By Steve Rhodes
“Ties between Lollapalooza promoters C3 Presents and attorney Mark Vanecko, a nephew of Mayor Richard M. Daley, run deeper than previously reported, and include a link to alcohol sales at the massive three-day music festival in Grant Park, according to public records and corporate filings,” Jim DeRogatis reports for Vocalo.
“Although the liquor license for the concert is issued in the name of Parkways Foundation, the non-profit arm of the Chicago Park District, beer and hard liquor actually are sold to the crowd of as many as 95,000 daily by Lollapalooza Festival Services, a company co-owned by Kevin Killerman, a Wrigleyville bar owner with dozens of complaints for underage drinking on his record, and a friend and legal client of Vanecko.”
Mark Vanecko is the brother of Robert Vanecko, whose dealings with the city have been an embarrassment to the mayor.
Last month, the Sun-Times reported that “[Robert] Vanecko’s real estate deals are falling apart, records show, potentially jeopardizing the money he got from the pension funds representing Chicago’s police officers, teachers, city employees and CTA workers.
“And it turns out that other Daley family members were involved in one of those soured deals – a plan to build condos next door to the mayor’s favorite South Loop restaurant, the Chicago Firehouse.”
Wait for it . . .
“To negotiate the deal, [developer and mayoral pal Allison] Davis and Vanecko hired the law firm of Daley & George, founded by the late Mayor Richard J. Daley and now headed by Michael Daley, the current mayor’s younger brother. Michael Daley’s son-in-law, Allan ‘Kelly’ Ryan IV, worked the deal with Dennis Aukstik, ex-brother-in-law of William Daley, another of the mayor’s brothers.”
(Just to add a crowning touch, one of Vanecko’s lawyers is former Cook County State’s Attorney Dick Devine, a mayoral crony who was Daley’s deputy when he was state’s attorney during the Burge era.
(And guess who used to work for Daley & George? Mark Vanecko.)
Mark and Robert Vanecko are the sons of Mary Carol Vanecko, the mayor’s sister.
Swallowed Whistles
“Study Finds Many Doctors Don’t Report Addicted, Incompetent Colleagues.”
Nor do journalists.
Junket Journalism
Feather Down Farm Days paid Sun-Times travel writer Lori Rackl to write this story about how great Feather Down Farm Days is.
Last Gasps
“Cook County Board President Todd Stroger is using the county payroll to reward those who backed his failed re-election effort and punish those who did not, a court-appointed hiring watchdog told a federal judge Tuesday,” the Tribune reports.
“To do that, Stroger’s staff has lowered minimum job qualifications, pretended not to know job applicants when they did, tried to invoke emergency hiring powers, and fed job test answers to applicants with political sponsors, the hiring monitor stated in a 35-page report.”
More Meter Madness
“Are some businesses using influence to have meters moved?” the Parking Ticket Geek wonders.
“According to a recent story in the Southwest News-Herald, two Chicago aldermen have assisted constituent business owners with relocating pay boxes to other locations within ward where one assumed they’ll do less harm.”
Trade Byrd
He doesn’t really fit in with the Cubs.
Radio Zell
“After unsuccessfully trying to lure him to WGN Radio, the Tribune Company is now filming pilot episodes of a TV show hosted by Cincinnati radio host Bill Cunningham – the same guy who advocated caning homeless people and alleged that Barack Obama ‘wants to gas the Jews,'” Progress Illinois reports.
That’s Pat!
Gov. Pat Quinn’s bizarre stunt.
Be Like George
“We all want to be the most competitive, the most decisive, the most aggressive at picking up free agents and trading fading players for those just hitting their stride,” our very own fantasy sports specialist Dan O’Shea writes. “And, more than anything else, we all want to be standing above the rest at the end of the season, chomping our cigars, and savoring the jealously on the faces of the vanquished.”
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Unite and conquer.
Posted on July 14, 2010