Two Scandals, One Politician

Two Scandals, One Politician While the title of this blog might actually refer to many different politicians (Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, Illinois House Leader Michael Madigan, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, etc.), it is about Illinois State Rep. Monique Davis. Davis’s recent troubles have been covered extensively by the Chicago media, but they are so juicy, I had to do a re-cap. Davis’ first troubles surfaced last December when it was revealed that she owed more than $500,000 in back rent, taxes and fines to the Chicago Board of Education for the lease on her south- side district offices. Davis first rented the building in 1988 and for 14 years paid for it under the terms of a lease signed by the school board. She stopped paying rent in 2002 when her lease ran out. The school board asked her to vacate but did nothing when she did not leave.

Davis said the state, which pays rent for district offices, requires a lease agreement in order to make payments, and she was unable to obtain new lease papers from the school district despite numerous attempts. “I in no way attempted not to pay them rent,” said Davis. “But how are you going to pay rent without a lease?” Asked why she stayed in a building where she was not paying rent, Davis bristled. “Where would I go?” she said. “I looked for places to go. I’m not going to have a hole in the wall.”

Davis sent a letter to the school board in May 2002, requesting a lease extension. Davis was then sent a letter asking her to vacate the premises by July 1, 2002. Davis’ response was to send another letter asking the Board to sign a lease extension. The board did not respond. And for the next four years, nothing happened. Davis had no lease, had been requested to vacate but she did nothing and the Board did nothing. Imagine any other landlord allowing a tenant who was not paying rent to stay.

Then, in 2006, the school district again began sending letters to Davis. Letters in August and September requested that she enter into a new lease and pay the back-rent and taxes. In April 2008 and September 2008, the district sent letters stating the same issues. In July 2009, the Board of Education passed a resolution to retain a lawyer to handle the case. Three months later, the district sent a 20-day notice to Davis, terminating her tenancy. On Nov. 18, the district filed a lawsuit against Davis seeking the money and her eviction.

It is January 25, 2010 and Davis still occupies the offices. The scandal here is more the fault of the Chicago Bard of Education for allowing a tenant to occupy space that was not being paid for; but it is still astonishing that a legislator who is supposed to uphold the public trust would not leave when asked to. So one would think the defiant Davis, after being embarrassed about the stories of her refusal to vacate, would try to keep a low profile. Not so! She has become even more defiant about a “misappropriated” life-sized sculpture, ironically named, “Defiance.” And guess where that statue is now? At that very same south- side district office where she is not paying rent.

The sculpture, as described by Davis, depicts, "An African woman who had been enslaved. Her hands are in handcuffs. She's been disrobed to her waist. She has welts all over her back because she was constantly beaten. "See how black she is; that's how we came to America ... kissed by the sun. She refused to submit to rape, and because sex was had with her against her will, let me repeat that, because sex was had with her against her will, we are now all different colors. That's how we got to be light, beige, light brown."

The sculpture is owned by Chicago State University (CSU) and officials there contend that the statue, which was purchased with $25,000 of state funds intended for a student financial aid office, disappeared from a warehouse, and they want it back. Davis won’t give it back. The statute was art purchased for The Student Financial Outreach Center which was based at CSU. Davis funded the program through a state grant that then Governor Blagojevich ended in 2008.

As Sun Times columnist Mary Mitchell wrote, “Just because a state legislator secures a grant for a program, that does not mean the legislator owns the desks, chairs, paper, computers or artwork if the program folds.”

If we delve deeper into the story we also discover that Davis' boyfriend was employed at CSU and worked for the very Student Financial Assistance Outreach Center that Davis obtained funding for. If this were a movie, no one would believe such a convoluted plot. But this is the State of Illinois located on the Daley Planet and machinations like this occur all the time.

Davis would not say how the statue ended up in her possession. "How do you think I got a 400- or 500-pound statue?" she stupidly asked. I think she had someone drive a truck up to the defunct Outreach Center and just load it up. Even with all her hubris, I don’t think she was strong enough to carry it off herself.