PENSION REFORM...PRETTY PLEASE

Following in the footsteps of former Cook County Board "President" Bobbie "Steal" Steele (and many others), a Daley insider will retire and collect two government pensions. The Sun-Times has the story:

By jumping through an early retirement window, Degnan got a lump-sum bonus of 10 percent of his annual city salary. He was also free to collect both a city pension and a CTA paycheck.

His May 31 retirement from the CTA means Degnan can now collect two local government pensions. His annual retirement check from the city amounts to roughly $92,208 or 80 percent of Degnan's highest city salary. After just seven years on the CTA job, he'll collect a $10,997-a-year CTA pension.

...
Civic Federation President Laurence Msall said Robert Degnan's double-pension is particularly galling at a time when under-funded city pensions threaten to saddle future generations of Chicagoans with a debt they cannot handle.

"It's a shining example of why the city's pension system -- and all other local government systems authorized by the General Assmbly -- need to be reformed and structured to what is economically reasonable for taxpayers, rather than insiders who are able to manipulate the system," Msall

I gotta say, as a taxpayer, I am very proud that I can offer up such a cushy retirement to a dedicated city worker. Nevermind saving for my own retirement. I'm just happy to help.

DALEY'S OLYMPICS: "THE CHICAGO WAY 2016"

First, Daley promised no taxpayer money would be spent on the Olympics. Then, the mayor and City Council guaranteed $500 million of OUR money to cover any shortfalls in paying for the Olympics. Our governor and state legislature soon followed with a $250 million promise. And then, of course, unspecified amounts of our property tax dollars/TIF money will be spent on the Olympic Village at Michael Reese Hospital...But that's not taxpayer money, it's Mayor Daley's money!

And now, Daley has again proven to be a liar, as we will now be on the hook for the full cost of the games. The Tribune reports:

The city and the bid had sent the International Olympic Committee a letter noting the city may have legal issues agreeing to some of the guarantees required in the standard contract, which requires the host city to take full financial responsibility for the Games. The IOC later replied that it expected everyone to sign the standard contract.

"We are going to sign it as is," Daley said after Chicago's presentation to the IOC this morning at the organization's headquarters in Switzerland. The city's speakers delivered that message to the members during the presentation.

And anyone who thinks that Chicago's Olympics will come in on budget needs only look at other over-budget projects the city has managed - Millennium Park, Block 37 - or to the significant cost overruns other Olympic host cities have run into - London, Vancouver.

I suggest checking out the No Games Chicago website for more information on this Olympic nonsense.

Also, check out another wonderful John Kass entry about the Olympics. Here's a highlight:

"We want the [IOC] members to walk away with a better understanding of Chicago and the team they would be working with for a Chicago Olympics," Doug Arnot, a Chicago 2016 official, was quoted as saying.

But do you really think you're going to get answers from the suits of the Chicago 2016 Committee? Of course not. You know better.

That's why we've put together a blue-ribbon panel of Chicago experts, including corrupt politicians, an Outfit boss, an indicted alderman, a mayoral nephew under federal investigation and others not accused of any crime, but who know how Chicago works, like a mayoral brother.

It's not Chicago 2016. It's The Chicago Way 2016.

I WANNA TAKE MAYOR DALEY ON A DATE

Hey Mayor Daley. I know you're married and all. But I was thinking maybe we could go on a date anyway.

I could take you to a bar...















where we could drink some beer...























and listen to some music...



call me!
xoxo

JUST SAY NO TO DICK DALEY'S OLYMPICS

Some good news for anyone opposed to Daley's quest to get the 2016 Olympics in Chicago.

First, this post on the Tribune: IOC Official Downplays Chicago 2016 Selling Point

Gerhard Heiberg of Norway, one of the International Olympic Committee’s leading money men, seemed to minimize the impact of a Chicago selling point when he said Tuesday that sponsorship and marketing possibilities would not and should not affect the race for the 2016 Summer Games.

``I don’t think commercial aspects will play a great role here,’’ Heiberg said. ``I’m the IOC marketing director, and I’m not going to them (the four candidate cities) asking what kind of sponsorships we can get and what kind of TV deals we can get. I would like to keep commercial aspects out of the race as much as possible.’’

...

In an interview with the Tribune last week, Chicago 2016 CEO Patrick Ryan said he would cite commercial aspects during the presentation.

Even better is this Tribune article about No Games Chicago and their "No Games Chicago Book of Evidence for the International Olympic Committee."

Journalists from media outlets in Spain and Brazil helped No Games carry 50 copies of the book into the building, apparently unconcerned how that looked given that their countries have cities (Madrid and Rio de Janeiro) bidding against Chicago for the 2016 Summer Games.

IOC communications director Mark Adams told No Games delegate Tom Tresser that the IOC would accept the books, a compilation of reprinted news clippings. Adams then took Tresser aside for a private meeting.

...

Tresser said that IOC members would find Chicago's bid ``deficient'' once they saw the facts in the No Games book.

You may recognize Tom Tresser from a previous Mayor Daley Rant posted here at WTD. Glad to see he is keeping up the fight against our corrupt mayor. Hopefully the IOC reads the book and realizes exactly what we are dealing with here in Chicago: a tyrant mayor who stifles the democratic process, lines the pockets of his friends and family, hordes our property tax money in his TIF slush fund, sells off all of our city assets, and severely underestimates the cost of nearly every significant project in Chicago (Block 37, Millenium Park, Olympics) - all at the expense of the hardworking taxpayers of our great city. You don't need the Olympics to cement your legacy Mr. Mayor, you've done enough already.

MAYOR DALEY CAN'T HIDE HIS LYING EYES

Man, I am really enjoying the Sun-Times' coverage of Mayor Daley lately. Today, Fran Spielman offered up this great piece about how much of a liar Daley really is: Daley's Tale Hard to Take

If voters are having trouble swallowing the mayor's story, it's for good reason:

HISTORY: In 1991, then-City Treasurer Miriam Santos accused Daley's top political operatives of pressuring her to grease deals with politically-connected pension fund investors....The mayor tried to get even by persuading the Legislature to remove Santos from two pension fund boards, only to have then-Gov. Jim Edgar veto the bill.
...

FAMILY PENSION FUND TIES:If Daley had no interest in directing pension fund investments, why did he appoint John Briatta, John Daley's brother-in-law, as a trustee of the Municipal Employees Pension Fund during the 1990s?
...

OTHER PENSION BOARD MEMBERS: How could Daley not have known about his nephew's pension fund deal when members of the mayor's Cabinet sit on the boards that made the risky investment?
...

FAMILY FEEDING FRENZY:The mayor has allowed his brother Michael's law firm to corner the market on city zoning business. He's allowed his brother, John, to sell insurance to city contractors. William Daley Jr., another mayoral nephew, works for Morgan Stanley, the financial conglomerate whose infrastructure group leased Chicago's parking meters and downtown garages. If the mayor believes it's OK for some family members to cash in on city deals, why would he draw the line at Vanecko?
...

LEASE DEAL: If Daley truly believes that "perception is everything" -- and that the perception was "rules were broken and preferential treatment was given" to Vanecko -- why has the city paid nearly $500,000 in the last 15 months to lease space at a South Side industrial site owned by Vanecko and Davis, who bought the property with city pension money? Why was it a month-to-month arrangement that skirted the requirement for City Council approval of leases?

SAME NEPHEW: Robert Vanecko is the same Daley nephew who, along with the mayor's son Patrick, held a hidden ownership in a sewer cleaning company that won millions of dollars in no-bid contract extensions from City Hall.
...

SAME OLD SONG: Daley reads from the same script after every scandal -- whether it's Hired Truck, city hiring, minority contracting, Patrick Daley's sewer deal or the $1.25 million bailout loan from perennial city trucking contractor Michael Tadin that triggered the resignation of Ald. Patrick Huels (11th). Daley condemns the wrongdoing, denies he knew about it and cuts the offender off at the knees. The script is getting old.

Some very good questions from a City Hall reporter who has been around long enough to connect the dots. Like I said before, Daley is a liar. I don't care what he says, you better believe he knew all about this Vanecko city pension deal, just like he knows all about every other scandal he claims to know nothing about. Me, I'm sick and tired of all this lying. I'm even more sick of the Daley Crime Family getting their filthy hands all over OUR money. Enough is enough. Where the fuck are you Patrick Fitzgerald?

MAYOR MUMBLES, WE LISTEN

Have you ever listened to Mayor Daley field questions from the press?



"Mr. [Mayor], what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

ETHICS? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' ETHICS!

Huffington Post blogger Ray Hanania doesn't like this Vanecko city pension scandal either: Hypocrisy in Chicago Politics is Deafening

No law has been broken -- that we know of. But, it is genuinely unethical for the city pension funds to put $68 million in the Davis Vanecko firm, called, uncreatively, DV Urban Realty. Who needs to be creative when the City Hall-controlled pension, many of whose members are appointed by the mayor, dumps $68 million in money hard earned by city employees like the Chicago Police?

Defenders of the deal include, of course, Mayor Daley, who brushed off the probe into the deal with his usual jumble of mumbled words. And it was defended by celebrity pundit Paul Green, who on WTTW Channel 11 Tuesday night questioned why people were talking about the deal at all, slamming critics and asking repeatedly, "What is illegal?"

How about, "What is unethical?" Paul.

Green is an insider these days, hobnobbing with the political elite that manage candidates for offices like the U.S. Senate and shaking hands at luncheons where powerful speakers are invited, like Mayor Daley and his government colleagues.

The Chicago pension fund scandal reminds many of the days when the union pension funds would invest millions in casino operations in Las Vegas that were run not by politicians but by mobsters, although oftentimes it has been hard to distinguish between the two, especially in Chicago.

Here you go Mayor Daley and all you fine Chicago politicians out there. If you don't know, now you know:

eth·ics

Pronunciation: \ˈe-thiks\

Function: noun

1: the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation

2 a: a set of moral principles b: the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group c: a guiding philosophy d: a consciousness of moral importance

Learn it. Know it. Live it.

TAKE DALEY'S WORD FOR IT AND FORGET ABOUT THIS IN THE MORNING

First it was Fedzheimer's, now it's the Chumbolone Flu. John Kass never runs out of creative ways to make fun of the mayor. And I never get tired of reading them.

Daley has serious case of the Chumbolone Flu

The Boss of Chicago, our beloved King Shortshanks, must be in the grip of a virus so rare it has only now been discovered. Technically, let's call it the B1-S1 virus, or B-S for short.

But my colleague Wings has just given it a fancy Latin name: Chumbolonius verbalis fibbus, or, more commonly, the Chumbolone Flu.

The Chumbolone Flu shall be known by this defining sign: The afflicted suffers from the delusion that everyone around him is a chumbolone who believes what he's told.

Another symptom of the Chumbolone Flu is that the victim is often compelled to read a statement that was obviously drafted by lawyers, then almost whispers in a quiet voice: My statement speaks for itself.

WTD PRESENTS: A MAYOR DALEY RANT FROM A STRANGER. PART 4

Second City Cop responds to Daley's disappointment with his nephew Vanecko

“Perception is everything,” Daley went on to say. Amazingly, he knows where every nickel and dime is spent when it's something he gets to attach his name to it or cut a ribbon or when it comes to hiring all sorts of people, but when the feds get involved or it's a family friend or a multi-million dollar contract to fake minority front companies, Shortshanks doesn't know a thing.

The perception here is Daley is a lying sack of crap who's up against the ropes in terms of a family member who has been caught red handed overreaching in the public trough.

Another gem from Second City Cop. If you don't already, I recommend checking that blog out on the regular. While I don't always agree with everything said there, it's always good to know the police are on our side when it comes to King Richard.

ROCK ME MAYOR DALEY

"mayor daley has the authority
don't you mess with that man"

you can find anything on youtube, including this Mayor Daley Tribute song.

note: obama and daley eating at manny's. mmmmm manny's.

DALEY DOESN'T KNOW ANYTHING

Adding to his long legacy of things that he knows nothing about, Mayor Daley distanced himself from the city deal involving his nephew Robert Vanecko.

Mayor Daley: I urged nephew Vanecko to get out of pension deal

“While many of you have speculated that I knew of Bob’s business relationship, I did not,” he told reporters. “I found out about it the same way most people did — in the news when the story broke. When I did find out, I made it very clear that it was not a good decision and that he should end the business relationship immediately.

“But, as an adult, Bob made a difficult decision — a different decision — which leads to a very painful string of news stories that have indeed caused tension in my family. I will not get into the inner workings of my family or your family, except to say that we’re not different than anyone else. Sometimes we agree, and sometimes we disagree.”

“Perception is everything,” Daley went on to say.

No one is bothering to ask why our fine mayor has no knowledge of how $70 million in city workers' pension are being invested.

Over at the Tribune, John Kass put it this way: "Daley seemed rational, but absolutely unbelievable in the Vanecko story."

I'm gonna have to go ahead and agree with Kass on this one. Mayor Daley says he doesn't know anything about this $70 million deal. I don't believe him.

WTD PRESENTS: HISTORY LESSON - THE DALEY FAMILY

With all this hullabaloo about Daley's nephew and his sweet deals with the city, perhaps you were wondering what the rest of the Daley clan is up to. Check out this interactive Daley family tree on the Chicago Sun-Times for just that information.

SUN-TIMES CONTINUES ASSAULT ON DALEY

Mark Brown of the Chicago Sun-Times steps into the fray of this Daley-Vanecko situation.

Daleys' family feud clear sign of high stakes: Rare to see one member of tight clan trashing another

As long as the Daley family insists on its right to feed at the public trough through private business ventures, we're entitled to be as skeptical as we want about any of their assertions of innocence.

We can question the mayor's original claim that he never knew about the pension deal, and we can doubt his nephew would have the backbone to resist his wishes.

But you shouldn't doubt for a minute that it was the mayor's brain trust that uncharacteristically chose to go after Vanecko, the son of the mayor's sister. I interpret that as a sign of Daley in serious self-preservation mode.

One way or the other, this joint investigation by the city inspector general and U.S. attorney is making people uncomfortable. Remember that it started with a look into Patrick Daley's involvement in the sewer cleaning contract.

Daley in "serious self-preservation mode"?! Hopefully US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is inching ever-closer to providing Chicago with an image I would love to see: Mayor Daley in handcuffs and an orange jumpsuit.

UNIONS SKIP MEETING WITH DALEY

A big slap in the face to Daley who apparently is sick with the flu and got out of bed just to meet with the unions. Both sides are asking for things they aren't gonna get. It will be interesting to see how this plays out...with 1000 possible lay-offs coming as early as week's end.

Union leaders boycott City Hall meeting with sick Daley :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: City Hall

The decision by organized labor to stiff Chicago's mayor would have been unheard of during the 21-year reign of Daley's father, former Mayor Richard J. Daley.

The elder Daley personally brokered many costly labor agreements in his City Hall office, some of which settled crippling strikes.

The younger Daley has had a tumultuous relationship with organized labor that saw only one major union endorse his 2007 re-election bid.

After the election, the mayor tried to smooth ruffled feathers by signing an unprecedented ten-year agreement that guaranteed labor peace through the 2016 Summer Olympic Games and locked in for 8,000 city tradesman the costly prevailing wage paid to their counterparts in private industry.

But, that was before the economy went south, sending city revenues into a nosedive.

Now, the gravy years are over for both the city and organized labor.

Chicago faces a threatened $300 million year-end shortfall. Union members who saw 420 of their colleagues laid off Dec. 31, even after agreeing to furlough days and other cost-saving concessions -- now face 1,100 more layoffs.

BECAUSE MY LOVE FOR MAYOR DALEY IS WIDE-RANGING

If you thought Mayor Daley was leading Chicago to become the greenest city EVER, you may want to check this out: Got Asthma? Thank Mayor Daley.

On the south side of Chicago, there exist two toxic sites that some Chicago citizens are not even aware of. The Fisk and Crawford coal plants are, according to Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization (PERRO), "the two largest sources of particulate-forming air pollution in Chicago."

The coal is mined in Wyoming and sold to a community in Pennsylvania. Of all the energy produced in this coal plant, none of it stays in the community or the city that is directly and negatively affected by its toxic outputs. Additionally, the workers in the coal plant are not from Pilsen or Little Village. These coal plants, like many other toxic sites and food deserts, "hide" themselves by existing in low-income neighborhoods. In terms of serving local needs, these coal plants are a disaster.

...

Mayor Daley has the power to close the coal plants, and until this point has been completely unresponsive to community efforts to close them.

That Mayor Daley, what a leader.

For more information on some Chicago citizens' fight against these coal plants, check out the Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization (PERRO).

SHOCKER: SUN-TIMES QUESTIONS TRANSPARENCY OF CITY GOVERNMENT

Daley says he's leading by example. I don't believe him.

All not so clear in Daley's 'transparent' city :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Carol Marin

Relatives of the mayor are certainly entitled to go out into the world and make millions of dollars. There's nothing inherently wrong with that.

But the question at the heart of these two deals is whether clout drove the train on either or both.

And there's another question that goes along with it. It's whether taxpayers are entitled to simple answers to simple inquiries when it comes to city business.

...

For example, was it just a coincidence that one of the properties Vanecko and Davis were in the process of purchasing won a lucrative lease with the City Water Department a month before they took possession? Reporters Novak and Chris Fusco have asked for information about that transaction from the mayor's office, the General Services Department, and from the Water Department. No one will tell them. No one will show them the lease. Though the money that pays for that lease is taxpayer money. Our money.

Inspector General Hoffman, meanwhile, sought information from the city pension boards about the Vanecko and Davis deal. The pension boards in question, some of whose members are city officials, wouldn't answer, refusing to respond to a Hoffman subpoena. That's when Hoffman brought in the feds and lowered a larger subpoena boom on them.

That shouldn't have been necessary. Those pension funds, those city officials and all those stonewalling city departments should have been as transparent as the mayor claims he is.

Remember last month? That's when Mayor Daley said he didn't need to take a position on a reform bill that was being massacred in Springfield because he was "leading by example." He even brought up the inspector general saying, "We've done everything here. We're leading the way with our inspector general. ... We're more transparent than any other government. Look at it."

We are.

DALEY PROPAGANDA MACHINE

Did you know Mayor Daley has his own YouTube Channel? Unfortunately, I cannot post any of the videos here because video embedding is disabled.

So, instead, here is a video of our fine Mayor hard at work bullying the City Council into voting for one of his tax increases. Note that Daley calls out Rookie Second Ward Alderman Bob Fioretti. You may hear laughter and see Chicago Corporation Counsel Mara Georges gazing lovingly up at Boss Daley, but this was no tender moment...Fioretti hasn't voted against any of Daley's proposals since. Democracy at its finest!

JOHN KASS IS NO CHUMBOLONE

Reading Kass's Mayor Daley columns just never gets old. Today, he hits on the scandal involving city pension funds and Daley's nephew: Daley is ill, but not over nephew's deal

Is there anybody in the world dumb enough to believe Vanecko could get his hands on almost $70 million in city funds without Daley's approval?

"I don't know what people believe," Heard said. "I can only hope they understand that he is an uncle, a father, a husband, and that he has family issues. And, that he's a public figure who is held to different standards than most. He accepts that. It just comes with the territory when you're the mayor."

The argument, quite reasonable, goes like this: The mayor is an uncle like millions of other regular guys who can't be held responsible for their nephews, or friends.

But only one uncle is the boss of Cook County. And all Rich Daley had to do, when Vanecko was sniffing around city money, was to shake his head and whisper "no."

Then it never would have happened. Never.

For more laughs and gasps at the expense of our dear Mayor Daley, check out Kass's archive.

TIFS, TIFS EVERYWHERE BUT NOT A DOLLAR TO SPARE

Check out this great post on Progress Illinois regarding the city's massive TIF surplus: As Layoffs Loom, Daley Sits on A $1 Billion TIF Surplus

During a City Council Finance Committee hearing last Monday, Chief Financial Officer Gene Saffold and Community Development Commissioner Christine Raguso found themselves on the hot seat as a handful of aldermen demanded some long-overdue answers about how the $500 million in annual TIF revenue -- along with the proceeds of the city's parking meter, Skyway, and parking garage leases -- are being managed. Ald. Ed Smith (28th Ward) got right to the point, saying, "Show us all the money. Where we can see it. All of it.

...

Here's the takeaway: The TIF system has $1 billion in "unspent revenue from previous years" and plans to spend between $478 million and $643 million on new redevelopment projects in 2009. At the same time, the network of TIF districts will likely collect several hundred million more in "incremental property tax revenue" this year (though probably not near the $570 million collected last year). Do the math and we can assume that the surplus will still exceed $700 million or so at the end of 2009.

...

Which begs the question: As layoffs loom, why isn't the city spending more of this money to create jobs and relieve budgetary pressure

For more information on TIFs, check out the the Chicago Reader for Ben Joravsky's TIF Archive. It's everything you ever wanted to know about Mayor Daley's ever-growing slush fund. Required reading for every Chicago citizen.

photo via Chicago Reader

WTD PRESENTS: HISTORY LESSON - THE CHICAGO ALDERMANIC HALL OF FAME

With the recent indictment of Alderman Ike Carothers, I thought a little history of our beloved city council was in order.

Did you know that over the past 36 years 30 Chicago aldermen have been convicted of crimes?

Here's the list:

1. Fred Hubbard (2nd), 1973
2. Joseph Jambrone (28th), 1973
3. Casimir Staszcuk (13th), 1973
4. Joseph Potempa (23rd), 1973
5. Frank Kuta (23rd), 1974
6. Thomas E. Keane (31st), 1974
7. Paul T. Wigoda (49th), 1974
8. Donald Swinarski (12th), 1975
9. Edward T. Scholl (41st) 1975
10. Stanley Zydlo (26th), 1980
11. William Carothers (28th), 1983
12. Louis P. Farina (36th), 1983
13. Tyrone T. Kenner (3rd), 1983
14. Chester A. Kuta, (31st) 1987
15. Clifford P. Kelley (20th), 1987
16. Wallace Davis Jr. (27th), 1987
17. Perry Hutchinson (9th), 1988
18. Marian Humes (8th), 1989
19. Fred Roti (1st), 1993
20. Ambrosio Medrano (25th), 1996
21. Allan Streeter (17th), 1996
22. Joseph Martinez (31st), 1997
23. Jesse Evans (21st), 1997
24. John Madryzk (13th), 1998
25. Larry Bloom (5th), 1998
26. Virgil Jones (15th), 1999
27. Percy Giles (37th), 1999
28. James Laski (23rd), 2006.
29. Ed Vrdolyak (10th), 2008
30. Arenda Troutman (20th), 2008

via Chicago Sun-Times

photo via Chicago Tribune