Chicago IG accuses Emanuel administration of stymying probes

Roadvirus · Jan 27, 2012

Rahm's learned alot from his days with his butt buddy Obama.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and some of his handpicked department heads were accused Monday of tying the hands of Chicagos corruption-fighting inspector general.

Inspector General Joe Ferguson once again used his quarterly report to complain about impediments to his job. Only this time, he offered new evidence involving his efforts to clean up the citys rigged hiring system.

In an increasing number of investigations [some that concern Shakman], both the Law and other city departments have been shielding documents and communications from the IGO based on a claim of attorney-client privilege, Ferguson wrote.

This office needs complete and unfiltered information. Without it, the IGOs ability to thwart corruption, waste and mismanagement is impaired and the city itself is worse off.

The inspector general noted that withholding documents runs counter to both city ordinance and an agreed order in the long-running Shakman case. Without unfettered access, Emanuel may be hardpressed to credibly claim that he deserves to get out from under the Shakman decree and the constraints of a federal monitor, Ferguson wrote.

The inspector general reiterated his long-standing complaint that Emanuel has adopted wholesale the legal position that former Mayor Richard M. Daley staked out in a dispute over access to information and documents in the hands of the citys Law Department.

The controversy stems from an unprecedented lawsuit filed by the inspector general demanding that the Law Department turn over documents vital to the investigation of how former top Daley aide Charles Bowen was awarded a $100,000 sole source contract with the Chicago Police Department.

But, Ferguson also offered new examples of roadblocks thrown in his investigative path.

Despite Fergusons recommendation for a 20-day suspension, Fire Commissioner Robert Hoff decided to issue an oral reprimand to a battalion chief who, the inspector general claims, recklessly exposed the city to liability over a period of two years by allowing his adult son to sleep at the firehouse and travel with him in an official city vehicle responding to emergency calls.

And the Department of Streets and Sanitation ordered pre-emptive discipline a one-day suspension never served against a ward superintendent accused of taking down campaign signs and storing the incumbent aldermans signs at a city facility to be returned later while discarding opponents signs. The preemptive strike wasted significant amount of [Fergusons] scarce investigative resources, the inspector general wrote.

Deputy mayoral press secretary Jennifer Hoyle countered that the Emanuel administration is committed to the highest ethical standards in government and that Fergusons report makes that clear.

The report notes numerous instances where the city reported misconduct to the inspector generals office voluntarily, worked closely with the IG and followed the IGs disciplinary recommendations, Hoyle said.

The report also notes favorably that the city has filed three hiring plans in recent months for police, fire and a revised plan for senior managers and that the IGs office was spared the budget cuts that other departments faced and has substantial resources to fill 16 vacancies.

Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford insisted that the oral reprimand for the battalion chief was justified by the policy of progressive discipline outlined in the firefighters union contract.

Other new cases of wrongdoing outlined in the inspector generals quarterly report include:

A foreman of sewer cleaners who resigned to avoid being fired after being videotaped selling counterfeit movies at a Water Management facility.

A Public Health nurse who resigned to avoid being fired after falsely claiming that she made 17 home health visits over a three-day period when she actually made only three. The nurse was accused of shopping at Target or staying at her mothers home on city time.

A tree trimmer slapped with a 20-day suspension for allegedly taking computerized ethics training for three Streets and San co-workers.

A company that could be permanently barred from doing business with the city and forced to reimburse Chicago taxpayers for using a minority sub-contractor as a pass-through to falsely claim compliance with minority set-aside requirements on its contract to soundproof homes near OHare and Midway Airports.

A building inspector who resigned to avoid being fired for allegedly giving preferential treatment to a building owner by initiating and coordinating contact between the owner and an expediter in order to remediate building code violations.

Emanuel campaigned on a promise to give Ferguson power to investigate the Chicago Park District and Public Building Commission and more resources, including a guaranteed, one-tenth of one percent of the citys annual budget.

The promise was pivotal to winning the endorsement of former Inspector General David Hoffman, whose investigations were, at times, undermined by Daley.

For all his haste to race through his transition report, Emanuel has failed to deliver on all of those promises.

Under questioning, Emanuel has repeatedly acknowledged falling short of his campaign promises. But, he has argued that the inspector generals office has been insulated from budget cuts that have dramatically reduced every other city department.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/101892...manuel-administration-of-stymying-probes.html
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Professor Peabody · Jan 27, 2012

Roadvirus said: ↑

Rahm's learned alot from his days with his butt buddy Obama.
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Rahmbone has been around a lot longer than that. He was also Senior Advisor to the President (Clinton) for Policy and Strategy for Uncle Bill.

waltky · Feb 18, 2013

Granny says its prob'ly dem Hispexican gangstas onna South side o' Chicago...

Gangsters Smuggling Guns from Suburbs into Chicago
February 18, 2013 - Vice President Joe Bidens Chief of Staff Bruce Reed, in advocating gun control said, If youre a gang member in Chicago you can go to a gun store in the suburbs and have a friend or a girlfriend buy a gun from a gun store."

Reed was discussing gun laws during an online White House event titled Open for Questions: The State of the Union and Reducing Gun Violence. A participant commented, If gun control worked, Chicago would not have had 500 murders last year. Time to target gangs - not guns.

In his response Reed said, With respect to Chicago, you know Chicagos an example--Chicago the city has strong laws but its surrounded by suburbs and a state that have much looser laws. So, if youre a gang member in Chicago you can go to a gun store in the suburbs--have a friend or a girlfriend buy a gun from a gun store.

Maybe that person is legally able to buy a gun, Reed continued, They can turn around and sell it to you and then you go back into the city of Chicago and wreak all kinds of mayhem with that gun. So guns are the kind of problem that if the national system has a bunch of holes--if the national background check system is just swiss cheese than criminals will find their way into it.

Chicagos strict gun control laws have prevented gun dealers from opening up any shops within city limits. A recent study on guns seized by Chicago police shows that guns used in crimes come in from other areas. Over 29% were bought in Cook County Ill., the region that includes Chicago. The remaining guns came from other areas of Illinois and surrounding states.

Source
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Grokmaster · Feb 18, 2013

Roadvirus said: ↑

Rahm's learned alot from his days with his butt buddy Obama.
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It might actually be the other way around, as Emmanuel has been sleazing it up since Clinton...

Dark Star · Feb 18, 2013

Wouldn't surprise me at all. He made no friends here in Minnesota last year when he sent a letter to our Attorney General trying to strongarm her into dropping a massive civil suit against a lobbying client of his. He miscalculated; she not only told him to blow it out of his shorts, she released the letter to the press, and made him look like a fool.

http://www.startribune.com/local/150708015.html

Mr. Emanuel seems to be a man who doesn't know when and where to stop trying to throw his weight around.

waltky · Mar 22, 2013

Chicago To Close 54 Schools To Address Deficit...

Chicago to close 54 schools to address $1B deficit
Thursday, March 21, 2013 Tens of thousands of Chicago students, parents and teachers learned Thursday their schools were on a long-feared list of 54 the city plans to close in an effort to stabilize an educational system facing a huge budget shortfall.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the closures are necessary because too many Chicago Public School buildings are half-empty, with 403,000 students in a system that has seats for more than 500,000. But opponents say the closures will further erode troubled neighborhoods and endanger students who may have to cross gang boundaries to attend school. The schools slated for closure are all elementary schools and are overwhelmingly black and in low-income neighborhoods.

CPS officials say money being spent to keep underutilized schools open could be better used to educate students elsewhere as the district deals with a $1 billion budget deficit. About 30,000 students will be affected by the plan, with about half that number moving into new schools. "Every child in every neighborhood in Chicago deserves access to a high quality education that prepares them to succeed in life, but for too long children in certain parts of Chicago have been cheated out of the resources they need to succeed because they are in underutilized, under-resourced schools," said district CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett. "As a former teacher and a principal, I've lived through school closings and I know that this will not be easy, but I also know that in the end this will benefit our children."

As word of the closures trickled out, parents and teachers reacted with anger and shock, some even crying. Sandra Leon said she got a tearful call from her grandchildren's kindergarten teacher saying the school was on the list to be closed. Her two grown children also attended the school, and Leon wiped her eyes as she waited outside for her grandchildren. "It's been so good for our kids," Leon said. "This school is everything."

Chicago officials have moved to close schools in the past, but never anywhere near the number designated at one time by the Emanuel administration. Former Mayor Richard M. Daley's administration spread school closings over a number of years. CPS, the nation's third-largest school district, now has 681 schools. Chicago is among several major U.S. cities, including Philadelphia, Washington and Detroit to use mass school closures to reduce costs and offset declining enrollment. Detroit has closed more than 130 schools since 2005, including more than 40 in 2010 alone.

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Shangrila · Mar 22, 2013

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Chicago IG accuses Emanuel administration of stymying probes

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