Wednesday, June 3, 2009
News / Clout City For Mayor Daley, it's not that complicated
Posted by Mick Dumke on 06.03.09 at 06:10 PM
The parking meter scandal was the hot topic at today's City Council meeting. The aldermen were barely done exchanging put-downs over which of them could read, how much the inspector general knew about finance and baseball, and above all who was to blame for the public outrage over the parking meter mess when Mayor Daley began delivering his version of events at a press conference down the hall.
Gripping the podium like it was David Hoffman’s neck, Daley informed the City Hall press corps that his administration would never, ever enter into a 75-year lease deal that wasn’t great for the city.
“My chief of staff detailed—detailed!—why we think this is a very, very responsible agreement,” he said, referring to Paul Volpe, one of the deal’s primary brokers. Volpe stood to Daley’s side, gently nodding in rhythm to his boss’s rendering of the truth. “As mayor it is my job to be responsible.”
Next to Volpe and chief financial officer Gene Saffold were giant placards showing the timeline of the deal, revealing that the city had decided to hire financial advisers in June 2007—a full six months before the possibility of leasing the meters was made public—and the advisers’ analysis of what the meters might fetch on the market. What the city ended up accepting—about $1.16 billion—was at the high end of the graph.
“This agreement had the best professional people with regards to this agreement,” he said.
Daley’s intent, of course, was to tell Chicagoans that Hoffman’s searing critique of the meter agreement was just political hot air. Contrary to what Hoffman asserted and what aldermen were still whining about, no one had been kept in the dark about the city’s intent to lease the meters, he said, and the deal had hardly been a rush job. “This started in 2007! This wasn’t an idea just picked out of a hat to do this! This was under due diligence in 2007! This is a very simple deal—it’s not that complicated! This had been talked about for two years!”
The mayor acknowledged that people have been "frustrated" with the meter handoff, and that one mistake had been made. “There should’ve been a transition of three or four months, that’s all,” he said. “If there had been I believe we wouldn’t have had all these problems.”
But reporters wanted to go back to Hoffman’s report and its charge that the city may have given the meters up for far less than they were worth. Daley stood up straight and announced that he had complete confidence in his financial team. “I will put Paul Volpe and Gene Saffold against anyone,” he said. And he again pointed out that the city had hired outside experts to help put the deal together: William Blair and Company.
Why that firm? What were their qualifications?
Daley got indignant: “Those are good people!”
Comments (19)
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This is for all you Chicago taxpayers that love the meters: dolohttp://theexpiredmeter.com/ve the meters.
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I would have voted for the Meters and than put them in the 32nd ward on every side street! Scott Waguespack should have kept his mouth shut about the meters. So what we blew a $Billion Dollars$. A $billion dollars$ that could have stopped City Worker lay offs!
The Billions Daley lost could have paid for a police contract, and fixed roads instead of patching them. But Daley had to sell fast! Cheap cheap. Daley you must go.
Cook County judge convicted of DUI may face disciplinary action By Kim Janssen | Tribune reporter June 4, 2009 A Cook County judge convicted this year of drunken driving for crashing into a young family's vehicle could face disciplinary action. Judge Sheila McGinnis was accused of bringing her office into disrepute and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice in a complaint filed Wednesday by the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board. Police said at the time that she smelled of alcohol, failed a sobriety test, refused a Breathalyzer test and tried to leave the scene after rear-ending a minivan in Tinley Park in May 2008. McGinnis, a cousin of Mayor Richard Daley's who lives in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood, pleaded guilty Jan. 20 to driving under the influence. She was sentenced to 18 months of court supervision and fined $1,000. McGinnis had presided over criminal cases, including drunken driving, while a judge at the Bridgeview courthouse, but she hasn't been on the bench since her arrest. Instead she sits in a Daley Center office every day, ruling on whether indigent people qualify for free legal assistance, First Municipal District Presiding Judge Ken Wright said. "There are 100 to 125 indigent petitions filed every day, so I'm sure she's busy," Wright said. She continues to draw an annual salary of $165,000 and was retained in the Nov. 4 election. Her attorney, Jeffrey Aprati, did not return calls Wednesday. Though she could be fired or suspended if the Illinois Courts Commission upholds the complaint, judges convicted of drunken driving have typically been reprimanded. None of the eight Illinois judges investigated for driving under the influence since 1973 have been suspended or fired by the commission.
Reply regarding judge McGinnis and her criminal act. Did Jesse White make her install a breathanalyser on her steering wheel....probabily no. Did the group MADD(mothers against drunk driving) demand justice.... No. We are all equal but some are are more equal than others,especially the Daleys.
I copied this below from a Sun-times blogger. I do this to try to spread information in order to get us closer to imprisoning the criminal Daleys. INFORMATION is critical to a healthy civil society. If you are not angry, you are not paying attention. ___ In June of 2005, a major fire destroyed the Dominick's, a local grocery story, on 3030 N. Broadway.... Since then the lot has continued to be vacant as city planners and private builders have haggled over what to put there next. Enter a man named Robert Vanecko. He is a co founder of the Real Estate Investment start up, DV Urban Realty Partners with Allison Davis. Vanecko also happens to be the nephew of Richard M. Daley, the mayor of Chicago. Daley's nephew and Davis... were able to land a deal to build a new Dominick's in that space along with Condominium high rise of more than a hundred units. Not only this but this company was also able to use city pension funds as collatoral for this project. The project is worth in excess of $60 million with DV getting a commission of $8 million. Now, a grand jury is asking exactly how these two were able to use pension money for such a risky proposition. City pension officials have been hit with subpoenas from a federal grand jury trying to determine how a start-up company co-owned by Mayor Daley's nephew won $68 million in pension investments. The grand jury issued the subpoenas Wednesday, nearly two months after city pension officials refused to comply with similar subpoenas issued by the City of Chicago's inspector general, David Hoffman. In fact, as the article continues to point out, this isn't even the first subpoena to be issued into a business associated with Vanecko. This is the second joint investigation that Hoffman and federal authorities are conducting into Vanecko's businesses. The other investigation involves the hidden ownership stake Vanecko and the mayor's son, Patrick Daley, held in a sewer-cleaning company that won millions of dollars in no-bid contract extensions from City Hall. Vanecko and Patrick Daley have said they sold their investment in the company in late 2004 when Patrick Daley enlisted in the Army and Vanecko went into business with Davis. Let's put this into perspective. Pension funds should be as safe as possible. After all, they secure the retirement benefits of thousands of city employees. These are not funds meant for anything more risky than the bluest of blue chip stocks. In this case, not only were they used to secure a major real estate development during a real estate downturn, but they were used to back a brand new real estate investment company. This is the opposite of the sorts of investment a pension fund should invest in. So, how did it happen? To me, to ask just how the mayor's nephew was able to secure $68 million in pension funds for such a risky investment is in fact a rhetorical question. He's the mayor's nephew and so all questions end there. That's how the city of Chicago works. Those with connections get city resources. Those that don't...well they don't. It's really all very simple. This is the Chicago Way. What's really shocking about all of this is just how ordinary this is.
Agree. The Boscos are very disappointed in him. He is not a provider. He will get his butt kicked again in any election he runs.
Does McGinnis have a STATE MANDATED DEVICE that checks for alcohol in your system installed in HER CAR. There should be a public record of this transaction. LETS DO SOME MORE INVESTIGATING PEOPLE
My financial team:“I will put Paul Volpe and Gene Saffold against anyone,†Mayor Daley, David Hoffman and Scott Waguespack beat them by just using a calculator.
Serious question: Who gets the new meter money from meters that are placed in new city sub-divisions. As more areas are gentrified who gets the new meter revenue? I was also told that the Daley family have bought a hidden interest in the parking meter company! Where are the feds?
hey mayor on june 3 i heard you say the money from the parkng meters saved the city from layoffs and we had a cushion of 400 million on june 4 i heard there are going to be more furlough days and layoffs i think you should be investigated also just like the rest of the crooked people in this state
The city is supposed to provide municipal services to us,Not sell them,that is what we pay for.If sold to private entities,They are lost to the Public domain.Also with no loyalty to the community these private corps,will just increase the revenues of these entities whenever,however they like..Its like the Kremlin deciding what is good for us?? so all our services our sold off,but no one gets laid off as a result?? traffic mgmnt,toll ways,parking meters,WTF is going on people are we that dumbed down? and why the constant election of people we know are stealing,and sodomising us and our families..They laugh at hugo chavez,russia,china,cuba,mexico,as all useless banana republics??????
