Madigan’s allies get slice of village business
By David Kidwell and Tribune reporter
Chicago Tribune
Jun 27, 2010 at 2:00 am
Michael Madigan calmly sliced his daily apple as he listened to the 40-minute pitch from several leaders of Oak Lawn, long frustrated in their efforts to secure money for a dilapidated water system that supplies much of the south suburbs.
At the time of their meeting with the powerful House speaker more than a year ago, the project was all but dead, way down a wish list of community projects.
“We left that meeting thinking wow, this is great,” said village Trustee Bob Streit. “We thought it meant we might finally get some help.”
They did. Now, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is promising at least $40 million in low-interest loans and a commitment to seeing the project through for Oak Lawn and 11 municipalities it serves.
But that’s only half the story.
As Madigan put his political force behind the project, firms and lawyers associated with him saw new business flow their way from the Oak Lawn Village Hall. All told, Madigan’s allies now stand to make hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
The speaker recommended the new village attorney, and he helped raise campaign money for the village trustee who recommended another connected law firm to work on the water project.
After nearly three decades as speaker and just as long as a kingpin in the state Democratic Party, Madigan commands a culture that trades favors as currency and rewards the loyal. With a reach that stretches from the corners of state bureaucracies and town halls to the offices of Chicago’s most reputable law firms, he thrives atop a government where the well-connected often end up with their own wedge of the apple.
Oak Lawn officials invited Madigan to Village Hall earlier this month to thank him for breaking the bureaucratic logjam. They gave him a framed proclamation, a tour of their new emergency operations center and a catered meal from Palermo’s on 95th Street, a favorite Madigan restaurant.
“As you know and I know, government in America is all about people working with people,” Madigan told the assembled crowd at the June 8 village meeting. “You work with people. I work with people, and the goal is to have accomplishments.”
Madigan declined to be interviewed and rejected requests for records related to his efforts in Oak Lawn. His spokesman Steve Brown said there was no connection between Madigan’s support for the water project, his recommendation for the village attorney and his political support for a trustee.
“It was part of his typical effort to build working relationships with local officials,” Brown said.
The village officials who visited Madigan agreed.
“When you look at the chronological order of events, it sounds like an incredible coincidence,” said Streit, the village trustee who received Madigan’s fundraising help. “It almost sounds like this couldn’t be a coincidence, but that’s not the way it was. I never really thought about it like that.”
Tom Phelan, the other Oak Lawn trustee in that initial private meeting with Madigan, said there was no “quid pro quo.”
“I guess it’s our job to find somebody who isn’t connected to Madigan?” Phelan said. “I don’t know about that.”
The key date for Oak Lawn was April 22, 2009, when Streit, Phelan and the village manager met privately with Madigan during the annual “lobby day” where local government officials come to Springfield to pitch their agendas. Oak Lawn’s agenda included plans for $193 million in improvements to a water system that pumps Lake Michigan water to more than 300,000 customers.
Up to then, the village’s efforts to find money were plagued by red tape, lost applications and unreturned telephone calls, said Village Manager Larry Deetjen.
Things began to change almost immediately. For instance, when they described unsuccessful efforts to reach staff in the office of U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., Madigan offered to make a call.
“And sure enough within 24 hours we got a call from the congressman’s staff,” Deetjen said.
Madigan-backed lawyer hired
As the water project gained momentum, the Village Board became embroiled in a controversy over alleged overbilling by the village’s legal team, which had been recommended by Mayor David Heilmann after his 2005 election.
Phelan led the charge, joined by Streit and other trustees. The mayor acknowledged his friendship with the lawyers, but accused Phelan of trying to boost another law firm, Querrey & Harrow, because of his own relationship with the managing partner, an Oak Lawn resident.
Amid this public feud, the mayor received a rare telephone call from Madigan. Heilmann said Madigan called to suggest Paul O’Grady, a partner at Querrey & Harrow, for the village attorney job.
The mayor said he told Madigan about the dissension over the issue at Village Hall and his concern about Phelan’s connections to another partner at the firm. According to Heilmann, Madigan offered to call O’Grady and ask him to withdraw the firm from consideration.
Heilmann said Madigan called back five minutes later to say he had relayed the concerns to O’Grady.
But two weeks later, on Aug. 11, the Village Board fired the previous city attorneys over the billing controversy and hired Querrey & Harrow.
O’Grady has a years-long relationship with Madigan, the chairman of the state Democratic Party. He served as legal counsel to former Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan, a Democrat, and helped run the Democratic campaign of Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. Madigan backed O’Grady in his successful 2008 run for Orland Township supervisor, according to Madigan’s spokesman.
“The speaker got to know O’Grady when he was working at the sheriff’s office,” Brown said. “When he left the sheriff’s office he asked the speaker for help in building his law practice.”
The speaker’s call to Heilmann was made “at O’Grady’s request,” Brown said.
In a telephone interview, O’Grady said he didn’t ask Madigan for help getting the firm work in Oak Lawn.
“I talk with the speaker about eight to 12 times a year,” O’Grady said, mostly in passing at social events and political fundraisers. “We say hi, that’s about it.”
O’Grady and some of the village officials say Heilmann is trying to raise a conflict issue over O’Grady because of his own involvement with the previous village attorneys.
In September, O’Grady’s firm offered a job to one of Madigan’s top lieutenants in the Illinois House — Rep. Lou Lang, D- Skokie.
“The speaker had absolutely nothing to do with me being hired,” Lang said. “He didn’t even know I had gone to Querrey & Harrow until more than a month after I had been hired.”
Lang said the firm has also hired a Republican legislator.
“It is just a firm that is hiring people who can help them with contacts,” Lang said. “I told them if they were interested in having a state representative come on board then they should call me.”
Other firms get work
The village was still looking for more legal help in September when Madigan agreed to serve as a sponsor of a fundraiser for Streit, a staunchly conservative trustee who acknowledges never before in his 19-year political career has he enjoyed the speaker’s political support.
“He was supportive of the local trustee,” Brown said. “He has a general recollection that the trustee does a good job.”
That Sept. 30, 2009, fundraiser coincided with Streit’s recommendations of two more law firms to serve on the village’s new legal team to issue revenue bonds for the water project and other construction work.
Those new lawyers include Mary Patricia Burns, a longtime Madigan supporter and a founding partner at the Chicago firm Burke, Burns & Pinelli Ltd. Madigan listed the firm as a lobbying client in 2001 and 2002 filings with the city of Chicago.
Brown said Madigan recommended the firm for city bond work, but it didn’t get the job and Madigan wasn’t paid.
Burke, Burns and Pinelli lawyers and their relatives have contributed more than $489,000 to Madigan-related political funds, according to election records. That includes more than $355,000 to the Democratic Party of Illinois chaired by Madigan, more than $56,000 to the speaker’s personal campaign fund and more than $77,000 to his daughter, Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
Burns did not respond to requests for comment.
The other bond counsel recommended by Streit was Miller Canfield, an international law firm represented by Chicago partner Paul Durbin, the son of U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. Paul Durbin declined to comment.
The new firms stand to make tens of thousands of dollars each in legal fees from the village bond work. Querrey & Harrow’s annual fees as city attorney are capped at $550,000, unless a major case comes along.
Streit said Madigan played no role in his recommendations to Deetjen, the village manager, on the new firms. Deetjen said he hired the firms without a formal competitive process because the village needed to move quickly to take advantage of bond rates.
“Would I like to have a year to fully vet everyone?” Deetjen said. “Sure, we would always love to have that luxury.”
Deetjen said he hopes the village can finance the water distribution project in 2011. In addition to the $40 million in low-interest state loans already promised, the village is lobbying the state’s congressional delegation — including Durbin — for help in getting federal stimulus money for the remaining financing, as much as $160 million more, Deetjen said.
This April, the Oak Lawn officials visited Madigan again on lobby day. Also in Madigan’s office was Doug Scott, the director of the state EPA.
“This was clearly a historic day for the village of Oak Lawn,” Streit later told his fellow trustees as he recounted the meeting.
The village will get $10 million per year for four years, the maximum allowed under the program, once the process is finalized, said EPA spokeswoman Maggie Carson.
The night Madigan was feted by the village trustees, they also received a board-ordered report that blasted the billing practices of the old village attorneys. Mayor Heilmann now acknowledges there may be a problem with overbilling by the firms he brought in. But he contends the switch to new lawyers “reeks of ugly politics.”
Streit said Madigan “never said a word to me about law firms” and never offered anything more than a helping hand for the village and its water customers.
“I’m very grateful for the speaker, and I’m impressed with him,” Streit said.
Tribune reporter Ray Long contributed to this report.
