May 3, 2005
BY MIKE ROBINSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
Federal agents visited City Hall for
the second time in
four days and carted
off more documents
in their
investigation of
payoffs exchanged
for work in
Chicago's
corruption-plagued
Hired Truck Program,
city officials
announced Tuesday.
The latest documents were hauled out
of the offices of
the city's
department of
streets and
sanitation after
working hours on
Monday, said Chicago
Corporation Counsel
Mara Georges.
Federal prosecutors also alleged
Monday that some
payoff money from
the Hired Truck
Program had gone
into the campaign
funds of officials
including Mayor
Richard M. Daley.
Daley has not been
accused of any
wrongdoing in the
investigation, and
aides said he was
not available for
comment Tuesday.
Under the Hired Truck Program, which
has cost the city up
to $38 million a
year, Chicago
outsources hauling
work to private
trucking companies
without competitive
bidding. Several
former city
officials have
admitted taking
payoffs from
trucking companies
in exchange for work
in the program.
Georges and first deputy chief of staff Matt Crowl, a former federal prosecutor, said Tuesday that the Daley administration is cooperating fully with the investigation.
"Mayor Daley is committed to
maintaining the
integrity of
government and
protecting
taxpayers," Georges
said. "He has
implemented many
reforms to assure
the highest
standards of conduct
by city employees
and contractors, by
improving the
procurement process,
protecting minority
and women-owned
businesses and
setting higher
ethics standards."
Agents who arrived at City Hall on
Friday night carried
a search warrant for
documents in the
water and
governmental affairs
departments. On
Monday, federal
officials phoned
Crowl and arranged a
time to visit the
department of
streets and
sanitation. They
carried no warrant.
Federal spokesman Randall Samborn
issued a statement
Tuesday saying the
U.S. attorney's
office had "asked
for the city's
assistance in
obtaining certain
information related
to an ongoing
investigation and
city officials have
been fully
cooperative in
responding to our
requests." Asked
later why he issued
the statement,
Samborn said:
"because we have
been trying to
encourage
cooperation and
reward cooperation
where it's warranted
to do so."
The news that some of the alleged
payoff money went to
Daley's campaign
came Monday when
Gerald Wesolowski, a
former water
department official,
pleaded guilty to
taking payoffs and
said he had passed
the money along at
the urging of the
man who ran the
department, Donald
Tomczak.
Wesolowski's signed plea said Daley's
campaign fund had
gotten some of the
money. It also said
some of the money
went to the 11th
Ward Democratic
Organization, headed
by the mayor's
brother, Cook County
Commissioner John
Daley. Tomczak is a
former precinct
captain in the 11th
Ward where the Daley
family made its home
for decades.
The plea agreement also said Wesolowski "participated in certain field activities with department employees on behalf of the campaigns affiliated with Jeff Tomczak, Chicago mayoral candidate Richard Daley, judicial candidate Amy Bertani, United States congressional candidate Rahm Emanuel and others." Jeff Tomczak, a former Will County state's attorney, is Donald Tomczak's son.
U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., the chairman of the House Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the chief fundraising arm for House Democrats nationally, was not immediately available for comment Tuesday.
But press secretary Kathleen Connery said Emanuel knew nothing about Wesolowski campaign activities. She said Emanuel didn't know either Tomczak or Wesolowski.
"There's nothing to look into,"
Connery said. "The
man never
contributed to
Rahm's campaign and
he never worked for
Rahm's campaign."
She added: "He did
not work directly
for Rahm's campaign.
If he worked
indirectly on his
behalf, Rahm didn't
know it."
Emanuel represents a congressional district on Chicago's North Side that formerly was represented in the House by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
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