Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Friday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

Chicagoland needs an antidote, and we’re on it!
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I’ll be on Beachwood Radio this weekend with the Angry Aussie discussing the latest episode; look for it in this space on Saturday evening.
Coke Fiend
“A former Mississippi sharecropper who landed millions of dollars in contracts from the city of Chicago was sentenced Thursday to 17 months in prison for his role in a minority-contracting scandal that involved sewer deals held by a company whose investors secretly included then-Mayor Richard M. Daley’s son and nephew,” the Sun-Times reports.
“Jesse Brunt, 77, the owner of Brunt Bros. Transfer, had pleaded guilty more than a year ago to mail fraud, admitting the trucking company’s role in the city deals was a sham.
“The black Chicago businessman admitted Brunt Bros. acted as a minority front in sewer deals with City Hall beginning with Kenny Industrial Services, owned by the clout-heavy Kenny family, and continued when their business was taken over in 2003 by a company owned in part by Daley’s son Patrick Daley and nephew Robert G. Vanecko.”
Here’s the kicker:
“Daley’s son and nephew weren’t charged in the scheme and were never interviewed by investigators, Brunt’s attorney Jeffrey Steinback said in court Thursday.”
Chicagoland!


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“Daley and Vanecko had secret ownership stakes in Municipal Sewer Services, created by Anthony Duffy to take over the city contracts from Kenny’s company . . . Brunt admitted his fraud cost the city nearly $8.8 million.”
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“Explaining the arrangement to the judge, Steinback said: ‘Two big shots’ from Kenny ‘thought of it. They helped him fill out the certification . . . and basically they ran the show. These two guys’ – whom Steinback did not identify – ‘. . . made millions, and they walked because the statute of limitations passed and they went bankrupt.’
“Duffy ran Kenny’s sewer-cleaning business. When the company went bankrupt in 2003, Duffy got financing from Cardinal Growth, a Chicago venture capital firm, to buy the assets and take over the city contracts, with Brunt continuing to work as a minority-owned front.
“Cardinal Growth was headed by Robert Bobb and Joseph McInerney, businessmen with close ties to the Daley family.”
Sources close to my imagination tell me that after the bankruptcy, they all met at the Pepper Canister – but didn’t talk business at all.
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“The mayor’s son and nephew were investors in Duffy’s sewer company, but he never disclosed their ownership stake in filings with City Hall, then lied about it when questioned by the FBI.”
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The former mayor could not be reached because he was busy enjoying a Coke.
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MasterRahm
“Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration sold more than $883 million in bonds this week to pay bills and maintain services, a strategy that will cost taxpayers down the road but lets him put off some difficult choices leading up to his re-election campaign,” the Tribune reports.
“Aldermen, whose terms are also up in the spring 2015 elections, voted last month to grant the mayor wide latitude to increase the city’s debt and spend the money as he sees fit with few questions.
“The council also authorized doubling, to $1 billion, Emanuel’s short-term borrowing authority – essentially the city’s credit card – a move that allows the mayor to cover operating expenses such as legal settlements, back pay for city workers and day-to-day maintenance.”
See, when Rahm said the city had to change the way it did business, he meant using MasterCard instead of VISA.
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“Some of those bonds also will refinance $130 million in debt that was coming due, Chief Financial Officer Lois Scott said. The highly criticized practice, known as ‘scoop and toss,’ pushes those debt payments decades into the future and increases the cost to taxpayers.”
Gee, “scoop and toss” evokes something familiar, I’m not sure what . . .
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“Administration officials would not provide a breakdown of how the money will be spent.”
That’s okay – if they used a Target card we’ll have the info soon enough.
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“What is clear, however, is that the borrowing gives Emanuel alternatives to raising taxes or making deep budget cuts as the city faces enormous debt and worker pension obligations. At a news conference Thursday to announce a new round of city street paving, Emanuel reiterated how he has delivered on key services without raising major taxes.
“‘One thing I will say, though, with absolute certainty: The budget will be balanced,’ Emanuel said.”
Of course it will be – it’s the law.
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“‘We will put resources back into the rainy day fund,’ he continued, ‘and we will absolutely make our investment in our children’s future with after-school investments, adding 5,000 more kids to pre-K and putting additional resources into our neighborhood services, like rodent abatement, paving new streets, filling potholes, tree trimming, making sure a world-class city has world-class neighborhoods and our residents live in a world-class city.'”
It’s easy to brave when you have a limitless credit card. Rahm learned that growing up.
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The Night The Chicago Died Dude Died
“Peter Callander, a British songwriter who provided lyrics for hits of the 1960s and ’70s like ‘The Night Chicago Died’ and ‘The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde,’ died on Feb. 25 in Haresfield, Middlesex, England,” the New York Times reports.
“He was 74.”
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This Week In Juvey
My weekly roundup of (not boring) juvenile justice news.
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Beachwood Photo Booth: Barry’s Drugs
Cut rate in Wicker Park.
Sexy Science At Schubas
Plus: Lindblom High’s Plagiaree & Berwyn’s Mini Comic Con.
Techies Turn On Obama
Geek squad has had enough.
The Week In Chicago Rock
Featuring: T. Mills, Citizen, The Wonder Years, Jennifer Nettles, HIM, Anathema, Fireworks, Aaron Cooper, 3 Hour Catalyst, Imagine Dragons, and James McMurtry.
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Let’s Do This!
Please retweet and then click through and “Applaud” and/or leave a comment.


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BeachBook
* Ezra Klein: Classic Liberal.
* A New Kind Of Streetwise Coming To Chicago.
* I Crashed A Wall Street Secret Society.
* The Wind Blows In Chicago.
* Judge: Illinois Lottery Must Release Records.
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TweetWood


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Getting the most basic, essential facts wrong.


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The Beachwood Tip Line: Secret findings.

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Posted on March 14, 2014