A Chicago Code Case Study

I had been readings stories about a group called "For A Better Chicago," a political group that was able to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars donations anonymously because of a tax code rule.  The whole organization was very suspicious to me and I had planned on writing about it.

But then my friend Kelly Tarrant wrote an article for the Examiner about the Aldermanic race in the 32nd Ward and how "For A Better Chicago" was trying to influence the outcome.

Since her research was so massive, and her story so well written, I have chosen to re-print it below.

A Chicago Code Case Study
by Kelly Tarrant for the Examiner
 Note: The Examiner requested an article along the “Chicago Code” theme. Specifically they asked I write about politics and corruption. At the time I had nothing to write on, as I am sitting out of this cycle. However the Progress Illinois article on the election tricks being played in the 32nd ward caught my eye. Since I do not live in the 32nd Ward, nor have I ever met or spoken to any of the 32nd ward candidates or the 32nd Ward Alderman Waguespack, I figured this would be the best, most objective ward for me to write on. The 32nd Ward is also a filming location for the TV series Chicago Code.



Because we’re real, we know that there’s one main reason that we’re so popular: This is where the art of corruption was perfected. At this point, it would be a mistake to clean up City Hall. Bad for business. –Paige Wiser Sun-Times.



Progress Illinois reported recently that there were “tricky tactics" being used in the 32nd ward. Ald. Waguespack said a Florida-based firm was "push polling" 32nd Ward residents, distorting his positions. One Wicker Park resident received a call on Jan. 26, 2011 from a company named “On Target Research Co.”

Why would Waguespack, a progressive, independent Alderman, be a target of push polling?

Says Waguespack in an email to his supporters “The opponents of reform are more comfortable with the old way of doing business, where backroom deals and pay-to-play politics benefit them, at taxpayers' expense. I think we have had enough of that. We overcame a similar smear campaign in the 2007 election, because 32nd Ward voters are savvier than my opponents think.”

Tribune reporter John Kass also understands why Ald. Waguespack would be targeted. “There was one fellow who would have defeated Daley in a one-on-one race, reform Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd. Waguespack terrified City Hall by actually speaking up against the cost of corruption. He began criticizing that terrible parking meter deal. He promised that if elected mayor, he'd hire IRS agents to conduct forensic audits of every department going back 20 years. Almost immediately, Daley stepped down. Then the usual suspects — those who'd never dare challenge the mayor — crawled out of the bush and made like change agents. In such a crowded field, poor Waguespack was forced to withdraw.”

So I began the quest to crack the mystery of who is behind the push poll and see if in fact our politics is still following a Chicago Code.

The Candidates

Dave Pavlik

Among the candidates looking to unseat Waguespack is David Pavlik, whose mother works for Ald. Richard Mell (33rd). According to Chicago News Cooperative, records show Pavlik’s “campaign received help collecting nominating signatures from Ed Korczynski, a member of Mell’s 33rd Ward Democratic Organization, and Pavlik’s petitions were notarized by former 35th Ward Ald. Vilma Colom, a Mell protege. But Mell said he is not supporting Pavlik.”

According to LinkedIn, he recently got a job in Gov. Pat Quinn‘s budget office and previously worked for the state transportation department for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. It is unclear if Mr. Pavlik has taken a leave of absence from the state while pursuing his campaign. On his website he says “I also assisted in the coordination and passage of Illinois Jobs Now, a multiyear, $34 billion Capital and Jobs bill that will create over 500,000 well paying jobs over the next 10 years.” He goes on to say “These experiences have provided me with the tools I need to be a leader in addressing the budgetary challenges facing the city.” Unfortunately an Illinois appellate court has decided Illinois Jobs Now is unconstitutional. The court has tossed out higher taxes on certain grooming products and liquor and legalized video gambling that were supposed to pump funds into the $31 billion Illinois Jobs Now program.

Gov Quinn says "While the administration's request for a stay is pending with the Illinois Supreme Court, capital projects already in progress will continue as scheduled. We would expect the Supreme Court to rule on the request for a stay in the very near future." So construction that has already begun can continue while the court decides the future of this program.

Looking through his D2’s I do not see a connection with the Push Poll. I did receive a scan of a flyer he was using during a “Shovel for Votes” campaign during the recent blizzard that we had. That seems as controversial as the Push Poll. So there is still a Chicago Code here.

Bryan Lynch

Mr. Lynch’s experience goes back to being a worker for then Alderman Ted Matlak. Mr. Lynch was a very active and vicious campaigner as he went door to door and worked at the polls for Matlak. He worked with city employees and specifically water department personnel. On the IVI-IPO questionnaire he states that he walked his precinct for Gore, Durbin, and Kerry in past elections. But somehow left off his nearly 8 year political work for the Gabinski/Matlak machine. From 1995 to 2002 he worked for the city of Chicago in the law department and then the building department. After he left the city he did condemnation legal work for clients who sued the city. His clout and connections to people at the city would come in handy.

Most alarming is that Lynch received $5000 from a company called Hillcock and Loomis. This company was dissolved in 1988. Why would someone make a contribution from a dissolved company from 22 yrs ago?

Two years later the same address was re incorporated as Q.C. ENTERPRISES, INC. with its President being Sandra Andritsis. On a website this same address is listed as Construction Building Service with clients such as Abla-Fairfield-Marcy Newberry-Near Westside. Construction Building Services was voluntarily dissolved in 2008.

Back to Q.C. Enterprises. It has bid on several projects including city wide RFP’s for fencing as well as tile for new construction. The lead contact person for these bids is either Sandra or Fannie Gasparik (a.k.a. Weinshenker). Q.C. does very well with their bidding, as they are deemed a minority/woman owned business. For example, last year Q.C. received a 60,000 bid for tile work at the West Humboldt Branch library.

One reason the check came from a 22 year old dissolved company instead of Q.C. might be that Q.C. has been in trouble recently. Ms. Gasparik, one of Q.C.’s contacts on many RFP’s, is mentioned in the City of Chicago’s debarred list several times. She was mentioned in a Tribune article about “Operation Cookie Jar”, in which she was charged with theft of government property and theft for allegedly sending fewer liners than the contract called for while falsifying records to make it appear the full amount had been sent. The scheme allegedly cost the city $180,000.

Q.C. Enterprises was also included in a June 2010 Chicago Inspector General report “Q.C. Enterprises, Inc. subcontracted to two other companies… Neither of these companies was listed by DPS as a certified WBE."

Perhaps Mr. Lynch paid for the push poll. On his D2 reports he did pay Fako & Associates of Lisle, Illinois to do polling work. It is unclear if he is behind the Poll, but it is clear that there is a Chicago Code here.
 Brian Gorman
 Brian Gorman announced to run for alderman Nov. 18, 2010. He works for Organizing for America. It’s unclear if Mr. Gorman has taken a leave of absence from OFA while campaigning. He has ties to John Fritchey, the ward’s Democratic committeeman.Gorman worked on voter registration for Fritchey’s unsuccessful 2009 campaign for Congress. According to the State board of elections, Gorman received $1,000.00 on 7/20/2009 from the 32nd Ward Democratic party (Fritchey) to campaign against Quigley. Fritchey lost that bid.

Fritchey helped elect Waguespack to the City Council in 2007. He has had a change of heart, and was recruiting candidates to run against Waguespack . Alderman Bernie Stone said that Fritchey approached him to see if Stone’s daughter would run against Waguespack. Stone turned him down. Waguespack believes that Fritchey is upset about zoning changes that Fritchey wanted Waguespack to approve. Fritchey has denied that.

Recently Gorman attended a Local School Council meeting at Audubon school. On his website he notes “parent’s have raised a huge sum of money and took the initiative... it warrants that they be supported by their alderman.” Recently Gorman received $3000 support from a Audobon parent, according to his A1’s. She is also a major donor, through her foundation, to the school’s capital cost for the proposed new site. The Roscoe Journal explains “Despite the overwhelming parent support of the proposed new high school, a handful of commenters opposed the creation of a new high school that overlays existing neighborhood high schools and competes for limited CPS funding. Commenter Bob Miltonberger supported the proposed new Audubon Entrepreneurial Academy, but suggested CPS should instead be funding neighborhood schools “[Is it] the most efficient use of CPS operating funds?” asked Miltonberger. “[Is] this is the best use of our taxpayer dollars, rather than investing in an existing CPS asset?” The proposed 500-student Audubon Entrepreneurial Academy, would open in 2011 and be located in unused space in the private, Catholic Gordon Tech High School, 3633 N. California Ave. Gordon Tech and the new Audubon school would share a gymnasium, a cafeteria, a library and science class spaces.”

Looking through Mr. Gorman’s D2’s I do not clearly see an expense for a push poll. Although the script for the push poll is right in line to what Mr. Gorman has said several times at several forums. So I believe there is a Chicago Code here too.
 "This is going to be the biggest turnover in the City Council since the '70s," said Dick Simpson, a University of Illinois at Chicago political science professor who was an alderman during most of that decade.



Hidden Threat- The Threesome
In looking at who could have sponsored the push poll against Alderman Waguespack I stumbled on For a Better Chicago PAC. This Pac has been covered in many articles since December 2010, mainly because it has $850,000 from undisclosed sources to disperse to Aldermanic races that fit its agenda. Its support is suppose to come in either monetary or in-kind support such as "getting out the message."

The way that the For a Better Chicago PAC got around disclosing the true source of the $850,000 is that the PAC received two large contributions from a 501 c 4 charitable organization. So technically the For a Better Chicago PAC rightfully discloses that the $850,000 came from this charitable organization. Stepping back I looked into this charity. It is also called For a Better Chicago. It is classified as a 501 c 4 organization. These charity organizations do not need to disclose where their money comes from. They are free to support political agendas. While For a Better Chicago PAC/Charity would like to claim that they are set up like labor unions and chambers of commerce, the big difference that I see with For a Better Chicago PAC/Charity is that they are founded by business/political operatives. Labor organizations have a membership directory which feeds into its causes. One does not need to ask where a labor organization is getting their contributions from. It comes from dues etc.

For a Better Chicago PAC has created a threesome of force to help ensure its agenda. The real inventiveness is the marriage between this PAC/Charity and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and a little known political organization called the Freeman Institute.


The Freeman Institute
In 2007 the Freeman Institute, a political consulting firm, was active in a few races. Most notably was in the 49th Ward. Don Gordon challenged incumbent Joe Moore and both went to a runoff. During the runoff, which Moore barely won by 251 votes, Gordon hired the Freeman Institute.

The Freeman Institute’s mission is to prepare candidates to run for office. They ultimately want to create a pool of campaign-ready candidates to run for offices, being able to sustain the campaign trail, as well as the fundraising aspects etc. Thus their title “institute”.

The institute also does strategic work, and was hired about 18 months ago by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce to help the Chamber better prepare for the 2011 Aldermanic elections. The Chamber seeks a more pro-business city council. The Institute has worked closely with the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce in the past, helping to sway public opinion on Walmart.



For this election cycle, Freeman Institute studied the city council and their track record and came up with legislative “profiles” of business friendly council members. The Institute’s challenge is to change the dynamics of the council. They claim to want to change the Labor versus pro-growth conversation in the city council, making it lean more towards the pro-growth/business friendly city council.

Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce
In Jan, the Chamber formed a Jobs for Growth council with 20 members of the current city council on board. The directive is to serve as a channel between pro job/pro growth alderman and the business community. They hope to give an opportunity for the Aldermen get policy briefing that is “two-way.” The Chamber sees a lot of innovative companies that they are incubating, so to speak. They hope to channel this and find homes for them in the wards. Where it gets questionable is ultimately by doing this, the Chamber/PAC/Freeman Institute hopes to provide a platform for investors. They say dollars can “land” in the funds of specific campaigns for alderman who are Chamber/PAC/Freeman friendly.

For A Better Chicago

Greg Goldner is founder of Resolute Consulting, a communications and public affairs firm, and is also founder of the For a Better Chicago PAC/Charity. His experience includes managing Mayor Richard M. Daley’s reelection in 2003. He also managed Rahm Emanuel’s first congressional campaign. Rob Nash, a former director of government relations for the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, is also a Resolute Consulting employee as well as PAC/Charity founder. David Smolensky also works for Resolute Consulting. His past experience includes being a major player in Mayor Daley’s Renaissance 2010 education initiative. Smolensky is also a founder for the PAC/Charity. Ben Lenet is the Executive Director for the PAC. He once served as Deputy District Administrator for Congressman Jesse L. Jackson Jr. for about 4 years.


Says Mark Brown in a Jan. 23rd, 2011 Sun-Times article (Who’s funding group donating to City Council candidates? Don’t ask) he says, “it’s an outrage in this day and age that we would still allow secret campaign contributions to influence our elections. It’s an outrage that some of our city’s rich folks would feel so strongly about who sits on the City Council that they would put up their money but won’t put up their names.”Greg Goldner considers the 501 c 4 and PAC relationship like the same structure as labor unions and chambers of commerce. During the 2010 election cycle, 501(c)4 organizations were used extensively to keep corporate political donations secret. The spending benefited Republican candidates for office "overwhelmingly," according to the Sunlight Foundation. Millions in "independent expenditures" from 501(c)4s paid for seemingly wall-to-wall television ads bashing Alexi Giannoulias' campaign for the U.S. Senate, for example.

Nonetheless, David Morrison, a spokesman for the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, did not rule out filing a complaint with the Illinois State Board of Elections about For a Better Chicago. "It's not disclosure," he said.

So what are the hot topics for this PAC? For one, Goldner believes what makes good neighborhoods is having a stable middle class. Being able to send your children to public school is of paramount importance. Goldner claims that the middle class by definition has the choice to live where they want to live. He does not see any benefit in pointing fingers at what is wrong or who is to blame underperforming schools. His tone hints that of his business partner David Smolinsky’s past experience with Renaissance 2010. As mentioned, Smolinsky played a role in the Renaissance 2010 school initiative. The Teachers Union, however, does not support this initiative as it promotes the closing of schools which are underperforming and instead promotes Charter School/privatization options. This is clearly an anti-union sentiment.

Mayoral candidates have more opportunity for news coverage and raising money than aldermanic candidates. For that reason, For a Better Chicago PAC is concentrating on the Aldermanic races. It received about 100 completed questionnaires from which they picked their endorsements. As in most races, candidates receive hundreds of questionnaires to fill out for endorsement purposes. I would give candidates the benefit of the doubt for filling out this questionnaire, as they probably assumed that this PAC had transparent income.

For the most part their support will be helping these endorsed candidates communicate. Goldner wants to have control over the messaging. The communication will be on issues that For a Better Chicago cares about. Those issues are as vague as its source of money.
 The PAC has published it entire list of endorsed Aldermanic candidates. To date, it has given monetary support of $10,000 each to Ald. Anthony Beale (9th); Ald. JoAnn Thompson (16th); Ald. Latasha Thomas (17th); Ald. Deborah Graham (29th); and Ald. Carrie Austin (34th). Says Sun-Times reporter Chris Fusco these contributions “could signal that For a Better Chicago seeks to counterbalance organized labor’s impact on aldermanic races.”

So where did the money come from?


Recently a Progress Illinois article noted that the first real disclosure to the For a Better Chicago PAC occurred last week. An A1 disclosure shows the PAC received a large contribution from an individual named David Herro. Progress Illinois concludes that the PAC must have “conservative ties” since David Herro historically has given to Republican initiatives on the national level.


But actually I find this a clue to answering the larger question of where the $850,000 501 c 4 money may have come from. Herro is not only conservative, but he has direct ties to Wal-Mart. Harris Associates, which is where he works, is invested in the big-box retailer. In fact the firm Harris Associates has distributed more than $140,000 to Walmart-friendly candidates, according to state records.


Recall the Joe Moore election of 2007. His challenger Gordon got $60,000 from David Herro. Joe Moore was for the living wage and against the second Wal Mart.

Do I think Herro is the lone contributor to the For a Better Chicago 501 c 4? No. Looking back to when the city council was in conflict with bringing a second Wal Mart to Chicago I am reminded also of Alderman Freddrenna Lyle of the 6th ward. Alderman Lyle was also for the living wage and against the second Wal-Mart. Most importantly is what Alderman Lyle reported back then. She said at one point she was pressured to back off her stand for the living-wage "I was basically warned that Walmart was going to put up $700,000 against the anti-Walmart aldermen. I said, 'OK, thank you very much,'" said Lyle in a Chicago Reader interview.

Now that is a little closer to the $850,000 mystery figure. Code Cracked? We shall see...

For a Better Chicago makes the claim that the candidates it endorsed are nearly a mirror to the candidates endorsed by the Chicago Federation of Labor. This is true. What their endorsement translates to for the union-backed candidates is yet to be seen. But consider that the Freeman Institute analysis expects approximately 17 runoff elections. The Institute has already “profiled” the candidates/incumbents and knows who they need to work on. The real money will be spent for the run-offs.Mark Brown of the Sun-Times recommends that Alderman be wary of taking money from unknown sources. I would also be wary of mystery money with mystery agendas. It seems unbelievable that in this day we have such a loop hole. Its been 20 years since we have been able to elect a mayor. And this is the first time the mayoral election is non-partisan. The run-off rules will also apply to the mayoral race for the first time. It’s our chance to break the Chicago Code. Being beholden to an anonymous source is not a good way to start off. And by the way, Push Polls are unethical.

Luckily the 32nd Ward residents will have an opportunity to meet the candidates. Like the old fashioned way, free of pre-analysis and profiling. Make up your own minds and vote on who you trust and believe in. The Lakeview Action Coalition is having an Aldermanic Forum on Feb 15th at 6:30 pm at Theater Wit (1229 W. Belmont).