations.
Defense attorney Keith Scherer said he was disappointed that the government had used Echols, who admitted taking dozens of bribes, to get a conviction. Scherer said the government alluded to corruption problems throughout the city during closing arguments Thursday.
“It was clear they were tarring [Toran] with the same brush,” he said.
In closing arguments, prosecutors Joseph Alesia and Christina Egan told the jury the case offered a glimpse of typical illegal dealings in Chicago.
“Bribes, payoffs, extortion,” Alesia said. “That’s how the city works.”
Prosecutors said that even outside of Echols’ testimony, the videotape was fairly clear. The recording appeared to show Echols approaching Toran’s desk and telling him he had something for him.
“Put it in the drawer right there,” Toran answered.
Echols began cooperating against his boss in 2006 after being caught in an undercover sting.
He said he regularly accepted bribes while on inspections, and that Toran, who was a 20-year city employee, sometimes took part.
“Prevailing rate-required
unionized-not required and illagal to require”
Does that mean prevailing highest rate or prevailing lowest rate or an average of the two?
Also, does that include vacation pay, pension plan contributions and health insurance?
Or are those three union contracted benefits not part of the ‘prevailing rate’?
City plumbing inspector convicted of taking bribe
August 29, 2008Recommend (1)
A former supervisory plumbing inspector for the City of Chicago was convicted Thursday of attempted extortion for taking a $500 cash bribe.
The jury that convicted Gregory Toran saw a video of Toran taking a $500 payment from a government informant.
Prosecutors say Toran — who was paid $85,000 a year — took the money in exchange for agreeing to give a pass to questionable plumbing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Alesia called the videotape “a glimpse” of Toran’s overall conduct.
Toran’s lawyer, Keith Scherer, called the government’s case “a trial by gut reaction” that relied heavily on cooperator Travis Echols.
“[Toran] was a very small fish,” Scherer said. “You’re talking about a $500 bribe.”
Scherer called Echols a “professional extortionist.”
Natasha Korecki
Actually, Maggie {Richie-boy’s wife} wanted a park where the airport stood. She and her other ‘Friends'{as in Friends of the Park} don’t much care about keeping a viable business tax base {private sector jobs} in Chicago, they’re all either trust-fund babies, trophy-wives or on the patronage rolls.
Since civil aviation was put to death in the middle of the night {like the sneak thief that Richie – wannabe king, Daley is} in downtown, does anyone have any idea how much business and jobs it’s cost Chicago? Since business-people can no longer fly into the city-center [adding at least a full day to what would otherwise have been a few hours] do you THINK they’re going / taking their business elsewhere? You bet they are!
Dealing with the Kennedy and / or 294 Tollway – yeah, right {not}! Even helicopter landing spots have been reduced.
Recently I was at a board-meeting in New York and one of the fellas was heading back to the west coast. He offered to and then did drop me off in Wheeling. Do you THINK there’s a reason{s} Lake County’s booming and Chicago’s become the city of slump’n shoulders? Gee, do you THINK!
While Harold Washington, Jayne Burne and Mike Bilandic were – obviously,****, Richie – baby, is lowering the common denominator to new lows.
Sure, try to put on circuses {aka: Olympics}- when the bridges, roads, railways and all infrastructure are in profound disrepair and near 24/7 gridlock abounds. Where’s the money going to come from for your circus – Richie, MORE taxes? you can’t get blood from a turnip goes the saying and you won’t be able to get money from a city/region in profound economic implosion.
Why don’t you plant some more flowers – Richie, and take your sorry b-hind and all the rest of the DEMONcrats in the county and {dire} state of Illinois back to Beijing with you this time?
This year we’ll kill and eat the goat, the Cubs will win the World Series and we can all then die {having been governed / taxed to death} with smiles on our face and full stomachs.
Game set and match – the DEMONS have destroyed Chicago, the entitlement class and illegals are calling the shots.
Oh well, we’ve become a nation not of ‘AmeriCANs’, but, of AmeriCAN’Ts anyway.
Where do I sign up for my Chinese language lessons?
I’m sure these hard working city park district employees who are facing a lay off are wondering why they have to give up their jobs and face financial ruin when their boss Daley takes a trip to the Olympics and has the time of his life there. I’m sure they’re also going to ask why are they being targeted when Daley and his cronies aren’t giving up any of their pay.
Daley doesn’t care one iota about anyone. Daley only cares about suppression, power, and his ability to reign supreme. He has more of a stranglehold on Chicago than any other gangster in the history of this city. Get used to loosing more jobs and cuts in city services. Daley’s greed is unquenchable
re daley’s lackey, aka ‘obsessed with daley’
Prevailing rate is set by the Illinois Department of Labor.
http://www.state.il.us/agency/idol/rates/rates.HTM
(Response) Thanks
And who runs the Illinois Department of Labor?
Might it be political hacks, like you?
(Response) No.
“And who runs the Illinois Department of Labor?
Might it be political hacks, like you?
(Response) No.”
Then who?
Surely you’re not suggesting that this department is run by honest men and women, are you?
And why was the response given by, presumably, the owner of this blog, and not the commenter it was posed to?
Are they one and the same?
re daley’s lackey, aka obThen who?
Surely you’re not suggesting that this department is run by honest men and women, are you?
And why was the response given by, presumably, the owner of this blog, and not the commenter it was posed to?
Are they one and the same?
sessed with daley
Yes you outed me, I am one in the same.