When will the madness and coverups stop at the City of Chicago Department of Water Management?

When you are attempting to write a story, and the City of Chicago Department of Water Management media department of covering up crime and mayhem, what does a famous author do? I call my homey at the Mayor’s office and get the truth.

I have been reporting the constant crime spree at the Chicago Water Department for years and years. Only one person besides Rahm Emanuel should be blamed. Ralph “No Show” Chiczewski is leading a clown posse making every excuse in the book to hide the shenanigans at the water department. Ralph was sued by activist Andy Thayer of Loevy and Loevy. Another expensive lawsuit for Chicago taxpayers.

Andy Thayer is a friend of mine and a true friend of all Chicago.

Why the heck is Ralph still screwing around the Water Department when he has a nice CPD Police pension? Let’s find out.

On March 5, 2019 the following happened at the 2300 block of North Washtenaw.

A 57-year-old women was assaulted at a City of Chicago Sewer Pipe Job. The City of Chicago has many jobsites with large rental trailers with private security and watchmen. The watchmen do not carry PERK cards, guns, or are trained in security protocols. When the Lady was attempting to leave the jobsite, one of the offenders pointed a gun at the victim and ordered her to surrender her keys. The lady complied and ran down Washtenaw. The offenders took her car and then took off down Milwaukee Avenue.

The Security and Safety Department are in the process of hiring five more employees. Just what we need, more employees to tell Ralph what a great guy he is, as he shows up late to the Jardine Plant every day. Folks get shot in the face when working for the DOWM, assaulted by homeowners, scammed out of their benefits all the time. Maybe David Axelrod can bullshit Rahm about politics, but when he places his pals to do public relations at the water department, make sure Megan Vidis does her job.

Not many people know I have more access than the average media T.V. Star. As the City’s most powerful Plumber, (had to say that) I have pretty good inside information that 99% of the population will never know. I leak things out to the media so they can sell some newspapers and T.V. ads to keep them going. Many times, the media shuts me down for a while and allows crap to get out of control. I than call my pals at the ‘Do Good Department”, and they get corruption under control. Sad but true.

I followed Daley and his campaign from the start. I followed some of Chicago’s sleaziest City Workers and Union Goons to get the inside scoop. Daley attracted former city workers fired for misconduct, and some of the nastiest azz kissers I ever met. I give this vermin credit, they know where their bread is buttered. They do not know how to work, but somehow find the next coattail to ride.

I also followed union reps and found them in bed with the business elite in Chicago. All for Daley. Daley was going to keep all the nasty pay to play City contractors and keep the unions running the jobs and contracts. Every insider at the Department of Water Management was going after Daley and making their presence known. Surely, they thought, Daley would keep all the Commissioners, and nothing would ever change.

Big juicy gift cards, hotels rooms, wife swapping, bar hopping, travel across the country.

Fancy clothes, cars, and big deals at the casino. What a lifestyle.

So how could the most well-known name in Chicago politics lose? What an insult. Bill was the inside guy that did all the inside deals. While Rich put his face in public, Bill hide in the boardroom. Obama gave Bill some resume padding with do nothing political jobs in D.C.

The real reasons why Bill Daley lost is because his own brother Richard Daley never said a word on his brothers’ behalf. Bill ratted out his brother and said he was his own man.

Jerry Joyce took the exact votes Daley needed. The Cops and Fireman screwed Daley.

Daley thought the election was his and missed debates. Susana Mendoza stuck it up his tush at debates. Daley taking the debate skip and showing up at the Plumbers Union showed Daley was bought by the Rahm Emanuel hoods. Lawyers and big business wanted “business as usual”.

Many Chicago City Commissioners are in real trouble now. Many Chicago vendors and their no-bid contracts are on the line. No bid contracts with law firms are on the line. Chicago has a real chance to fix the city, I suggest you take a close look at Lori Lightfoot.

Within a few months after the next election, if you see the same contractors and Commissioners, you know you were conned again.

We at Chicago Clout have a reputation for asking people not to vote for a certain candidate for Mayor of Chicago. We at Chicago Clout love to expose people in office that are self-serving, and machine run. Chicago is run by a large organization behind the scenes. A multi-billion-dollar group of insiders spend every penny that is not glued down. They control contracts, consulting deals, supplies, and legal business.  

These people tell the Mayor what to do and funnel money to outside groups that provide millions to Chicago candidates. It is not a coincidence they control elections and outcomes. This 2018 and 2019 election was no exception.

Not long ago, candidates against Rahm Emanuel were ready to take on the mayor and provide him an embarrassing exit. Some big names join the race when Rahm left because they were told to. They diffused the race to their discredit. The only candidate that can be controlled is Toni. If you think the head of the Cook County Democratic Party is independent, then you are cray cray. Toni has access to millions because of her loyalty to the old-style Chicago democratic machine.

Would Toni remove Alderman Edward Burke from office and clean out the corruption? NO. Burke has his hands in everything financial in Chicago and is only running again so Chicago taxpayers will pay his legal fees. Burke has dragged workers compensation cases on for no reason. (more on that later) Burke has taken money from no-bid contractors and given to candidates that will allow him to run free and continue stealing everything.

On February 25, 2019, an emergency meeting was held at the Department of Water Management to discuss the politics of the Mayoral race. Lightfoot can not be counted on to keep the same Management team Rahm Emanuel and Daley placed to keep the contracts in place. The FOIAs blocked by the Asst. Commissioner of Safety and Security at the DOWM, Ralph Chiczewski, will be exposed and the cat will be out of the bag. FOIAs such as the multi-million-dollar settlements due to injuries will be exposed soon.

Cover-ups on the massive drinking water scandals will soon be exposed and people will go to jail. (please drink bottled water Chicago).

Chicago’s greatest problem is the last batch of promotions under the control of Rahm Emanuel at the many departments. Rahm told a Federal judge how he was going to make sure politics was out and quality candidates would be promoted. LIES.

No matter who becomes Mayor of Chicago, she will need to deal with the unqualified employees made under Rahm. The contracts to Commissioners are the least of Chicago’s problems. The open-ended contracts with no oversite are problem number one.

Chicago problem number two is the lack of a free press. Most media are now just rewritten pieces from one outlet to the next. You can switch from one T.V. station to the next and hear the exact same stories. Sad.

As a City of Chicago Plumber and member of the media, I can tell you I had full access to many of the mayoral campaigns in the last mayoral election. I watched great “geniuses” advise candidates on every aspect of the race. I also watched a street wise advisor not used to his full potential. The insiders knew the original candidates for mayor were very talented. The candidates were wasting time on small meetings, rehashing their past, and failing to make a sellable image. This was a reformer race and some candidates failed to portray themselves as reformers. Many of the candidates were far too nice and were afraid to corner another candidate.

No doubt Lori Lightfoot ran the best race and her media was the best. I also thought she was amazing in the way she presented herself. The Sun-Times endorsement really made some great momentum for her. Just recently Toni Preckwinkle was hammered by Fran Spielman on the Fran Spielman Show. I think we should let Fran Spielman loose and moderate an entire one-hour T.V. interview with both candidates. WTTW and Paris was also strong in professional coverage.

Rahm Emanuel left Chicago in dire straits, but he set up himself and his own. I saw that over eight years ago. In fact, Rahm left Chicago so bad, the next Mayor will never enjoy the job. Better get a fighter.

Harry Osterman the brown-noser exposed again

City official testified Ald. Harry Osterman was part of Daley’s hiring scandal

Ald. Harry Osterman never was charged nor disciplined in City Hall hiring scandal but played a key role in putting politics first in employment decisions in Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation, a city official told a federal court monitor, according to records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Ald. Harry Osterman never was charged nor disciplined in City Hall hiring scandal but played a key role in putting politics first in employment decisions in Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation, a city official told a federal court monitor, according to records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times. | Rich Hein / Sun-Times

By Tim Novak and Robert Herguth

For much of Mayor Richard M. Daley’s record reign, City Hall operated an illegal hiring scheme, skewing test results so political supporters of the mayor and his allies got jobs and promotions.

Federal prosecutors proved that, with some of Daley’s top aides going to prison, including patronage boss Robert Sorich and Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Al Sanchez. Others faced disciplinary action.

Ald. Harry Osterman never was charged in the scandal, nor was he disciplined, but he played a key role in putting politics first in employment decisions at Streets and Sanitation, a city official told a federal court monitor, according to records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Osterman’s role was detailed by William M. Mahon — now a $116,000-a-year Streets and San deputy commissioner in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration who in 1997 and 1998 was “personnel liaison” for the city agency under Osterman, then the personnel director.

Mahon was interviewed Dec. 4, 2012, by a monitor appointed by a federal judge to help clean up city hiring. According to the newly obtained records, Mahon described how the names of favored job applicants passed from the mayor’s office to those doing the hiring.

“So did you ever receive names from Harry Osterman?” Mahon was asked.

“Yes,” he responded.

“And would he provide you names of individuals who were preferred candidates?” he was asked.

“Yes,” Mahon said.

Mahon told the monitor he gave those names to the people responsible for interviewing job candidates and that these preferred candidates were then “scored higher than other individuals” and thus more likely to be hired.

“When you would inform the other interview panelists of the preferred names from Harry Osterman, what would you tell them?” the federal monitor asked Mahon.

“I would say here is three candidates that downtown is interested in, and they would conduct interviews,” according to Mahon.

Mahon’s first job at City Hall, in 1989, was working for Osterman’s late mother, former Daley aide Kathy Osterman, who ran the Mayor’s Office of Special Events.

Six years later, Mahon transferred to the Department of Streets and Sanitation, which handles garbage pickup and snow plowing in Chicago and is one of the city’s biggest agencies. He worked in Streets and San’s Bureau of Traffic Services “under the personnel liaison” and in 1997 became the office’s personnel liaison, reporting to Harry Osterman.

At the end of 1998, Mahon got a promotion within the department, no longer reporting to Osterman.

Osterman left the city payroll and took office in 2000 as the state representative for a North Side district that includes Edgewater. He served in the Legislature until 2011, when he was elected alderman, and he’s on the Feb. 26 city ballot, seeking re-election.

Osterman, 51, who on his website describes himself as “a progressive, independent voice committed to serving his community,” declined Sun-Times reporters’ requests to speak with him. Nor would he say whether he was interviewed by federal authorities who prosecuted his former colleagues.

Instead, the alderman responded with a written statement, saying: “In over 30 years of public service I have never been accused by any authority; city, state, or federal; for any wrongdoing of any kind, much less any criminal behavior. I have tried, in every position I have been honored to hold as a public servant, to serve the interests of citizens to the best of my ability.

“Decades-old unsubstantiated allegations, never acted on by any legal authority, can’t change that.”

Noelle Brennan, the attorney appointed by a judge as monitor to enforce anti-patronage court orders, took steps to punish city employees who were identified as having roles in the political hiring schemes but not charged with any crime, among them Mahon.

Brennan wouldn’t discuss Osterman but said, “We didn’t investigate anyone who wasn’t a current employee.”

Mahon’s attorney Thomas Breen wouldn’t comment, other than noting the hiring scandal occurred years ago.

As a result of Brennan’s investigation, Mahon got suspended from his job for 45 days and was barred from being involved in hiring decisions.

Mahon grew up in Bridgeport, where his family was neighbors with the late Mayor Richard J. Daley. He started working at City Hall after the younger Mayor Daley was first elected to that office in 1989.

In 2006, City Hall’s inspector general’s office found that Mahon had “repeatedly engaged in personal activities” while on the clock at City Hall — including attending a White Sox game. The inspector general recommended that Mahon be fired. Instead, the Daley administration handed him a 29-day suspension.

The City of Chicago has always been proud of its flagship moneymaker, The Department of Water Management. The building of the Chicago Water Filtration Water Plants is a modern marvel. Built in the 40’s the South Water Filtration plant was successfully providing water to Chicago and providing political jobs to the Mayor’s friends, family, and supporters. A couple decades later The Jardine Water Purification Plant come online and became the jewel of the Chicago Water Department.

The Jardine Water Plant was a wonderful building and a mechanical miracle that was the pride of Illinois. The Chicago Water System provides water to millions and had a reputation of some of the best tasting water in the world. This reputation was well deserved due to high quality hires and a successful team approach to problems.

After a series of scandals, the department was renamed the “Department of Water Management. When the Daley family-controlled Chicago, they started making Water Department the dumping ground for unqualified family and friends. These political hacks were unable to run the department and they burdened the taxpayers with consultants, private contractors, and the direct and indirect payroll ballooned.

Greedy Commissioners, unethical union goons, private contractors, Alderman’s kids littered the department and discontent started to escalate. Many of the workers at the bottom saw the opportunities to get ahead expire, the working environment decline, and discontent rise. The Bosses were in many case two-bit hustlers, and many were attempting to wheel and deal, skimp and scam. The worse the thefts, the worse the bosses mistreated workers, resulting in decreases the job satisfaction and personal pride.

As more and more management were hired, the worse things became. It quickly because a cesspool of thieves and crooks and a workforce harassed and disenchanted.

The Mayor’s office started stealing every penny from the Water Department to pay other bills and the situation compounded. Daley and then Rahm Emanuel attempted to cover-up all the negative press by bulling workers that were contacting the press every day.

First it was “Hired Truck Scandal, hiring scandal, email scandals, lead in the drinking water, and a host of whistleblowing activities. Many Whistleblowers were tipped off by the Inspector General by faxes to the different department. What a mess. The Unions stayed in the background and always sided with the Daley-Emanuel team. Finally, a disgruntled Commissioner, gave up full access to emails, security cameras, contracts, private phone conversations. Amazing.

The situation is now past critical. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment and supplies are missing, and payroll fraud is out of control. Contractors also provide services to Commissioners home and summer homes. Supplies are missing and the Jardine plant is tossing out more and more employees to satellite offices. The Department has denied workers compensation payment to non-clouted workers putting off the needed medical care, leaving seral employees bedridden.

The actions by the Daley-Emanuel bleeding the Department of Water Management blind, is now long past the cross roads. There is approximately over $100,000,000.00 in long over due emergency repairs.  The water filtration plants are sending millions of gallons of tainted water to the public. Every time it rains, snow melts, wind blows, the untreated water full of pollution, bird waste, tar, roofing compounds enter the Chicago drinking water supply. Every time it rains, hundreds of thousands of gallons of water rains on equipment, controls, and filter beds.

According to one source that wishes to remain nameless, the Daley family is involved in a deal to sell the Chicago Jardine and Sawyer Water Filtration Plants. By letting the plants fall apart, they can lower the price and make the privatization easier for a Parking Meter type takeover. J.B. Pritzker has not enforced the laws to protect the Chicago drinking supply. Something must be done now.

In 2016, Alderman Edward Burke pushed through the council and ordinance to rename the South Plant after Eugene Sawyer. Mayor Rahm Emanuel cut the ribbon. You think these bums would have had enough class to fix the plant first. No excuse for the premeditated destruction of Chicago.

Chicago Aldermen Prove Again They have No Shame

Budget and Government Operations Chairperson Carrie Austin oversees Chicago’s $308 million a year employee healthcare program. The budget entries that allow Alderman Austin to administer $308 million in employee healthcare expenses is eerily similar to the language Alderman Burke used for workers’ compensation.

To allow Budget and Government Operations Chairperson Austin to expend $308 million on healthcare, the budget states:

“For the Costs of Claims and Administration for Hospital and Medical Care Provided to Eligible Employees, Provided However, That All Payments to the Independent Utilization Reviewer Shall Be Subject to the Approval of the Chairman of the Committee on the Budget and Government Operations.”

The budget line items that allowed former Committee on Finance Chairman Edward Burke to expend $115 million for workers’ compensation stated:

“Claims and Costs of Administration Pursuant to the Workers’ Compensation Act.”

Is Mayor Emanuel Running Chicago?

Alderman Austin has controlled employee healthcare expenses during the entire eight-year tenure of Mayor Emanuel. When voters elected Emanuel in 2011 and 2015, Illinois state law bestowed upon him the title of, “Chief Executive Officer.” Alderman Austin is the final decision maker for each and every healthcare claim and administrative expense, not Mayor Emanuel or one of his subordinates as the law required. If an employee from the benefits office in Chicago’s executive branch of government managed healthcare, then the healthcare administrator and expenses are under Mayor Emanuel’s direct supervision as state law requires. The healthcare claim and administration wording in the budget provides Alderman Austin with the final authority on employee healthcare matters. Since Alderman Austin is not under Mayor Emanuel’s supervision, she is spending the $308 million of taxpayers’ money without oversight or audits, like Alderman Burke did with his $115 million a year workers’ compensation budget.

I filed an Inspector General complaint regarding the improper placement of workers’ compensation in a legislative committee in 2016 and a lawsuit over the same issue in 2018. It took Mayor Emanuel two years to finally agree to move workers’ compensation from the legislative Committee on Finance to the executive branch. I’m hoping a public outcry will speed the process of transferring the administration of Chicago employees’ healthcare plans to the executive branch. Political reporters, candidates for alderman and mayor, please start making lots of noise.

If you want to view some or all of a video on recent Chicago corruption, click here. When I recorded this video, I was only aware of Alderman Austin managing $55 million in funds, not $308 million that I recently uncovered.

Notes:

If you choose, you may verify my claims about the source and amount of Alderman Austin’s healthcare funds. First click here. Go to the budget’s page number in Column 3 in the table below. Look for the text on the page that states, “For the Costs of Claims and Administration for Hospital and Medical Care Provided to Eligible Employees, Provided However, That All Payments to the Independent Utilization Reviewer Shall Be Subject to the Approval of the Chairman of the Committee on the Budget and Government Operations.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has again directly interfered with promotions at the Chicago Department of Water Management. Going over the bald head of Randy Connor, the Commissioner, Rahm Emanuel ordered John Pope, the former Alderman that was voted out, to take a real job after hiding at the Department of Water Management making $125,000.00 per year to sit around and take orders from the entire crew that was just fired due to the Paul Hansen racist emails that rocked the Water Department.

John Pope might need to brush up on safety laws and rules, workers compensation rules, and try to control the personnel department and the Committee on Finance. John knows nothing about safety, trench safety, crushing injuries, medical reports. According to my sources in the Inspector General’s Office, this is another perfect example of Rahm Emanuel breaking his promise to the Federal Judge when the Shakman Accord was finally over.

According to Frank Coconate, a former Safety Specialist with the Department of Water Management, a powerful boss that ran the Safety Department is completely irreplaceable. The gentleman that ran the Safety Division was well respected in the street, workers were very cooperative, and the Safety Department numbers were getting in line with the outside contractors, or better. It was an amazing transformation at the Water Department to hire a competent leader. The former leader of the Department was Edward Lefevour and according to the Commissioner’s Office he left suddenly.

Ralph Chiczewski, the commissioner of safety was completely unable to handle the position. Now the taxpayers are going to pay Ralph Chiczewski and John Pope over $250,000.00 , plus benefits and water department cars to take home to do the last guys job. These two clowns supervise three employees. WTF. When I asked my connection at Commissioner Connor’s office what they are doing, they stated Ralph Chiczewski can not do the job because he steps into the Jardine Plant late every day. Ralph is collecting a nice juicy police pension and hides Rahm Emanuel’s private contractors from prying eyes.

In another reputed scam, Julie Hernandez-Tomlin had private security work done at her home and the contractor does a massive amount of work at the Jardine Plant. Photos were sent to law enforcement. Julie did not pay a penny for her security upgrades. Somehow, the taxpayers are going to pay for the parts and labor, with an additional bill made to the Jardine Plant. Remember, Julie reputedly used Courtesy Electric for her needs.

Special thanks to Rahm Emanuel for promoting his friends to jobs they are not capable of doing.

https://youtu.be/AvxyCIhiuKg

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