By Steve Rhodes
“The founder of Jimmy John’s said he has applied for Florida residency and may recommend that his corporate headquarters move out-of-state as a result of the Illinois tax increases enacted last week,” the Champaign News-Gazette reports in a story that is getting a lot of attention.
Memo to Jimmy: Suck it.
One: I’ve lived in Florida. It’s all yours. Two: Your subs are awful, your labor practices stink, your restaurants are a blight on America, you’re not funny and your alfalfa sprouts make people sick.
Jimmy says he’s sick of being “pummeled.”
Join the club. But stop feeling sorry for your rich-ass self. Learn how to be a better citizen.
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“He had always wanted to start his own food business,” the New York Times reported in 2008. “The financial picture at home improved enough that his father offered him a deal. He would lend the young man $25,000 to start a restaurant business. If he failed, he would have to join the Army.
“Mr. Liautaud’s business model was to go to college towns and deliver inexpensive food to dormitories. Most restaurants in those days refused to deliver to dorms. He started his first restaurant in Charleston, Ill., near Eastern Illinois University. He now has stores throughout the country, but mostly in the Midwest and Southeast.
“With his success, Mr. Liautaud could live in any fancy neighborhood he chose. But he and his wife and two small children live in the central Illinois university town of Champaign.
“‘You can’t forget where you came from,’ he said.”
Curtain Not Yet Down On The Daley Show
“Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s nephew is hoping to cash in on the coming video gambling market in bars and clubs across Illinois,” the Tribune reports.
“Mark Vanecko, who’s been an attorney for Chicago bars and the Lollapalooza concert, is a partner in Lattner Entertainment Group Illinois, which has applied for a state license to operate slot machines in liquor-serving establishments.”
Here’s the best part:
“Lattner Entertainment didn’t disclose Vanecko’s relation to Daley or a company campaign contribution on a state form, submitted in October, that provides the only information made public about license applicants.
“The form requires applicants to list ‘relatives’ of ‘public officials or officers’ who are involved in the company as well as campaign contributions made directly or indirectly by the applicant in the last five years.
“When the Tribune raised questions, Lattner Entertainment partner William Bracken issued a statement conceding ‘a mistake made with our application’ and saying the firm wants to be transparent.
“Paul Jenson, attorney for Lattner Entertainment, then issued a clarification Wednesday evening saying the company believed it was right to not list Vanecko’s relation to Daley, adding it didn’t do so because it interpreted the requirement ‘as it relates to another question.’ He gave no further explanation and said he could not make additional comments.”
The other question must have been “Are you willing to omit any relatives of the mayor to avoid political embarrassment?”
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That’s not all.
“The firm ‘omitted in error’ its $500 campaign contribution that state records show went to a committee controlled by Chicago Ald. Dick Mell in June, Jenson said. He said Lattner Entertainment will correct the form to reflect the contribution.
“State records show Vanecko and company manager Tim Lattner individually also made about $950 in campaign contributions in the last five years that were not listed on the disclosure form.”
Shouldn’t “errors” of this nature disqualify this applicant?
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“Vanecko’s brother Robert made headlines when it was learned he once shared a 4 percent ownership stake with Daley’s son, Patrick, in a company that received city contracts. An investor in the company was charged this month in an alleged scheme to use a minority-owned business as a front to win city contracts.”
That would be this:
“Mayor Daley’s son Patrick had a hidden interest in a sewer-inspection company whose business with the City of Chicago rose sharply while he was an owner, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found.
“Patrick Daley invested in Municipal Sewer Services in June 2003, along with Robert Vanecko, a nephew of the mayor. The pair cashed out their small investment about a year later, as federal investigators were swarming City Hall in the early days of the Hired Truck scandal.”
And here is an amazing coincidence from 2007:
“The mayor’s son and nephew never publicly disclosed their ownership stake in Municipal Sewer Services, despite a city ordinance that appears to require such disclosure.
“The company also appears to have violated the same city ordinance by not identifying the mayor’s son and nephew as investors in the economic-disclosure statements it filed with the city amid the Hired Truck scandal.”
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Isn’t it funny how bad some people are at filling out forms?
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That case, by the way, was back in the news earlier this month:
“Mayor Richard Daley on Saturday would not discuss his son’s former involvement with a sewer firm whose co-owner was indicted by a federal grand jury last week on charges he took part in a scheme to garner city contracts by using a minority-owned business as a front,” the Tribune reported.
“Patrick Daley and the mayor’s nephew, Robert Vanecko, shared a 4 percent ownership stake in Municipal Sewer Services. Sources have said the company was one of two unnamed firms in the indictment that allegedly used Brunt Bros. Transfer Inc., a minority-owned business, as a ‘pass-through’ to get more than $3 million in city work.
“Anthony Duffy, who was a 20 percent investor in Municipal Sewer, was charged with three counts of mail fraud for his alleged role. Neither Patrick Daley nor Vanecko has been charged with any wrongdoing.
“Asked Saturday whether he knew if the federal investigation focused on his son, the mayor responded ‘They said that already.’ The mayor then ended a news conference at CTA headquarters.
“Daley also was asked why the city continued to provide work to Brunt Bros. – whose owner, Jesse Brunt of Chicago, also was charged with three counts of mail fraud – after questions arose in 2007 about its participation in the sewer work. ‘Gee, I don’t know,’ he said.”
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The Greatest Mayor Ever simply doesn’t know.
By Richard M. Daley
The mayor on Wednesday said he might like to write a book after he leaves office. The Beachwood has the scoop on proposals he’s shopping around.
Greg Hinz Would Like To Welcome Our New Overlord
And possibly apply for Jackie Heard’s job.
Jeff Tweedy Oughta Be Ashamed
Saluting Rahm Emanuel amid the ashes of American flags.
CNN: Andy Shaw Wants Rahm Dead
Follow the bouncing ball.
We’re Here, We’re Queer
In I Am A Security Guard.
Smack Da Pack
Limited Edition T-shirts now available.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Limited Warranty.
Posted on January 20, 2011