Finally, the political world revolves around the state of Illinois for one day. Illinois is the first in the nation to hold its primaries and so the nation will have its electoral eyes on Illinois. Nationally, the two big races will be for the U.S. Senate and Governor. Republicans have a realistic chance of winning both in November.
The Democrats are putting up Dan Hynes and current Governor Pat Quinn. For self interest, all Republicans should be rooting for Pat Quinn to win. Quinn's first act as Governor was to raise that state's income tax about 50%. As the former Lt. Governor to Blago, that taint will likely stay with Quinn. Meanwhile, Hynes, the state's current Comptroller, has been surging in the polls.
Both are Springfield insiders in a year when that's a very bad place to be. On the Republican side, three candidates have been playing whack a mole with each other. Those candidates are Andy McKenna, Kirk Dillard, and Jim Ryan. Each would have the insider's label attached to them. Because each has waged a bloody commercial battle against each other. Dillard appeard in an ad in favor of then candidate Barack Obama in the 2008 election cycle. Both Dillard and Ryan are attached to tax increases. Meanwhile, McKenna has been attached to corruption as head of the Illinois GOP.
I believe that all three will knock each other out. Meanwhile, Adam Andrzejewski and Dan Proft were both vying for the candidate of the outsider. Recently, Andrzejewski has surged after being endorsed by Lech Walesa. That endorsement has lead to an endorsement by stalwart Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck yesterday. That race remains wide open but my pick is Andrzejewski. In the Senate side, Alexi Giannoulias, the state's current Treasurer, has been dogged recently by his connection to his family's bank, Broadway Bank. He's facing David Hoffman, the recently former IG in Chicago and Chicago Urban League President Cheryle Jackson. Hoffman has gained traction attacking Giannoulias' big stock withdrawals over the last couple years. This has all happened while Broadway Bank has been losing tens of millions and is on the verge of being taken over by regulators. Meanwhile, Giannoulias was a loan officer at Broadway when he worked there. In fact, when he ran for the State's Treasurer office in 2006 he was dogged by loans made by the bank made to reputed mob boss in the area. Meanwhile, Hoffman has gained a reputation as corruption fighter. He was initially supposed to be a typical IG in Chicago but then waged several high profile battles with officials close to Daley. Hoffman has been dogged by what has been characterized as a terribly negative campaign including several retraction.
Once again, self interest would mean that Republicans are rooting for Giannoulias. Giannoulias was ahead as of the last set of polls but the race has taken on national significance and further exposure in the last week. That race remains up in the air. The last time the Democrats elected a true anti corruption fighter it was Mike Quigley to represent the 5th District in the U.S. House. He then cruised to victory in the special election. Hoffman would be a much tougher candidate in November. Meanwhile, Giannoulias would be tainted and bruised coming out of the primary. Jackson's campaign has been running third throughout.
On the Republican side, North Shore Congressman Mark Kirk has been leading throughout. His opponent, Patrick Hughes, is another favorite of the Tea Party movement. Kirk became its scourge following his vote in favor of cap and trade. He's also socially moderate. Still, while Hughes has been gaining recently, Kirk is the overwhelming favorite. He'd also be a favorite against Giannoulias. Against, Hoffman it would be a toss up.
While those two races will have national intrigue, the most compelling race is for the Cook County Board President. The current incumbent, Todd Stroger, has been an also ran throughout. The favorite originally, Dorothy Brown, has been dogged by some new ethics revelations recently. She's the current Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court. She instituted a policy which laid a $5 fee for any employee that wore jeans to work. She's been unable to account for that money. There's been other questions about her employees contributions.
Questions about jeans day follow previous stories about Brown raising money for pet causes from workers in her office, which has more than 2,100 employees. She's also raised campaign money through her employees and they've been asked to contribute to gifts for her.
Today, Brown's staff acknowledged that there's no comprehensive accounting of the jeans day cash contributions that reach the tens of thousands of dollars each year. She said the office tries to verify that the number of permission stickers issued equals the number of contributions. Employees also are supposed to write their names on envelopes when they contribute for jeans day, she said. The comptroller in her office tracks the money, Brown added.
With corruption a main topic in Cook County, Brown has become vulnerable. That leaves the race open for Chicago Alderman Toni Preckwinkle and the head of the water reclamation district Terry O'Brien. That race also remains wide open.
On the Republican side, Roger Keats is facing off against John Garrido. Keats is the Candidate of the Republican Party in Cook County and he's being backed by Cook County Republican stalwart Tony Peraica. Keats remains the frontrunner in that race.
Meanwhile, the Green Party has been able to field no less than 19 candidates for offices in the Chicagoland area. This includes three candidates for the new head of the Water Reclamation District, Jack Ailey, Diana Horton, and Nadine Bopp. This includes a candidate for Governor, Senator, every Congressional district in the area, and about 70% of the Cook County offices.
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger was sending a message to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan when he recently fired two of Madigan's top political operatives from their high-paying county jobs, county sources said.
Madigan, like Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, has not made an endorsement in the county president race and isn't expected to do so, the speaker's spokesman, Steve Brown, said.
But some of Madigan's Southwest Side foot soldiers have circulated nominating petitions and are actively backing Stroger's chief rivals for the Democratic nomination - Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District boss Terrence O'Brien, county insiders said.
Last week when I interviewed Tom Tresser, I didn't mention this but I should have. These two folks were making a total of $230,000 yearly. We, as the tax payers, not only pay for their salaries but their pensions. Thousands of patronage workers' salaries are paid by the County but so are their pensions once they retire.
The story in the Sun Times today is of patronage work used as bare knuckles politics. These two are supporters of Michael Madigan, Speaker of the Illinois House. They were fired, presumably, because Madigan has yet to support Stroger. The real story is the number of patronage workers the County has. These folks are hired based on clout and connections and not based on qualifications.
I first met up with Tom Tresserwhen I went to my first Olympics town hall event in the summer. Tresser lead the citizen activist group, No Games Chicago. They opposed the bid, as most have probably figured out. Tresser represented No Games, and their position, in the forum. Here's how I described Tresser's best argument that night.
Tresser, on at least five occasions, referred to Daley by the moniker corrupt. No one supporting the bid ever challenged this characterization. Instead, their defense was that the bid was a private non profit effort that is separate from the mayor's office
The corruption in Chicago's City Hall was the number one reason to oppose the Olympics coming to this city. While the Olympics aren't going to be here, the corruption is a major reason, the corruption hasn't gone away with it. In fact, it's a part of daily political life in the city of Chicago, the County of Cook, and the state of Illinois in its entirety.
Tresser announced his candidacy for Cook County Board President back in October. With several scandals hanging over the head of Todd Stroger, the issue of corruption was going to be a major part of the campaign. It is, however, the central part of Tresser's campaign. In fact, Tresser first made a name for himself, politically, here in Chicago fighting against privatization. Privatization and corruption are now mentioned in the same breath here in Chicago ever since the parking meter debacle. It was this debacle that gave all Chicagoans a first hand taste of the corrosive power of government privatization. Back in 2007, privatization was still being done at the margins. That was when the Chicago Park District tried to give away one of its parks to the private Latin High School. Tresser lead a group of citizen activists to stop this and he succeeded. He also got a first hand taste of Chicago corruption.
As such, I sat down with Tom Tresser this morning for a sweeping interview all about Cook County corruption, its roots, and what a politician dedicated to ending it could do. To understand how serious Tresser, who's running under the Green Party ticket, takes corruption, you only needed to look at the table we had the interview on. On this table lay three manilla folders stuffed with paper work: folder 1) Chicago corruption folder two 2)Cook County corruption and folder 3) Illinois corruption.
I first asked Tresser how Chicago's city hall machine is connected to the machine at the County level. Tresser first pointed out that John Stroger, the father of current Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, got his own political muscle when he supported then candidate Richard M. Daley for mayor over then Mayor Harold Washington in the mid 1980's. That would have been something near scandalous then since both Stroger and Washington are African American and Daley is white. Second, Tresser pointed out that the most powerful Cook County Commissioner is John Daley, the brother of Richard M. Daley. Daley heads the finance committee on the Cook County Board. Through this chairmanship, John Daley is able to wield all sorts of power.
The connection between the Chicago machine and the machine of Cook County needs to be viewed through much of the levers of both its powers: patronage and contracts. Patronage refers to the cushy jobs that those in the machine get. Contracts are doled out by the billions and tens of billions by the city, county and state government in Chicago, Cook, and Springfield. So, if you're a patronage worker, you can count on a cushy job not only with the city, but with the county if an opportunity arises. Furthermore, a business ally of Mayor Daley can not only count on the city getting them a sweetheart contract, but one with the county. As an example, Tresser showed me this article from the Sun Times earlier in the week.
A consulting firm headed by former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones Jr.’s stepson John Sterling has been paid more than $787,000 under a Cook County contract funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, despite failing to provide required weekly reports — for 21 months.
That’s the key finding of a Chicago Sun-Times and NBC5 News investigation of the contract for the troubled Project Shield program, a $40 million federal initiative born of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Sterling’s company, Synch-Solutions, was hired by Cook County in March 2008 to maintain quality assurance for the program, which aims to place enough video cameras in police cars and at stationary locations throughout the county to be able to provide a web of live video to a central command in case of disaster, attack or other emergency.
Emil Jones is the former President of the Illinois Senate. This story details how his step son got a sweetheart contract from the County and the step son's, John Sterling, company appears to have done no work. Jones was a part of the state government in Springfield. Yet, he's able to use his clout to give his stepson a sweetheart deal with the County government. That's how all three operate because all three are littered with corruption.
The other reality is patronage. That's the process by which machine activists, cronies if you will, get cushy jobs. Tresser told me that he volunteered for Dick Simpson's campaign in the early 1990's when he ran against Dan Rostonkowski for the U.S. Congress. Tresser visited a handful of polling stations as part of his volunteer work. At each station there were a handful of Rostonkowski "volunteers". In fact, they weren't volunteers at all. These were government workers be it from Chicago's city hall or some County office that were out campaigning for Rostonkowski. So, county workers are often asked to help out the campaigns of the machine on any level of government. (Rostonkowski later went to prison on corruption charges)
To put the corruption on the county level into context, Tresser next opened up the minutes to the last Cook County Board meeting held on December 2nd. The major news out of this meeting was the roll back of sales tax increase. What was of interest to Tresser was found in the first fifteen minutes of the meeting. According to the minutes, there was an approval of settlements of no less than eleven different court cases against the county.
Five of these settlements had to do with Shakman suits. What are Shakman suits? They're named after Michael Shakman. Shakman fought a vicious battle in the 1960's to make sure that city hiring and firing wasn't politically motivated. There was little explanation of the settlements in these five cases but we can assume that someone was passed over for a crony of the machine, they sued, and this is the settlement. The other six settlements were suit settled to injuries that were job related. In one case, an individual received $1000 for spilling coffee on himself. Because John Daley runs the Finance Committee, he has great power in authorizing these settlements. When Cook County Commissioners Tony Peraica and Bridget Gainor each asked for explanations of these settlements, they were quickly summarized in two minutes and the meeting moved on.
This too is symptomatic of Cook County. Because hiring is often done with patronage, Shakman suits are a part of political life. We can all assume that there's exponentially more patronage hiring than there are suits to stop such hiring. So, if five were settled in this one meeting, we can all only imagine how much patronage hiring there is. In fact, just in the city of Chicago, the city settled $136 million worth of lawsuits last year.
What is the end result of having a series of patronage workers in the County government? Tresser showed me this report from the local Fox affiliate. (embed doesn't work on all browsers so please go to the link if that's the case)
In the report, one County worker was caught napping. Another roads supervisor was followed and for three hours the supervisor never actually stopped to inspect any of the highway workers he's supposed to supervise. Who is the government worker caught napping? His name is Alex Moreno and his brother is Cook County Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno. In fact, according to the report, there's 137 employees of the highway department that are "pushing paper" in the downtown office.
Finally, there's the issue of TIF's, tax incremental financing. This is the method by which Mayor Daley especially is able to create a slush fund for his corruption. TIFs were originally meant for development in low and moderate income areas, but Daley has put in such places as the posh South Loop area of the city. They're now simply a means of securing financing for contracts for friends of Daley and hide the money well.
So, that's how the corrupt city, county and state governments function, in a nutshell. How does Tresser propose to fix things? He would start with a forensic audit of the entire county government to see where each and every penny is going. That's the only way to root out each and every corrupt contract. Next, Tresser would order a desk audit. By this he means that he would order a review of all the employees of the Cook County government. He would start with the top level managers, those making six figures. In the second year, he would look at the middle managers and in the third year he'd look at the "line employees", the plumbers, construction workers, and contractors. Only with such an audit, in Tresser's estimation, can the government root out the cronies, waste, and inefficiencies in hiring. The cronies would be replaced, the fut cut, and the inefficiencies combined. That's a process that would take up to three years.
From there, the County government would look at strategic planning for the future. Once the waste and corruption were rooted out, Tresser would look to set goals for the government so that it's again functioning on behalf of the people. He would implement simple things like a suggestion box and the so called secret shopper. The secret shopper is used by business who send in spies to check out their retailers to see how the staff provides service. Tresser would do the same thing only these "secret shoppers" would attempt to get property tax information, stamps, and other county related services. Tresser would also beef up the Inspector General's office and give that office more support. Tresser would also use the so called power of the purse to lean on other departments of the county government. For instance, Democratic nominee for Cook County Board President Dorothy Brown is currently the Clerk of the Circuit Court. The Cook County Board President can't force the Clerk to do a similar audit of their department, but the President can withhold funds from any other lever of the county government that they believe isn't functioning properly. That's what Tresser told me he intends to do.
I also asked him what an honest and truly anti corruption crusader Cook County Board President could do to disrupt the power of the Chicago machine. Tresser said that there would be no more sweetheart contracts to Daley's friends. Furthermore, Daley wouldn't have the county workers to count on to do campaign work. Not only would this starve the Daley machine of its power to line their friends pockets, but this could open up much of city hall to challenges from insurgent candidates. Furthermore, if Daley is no longer to be counted on to deliver the votes to an ally, his own power diminishes.
We talked about some of Tresser's potential opponents in the general election. We didn't speak about Stroger since Stroger's reputation preceeds him. Dorothy Brown is the current leader in the Democratic primary polling. Brown has made a name for herself in opposing Stroger, but in Tresser's view, she's still a part of the machine. She's had her own taints of corruption. Another individual making a name for themselves is Toni Preckwinkle. Preckwinkle has made a name for herself taking on Daley. Tresser pointed out that Preckwinkle supported the Olympics after first opposing it. Furthermore, Tresser said that he knows of no TIF that Preckwinkle has opposed.
The candidate that Tresser thinks will come out of the Democratic primary is Terry O'Brien. O'Brien is currently head of Chicago's Water Reclamation District. He also runs a private consulting on environmental issues. Here's how Andy Shaw of the Better Government Association explained this conflict of interest.
"It’s an outrageous conflict of interest and a dereliction of duty for the head of an agency responsible for ensuring that we have clean water to drink and play in, to work for a company that protects the polluters,” Mr. Shaw said. “It’s ‘dirty’ politics, literally and figuratively."
O'Brien has promised to divest if he's elected Cook County Board President but doesn't see his dual role now as a conflict. Tresser scoffed at this notion. Tresser said he didn't know any of the Republican candidates and didn't give them much chance to win. Given the Republicans track record in Cook County, that's assessment has historical backing.
Tresser ended the interview by pointing out the inherent conflict of interest of Cook County politicians taking money from PACs and corporations. (you can look each one up on ilcampaign.org) For instance, Todd Stroger received several thousand dollars from Ariel Capital LLC. How much, Tresser asked rhetorically, did Ariel receive in contracts from the county? Tresser pledged to take money only from individuals. This puts him at a decided disadvantage compared to the other candidates. He also pointed out that refusing to take corporate and PAC contributions is also a platform of the Green Party. In Tresser's view, the only way to serve the people and not the special interests is not to take money from the special interests.
The latest polls are out in both the Illinois Governor's race and the race for Cook County Board President. It appears in the Governor's race at least there is no sweeping winds of change. Governor Quinn holds a big lead for the Democrats and Jim Ryan, long time Republican stalwart, holds a big lead for the Republicans.
Among the 600 likely Democratic primary voters surveyed by telephone Dec. 2-8, Quinn had the support of 49 percent to 23 percent for Hynes, the three-term comptroller. Among other candidates, activist William "Dock" Walls had 3 percent, and attorney Ed Scanlan had 2 percent. An additional 21 percent were undecided; 2 were for others. The poll has an error margin of 4 percentage points.
...
On the Republican side, the poll of 600 likely GOP voters found Ryan with the support of 26 percent, to 12 percent for Andy McKenna, the former state party chairman.
At 10 percent was state Sen. Bill Brady, of Bloomington, an unsuccessful 2006 Republican governor candidate, while state Sen. Kirk Dillard, of Hinsdale, had 9 percent. Three other candidates had the support of 6 percent or less of GOP voters.
On the Republican side, both Ryan and McKenna, the former Illinois Republican Party chairman, are the consummate insiders. Ryan's own record on corruption is mixed. A couple weeks back, Chicago anti corruption crusader John Kass had a largely positive column about Ryan following a long interview.
"The infrastructure of the Illinois Republican Party has never really been for me," Ryan said over breakfast the other day as we talked about that 2002 campaign and his current run in the crowded GOP primary for governor. "I'm not a deal-maker. And senior Republicans knew my reputation. They knew I wouldn't be flexible."
Seven years ago, Ryan, then Illinois attorney general, had the misfortune of having the same last name as George Ryan, the crooked Republican governor who later was indicted and sent to prison in the license-for-bribes scandal. They're not related, but George Ryan's disgrace splashed over the GOP
.
Within days, the Chicago Sun Times (Kass works for the Tribune) scooped Kass with a long piece detailing Ryan's ties to some of Illinois' most disgraced power brokers.
Republican gubernatorial hopeful Jim Ryan, already dogged by questions about his ties to convicted money-launderer Stuart Levine, could have another Levine-related problem.Embarking on his second run for the state's top office, the former attorney general has acknowledged that, yes, he was close to Levine, who was his law school study partner and, later, his top political fund-raiser.
And yes, Ryan knows that some will hold that friendship against him, even though he has said he had no idea Levine was a longtime white-collar crook whose "secret life" included frequent all-night drug parties with male companions -- revelations that didn't emerge until after federal prosecutors indicted Levine in 2005.
Levine pleaded guilty to federal fraud and money-laundering charges in 2006 and became a star witness last year in the successful corruption prosecution of Tony Rezko, the former top adviser to ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
It's important to note that Ryan has never had any ethics charges against him. There are no charges that he himself was ever involved in corruption directly. That said Stuart Levine is not now merely a convicted felon but he has long standing ties to some of Illinois' most notorious power brokers including Tony Rezko and William Cellini and Ryan's ties to Levine go back decades.
Meanwhile, Andy McKenna was head of the Republican party here in Illinois during its darkest period in the last four years. That includes an embarrassing loss against Governor Blagojevich in 2006.
On the Democratic side, not only is Governor Quinn in charge of a commanding lead but Democratic voters have given a collective shrug to the stain of former Governor Blagojevich. Quinn's list of "accomplishments" include raising the income tax by 50% and presiding over a farcical ethics and campaign reform bill.
On the Cook County Board President front, there may be some relatively good news. Current Cook County Board President Todd Stroger is running a distant third among Democrats.
The Chicago Tribune's poll of Cook County voters' attitudes to the Democratic primary candidates has Dorothy Brown with a lead over three other candidates. The incumbent, Todd Stroger, is in third place, but with the highest unfavorable rating of any of the candidates by far.
The breakdown of support is Brown-Preckwinkle-Stroger-O'Brien, at 29%-20%-14%-11%, with "Other" at 2% and 24% undecided.
Buried in the numbers is one other interesting point. Preckwinkle's name recognition stands at only 62% whereas Brown is at 91% and Stroger at 98%. So, Preckwinkle certainly has a serious opportunity if her name recognition goes up. The Republicans have no one of consequence and a poll hasn't been done.
The Chicago Tribune ran a story today on the Democratic candidates for Cook County Board President (it doesn't look good for the incumbent).
At the conclusion of the story the reporters make this statement:"Two Republicans, Roger Keats and John Garrido, are running for the chance to challenge the Democratic primary winner for a seat that Democrats have held for more than 40 years."
What's missing?
The Green Party candidate.
That's true. Tresser wasn't even mentioned in the story. In fact, I'm surprised the Republicans were mentioned. They didn't bother to run a poll on them. When the 5th District held its special election to replace Rahm Emanuel, both newspapers pretended as though the only ones running were Democrats.
Last night I received an email from Alderman Manny Flores' (1st Ward) office stating his intention to move forward with a new ordinance to create and provide more oversight and transparency for all expenses, contracts, and potential conflicts relating from Chicago's bid to host the Olympics and by extension the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG).
A bit of a refresher is important here. Chicago first bid for the 2016 Olympics in 2007. In March of that year, the Mayor, with little debate, was able to secure a commitment of $500 million from the city to finance the games. He did this despite giving the citizens of Chicago assurances that no tax payer money would be used to finance the games. Then, in May of this year, Mayor Daley pronounced that he would sign the host city contract which would put the city on the hook for most of the games finances effectively putting the city's tax payers on the hook for all unexpected expenses of the Olympics. Then, in July, Alderman Flores proposed an ordinance that would require strict oversight AND a cap on the city expenses to the $500 million that was already passed. If this ordinance passed, it would kill the city's bid because it would also mean the city couldn't hold up its end of the host city contract.
The city had proposed its own oversight ordinance and his office gave a bullet point comparison between his proposal and that of the city. There's no question that his proposal would create much stricter oversight. First, Flores' proposal adds two more layers of oversight to spending and contracts. Flores' proposal would empower the Office of Inspector General the power of oversight over OCOG finances for waste and mismanagement. Second, Flores' bill would also create an independent public interest group with the power to review all OCOG reports also for waste and abuse. The city's proposal only has a City Council body empowered for oversight. That body would be headed by the head of the Finance Committee and the Budget Committee. It should be noted that the Finance and Budget Committees are chaired by Daley allies Ed Burke and Carrie Austin.
Alderman Flores' bill also requires quarterly reporting on the web of all contracts and expenditures. It requires anyone employed by the OCOG making $50,000 and more to disclose an potential conflicts of interest. (a la Michael Scott) His office believes that by creating all this disclosure it would create a fourth layer of watchdogs, which is the citizens themselves.
What's missing from Alderman Flores' current ordinance is the cap of $500 million in exposure to the city's tax payers. Alderman Flores' office told me that he will introduce the more draconian ordinance if the current one is voted down. He will introduce the ordinance at the next hearing of the Finance Committee on September 8th. If passed, it will go in front of the full city council the next day. As of last check, there were eight co sponsors of the ordinance including Alderman Richard Mell.
After speaking with Alderman Flores' office, I spoke with Tom Tresser of No Games Chicago. (the main group trying to stop the bid) I've spoken with Tresser before and he usually doesn't mince words. He didn't disappoint on this occasion. He was simply incredulous. He called the entire ordinance "window dressing". He scoffed at the notion that there would be any independent body that could watch the money. He said that the city has a long history of ignoring FOIA requests and requests for information. What's more, the Inspector General that Flores is counting on to produce a layer of oversight will be chosen by Mayor Daley. So, are we supposed to believe this individual will really be an independent watchdog? He said that none of these watch dog bodies will have any budgets or subpoena power which, in his view, renders them teethless. Furthermore, he pointed out that if Chicago is chosen final decisions are left to the IOC. As such, in his view, all the disclosure in the world won't protect the tax payers from the will of the IOC. He told me that he believes that this bill effectively gives the Mayor the blank check he and his group feared.
Finally, I spoke with Alderman Flores a couple weeks back. He told me that he was committed to protecting the tax payers. He told me that he was committed to moving forward with the cap. He also said that he was going to look at several things before he would finalize the bill.
First, the Olympic committee is looking to buy insurance to protect the city against overruns. (in other words insurance that would pay for any construction that would go over budget) The Alderman didn't want to commit to a number but he was hoping the insurance would be between $1 billion and $1.5 billion. Second, the Chicago Civic Federation will finalize their report analyzing the financial projections of the Olympic committee. If the CCF finds that the numbers are trustworthy, the Alderman would feel better about the finances. Third, he'd like to see an oversight committee that would be charged with making sure the finances are spent efficiently and without corruption.
The Civic Federation did do its analysis and the analysis was comfortable with the numbers projected by the OCOG. That said, it was also revealed that 40 of the 82 board members of the Civic Federation have ties to the OCOG. The Civic Federation also gave its highest honor to the leader of the OCOG Pat Ryan, and the firm the Civic Federation hired, LEK Consulting, is trying to get business with the city. Furthermore, the insurance policy was changed by the OCOG late last week and it's unclear what the new policy looks like. I asked the Alderman's office what he's seen that changed his mind. I haven't received a response yet though I'll be happy to update if and when I do receive a response.
Update: A reader has helped me with a name that slipped my own mind originally and I want to update the piece.
Tonight, I attended the forum on the proposed 2016 Olympic bid in Chicago. The event was held at the Center on Halsted in the Lake View area of Chicago. (the neighborhood I live in) Both sides were represented. Four representatives of 2016 Chicago represented those trying to bring the games here. Meanwhile, the opposition was represented by Tom Tresser of No Games Chicago. Erma Tranter, President of Friends of the Parks, presented her group's view of the potential impact of the games on our parks and greenery.
First, each of the three sides took fifteen minutes for a fifteen minute power point presentation. Former Olympic wrestler, Jim Scherr, represented the folks supporting the 2016 bid first made an economic argument. he said that the bid would bring in $2.2 billion in revenues for the city and businesses in the area. It would create 315,000. The bid would NOT cost the tax payers one single dime. All of it would be financed through private financing. They said that the games in Los Angeles in 1984, Atlanta in 1996, and Salt Lake City in 2002 all didn't cost the tax payers any money.
He then played a video which featured a dozen young athletes. He talked about the unique experience that the Olympics would provide and the inspiration it would bring to tens of thousands of inner city youths.
Next, the lady representing concerned citizens for parks and recreation spoke. Her main concern was regarding Washington Park. The park was built and designed by legendary landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted who also designed such landmarks as Central Park. Washington Park would be home to the temporary 80,000 some seat stadium that would host the opening and closing of the games. Washington Park currently hosts all sorts of sports leagues like baseball, soccer, lacrosse, and even cricket leagues. It's in a relatively poor area of the South Side of Chicago, and is among the most significant landmarks in the area. This TEMPORARY stadium would damage the park in a very permanent and significant way. This beautiful park would likely be left to something bland and even ugly. Other parks that would face significant disruption would be Jackson Park and Garfield Park. On the other hand, Grant Park would face no permanent disruption at all. Lincoln Park would face a small disruption to an area designed for the birds. To no one's surprise, the first three parks are in poor areas while the two that won't have any serious permanent damage are in wealthy areas.
Tom Tresser's message was very clear. The folks running this bid, Richard Daley and co., are corrupt and incompetent. Their numbers are NOT to be trusted. For instance, the study that claimed that more than $2 billion would be created and 300k plus jobs with it was sponsored and paid for by the bid. He pointed out that the Montreal games in 1976 were 11.9 times over budget, Salt Lake City games ran 2.5 times over budget, the Athens games were 2.4 times over budget, the Turin games in 2006 wre 1.7 times over budget, the Beijing games cost $40 billion (with no known original cost estimate), the Vancouver games in 2010 are already 10 times the original budget, the London games in 2012 are already 3.7 times the budget.
There is also major controversy over Michael Reese Hospital. That land will be used for the Olympic Village. Then, it will be sold. So, those from the 2016 bid say that the city won't lose money on the deal. Meanwhile, Tresser said that the budget can't be trusted because the $86 million expense isn't in the budget for the games. It was also pointed out that the Los Angeles games used all the existing stadiums in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Chicago would be building several new stadiums including the massive 80k plus stadium that would be torn down immediately following the games.
The issue of TIF's (Tax Increment Funds) also became a point of contention. This is essentially a tax accounting trick. What happens with a TIF is that property taxes are capped at a certain amount. Then, any tax money over that goes into a slush fund. So, for example let's say the tax in a condo building are capped at $2000. What this means is that up to $2000 goes to local schools, garbage clean up, etc. The rest goes into a slush fund for the mayor to spend in whatever way he wants. Tresser believes his group has already found $1 billion in TIFs earmarked for the games.
Ultimately, this debate comes down to credibility. All sides presented strong arguments. There's no doubt that if the games are built and produced efficiently that this will be a boon for the city not only in terms of tourism and entertainment but in income. At the same time, opponents are right. If the games are run in the same corrupt manner that the city has been run for a decade and more, it won't come in within the budget restraints. Furthermore, the citizens won't likely know that things will go over budget. They likely won't even know that taxes will be raised to pay for it. These TIFs are difficult to follow. Funds are comingled. Taxes would be raised will in advance of the Olympics. No one would ever claim they were raised for the Olympics specifically. Furthermore, the taxes would likely be property taxes which are very easy to manipulate.
My own personal opinion is that if this is a matter of credibility then we must all say no. To say yes to the Daley administration yet again despite all that we know. In fact, Tresser, on at least five occasions, referrred to Daley by the moniker corrupt. No one supporting the bid ever challenged this characterization. Instead, their defense was that the bid was a private non profit effort that is separate from the mayor's office. The bid is being lead by Lori Healy, who took over the bid following a stint as the mayor's Chief of Staff. The only thing more ludicrous than the idea that Daley won't be running this operation is the idea that he isn't corrupt.
Please note. I welcome any and all comments from any political perspective. I will not stand or approve any swearing, and personal attacks will likely also not be approved.
