1/17/16
Now that the Redlfex/John
Bills red light camera trial is underway, yours truly feels compelled to
remind his readers that he has been following this story since the Chicago Tribune
broke it in October, 2012. In my first
post on the story, dated 10/18/12 (which I have reproduced below as an appendix
of sorts, to my last post on the issue, dated 8/21/14, also reproduced, and
linked, below), I concluded, in a rather shameless plug for my books, with
A minor figure in this
drama loses his job for accepting $500 in accommodations from a city
vendor. The vendor keeps its current
contract but can’t bid on a new one, though the city Inspector General is
investigating the case.
It looks like there is
more to this story and that there are more important people involved than
Messrs. Bills and O’Malley. How likely
is it that larger heads will roll? For
a hint, take a look at my two novels of Chicago politics, The Chairman, A Novelof Big City Politics and The Chairman’s Challenge, A Continuing Novel of BigCity Politics.
In a 5/18/14 post, also reproduced and linked below, I
outlined my by then general theory on this case, which remains intact. Since this theory is outlined extensively in
the 5/8/14 post below, I won’t repeat it here but will encapsulate it, to wit…
John Bills,
for all his talents and abilities, was not big enough to steer a 9 figure
contract to anybody, let alone an out of state (out of the country, really)
outfit with few, if any, ties to the city.
So either…
·
Someone higher up was in on it. As I said in the 8/21/14 post…
As I’ve said ad nauseam, going back to the dawn of the Redflex caper,
if anything has the potential to bring down some very big people in Chicago, it
is this scandal. Clearly, the feds
aren’t going through all this time and expense to put John Bills, a deputy
managing commissioner of the Chicago
Transportation Department and a precinct captain (albeit a very good and important
precinct captain) for Mike Madigan’s
13th Ward Regular Democratic
Organization, away.
This “someone else was in on it”
seems to be the operative theory among denizens of the Chicago media.
Or…
·
A more intriguing, and, as far as I have seen, unique
to yours truly, theory…John Bills used his considerable persuasive powers, as
demonstrated by his many years as a star precinct captain in Mike Madigan’s organization, to
convince the Redflex suits that he
did have the power to steer such a huge contract. What did the Redflex people know? They were from out of town, naïve concerning
the ways of the politics of our town.
They hadn’t read my books. Maybe
Mr. Bills convinced them that a deputy managing commissioner had the kind of
clout they were looking for.
Sure, it took, er, courage, on
Mr. Bills part to pull off such an act, if this second theory is true. What if, after his taking all that
consideration from Redflex, Redflex lost the contract? But Mr. Bills is no dummy; he probably had
determined that Redflex was highly likely to get the contract anyway. But, more importantly, if Redflex didn’t get
the contract, so what? What was Redflex
going to do…sue him? I can hear it now…
“Your honor, we bribed this guy because he promised he was our man to get the
contract. Then we didn’t get it. He owes us and we demand payment.” The idea is absurd. So what were they going to do? Threaten Mr. Bills? Someone like John Bills has probably been
threatened by scarier people than a bunch of suits in Arizona.
At any rate, enjoy the below posts. The first is my 5/18/14 post, which goes into greater detail on my still operative
theory. The second is my 8/21/14 post, my last on this
issue. Attached to that is my 10/18/12 post, my first on this
issue. The many others I posted between
these two have been omitted for brevity.
And, in yet another shameless plug, if you want to gain some searing insight
into how things are done around Chicago, see
my two books, The Chairman, A Novel of Big City Politics and The Chairman’s Challenge, A Continuing Novel of Big City Politics. The
people at Redflex probably wished they saved themselves perhaps millions, and
maybe some hard time, by spending a few bucks on my books.
REDFLEX: COULD JOHN
BILLS HAVE PULLED THIS OFF (NEARLY) ALONE?
Few people have written as extensively or for as long as I
have on the Redflex scandal and the
man currently in the middle, John Bills,
former deputy managing commissioner of the Chicago
Transportation Department, and, more importantly and perhaps saliently in
this case, a precinct captain the 13th
Ward Democratic Organization run by the guy who runs the show in Illinois
politics, House Speaker Mike Madigan. See my piece of a few days ago, THE REDFLEX
SAGA: THE GIFT
THAT KEEPS ON GIVING FOR CHICAGO POLITICAL JUNKIES and the posts to which it
will refer you.
My, and most people’s, operative theory is that Mr. Bills
didn’t have the clout to muscle Chicago
As we learn more about Mr. Bills, however, an alternative
theory comes to mind.
It’s difficult to become, and even more difficult to remain,
a captain in Mike Madigan’s 13th Ward Organization. The more highly educated, the “better” types
around town (the type of people who form Mayor
Rahm Emanuel’s core of support, for instance) might scoff at the likes of
Mr. Bills. Why, he isn’t a lawyer or an
investment banker; he didn’t even go to college. He doesn’t live in a trendy neighborhood on
the north side; what could he possibly know?
But Mr. Bills and his former ward
soldiers are smart, tough guys who work very hard to get out the vote and
do what needs to be done, by just about any means necessary. They might not belong the right clubs, in the
estimation of Emanuel enthusiasts, but, for them, belonging to the 13th Ward (or any number of
other ward organizations) Democratic Organization, and thus having access to
the perks that go with membership, will do.
For readers of my novels,
think of the fictional Jack Salewski.
Among this group of elite street level politicos, Mr. Bills
was apparently among the best. He not
only carried his precinct handily, he helped (Some say always for a price, but
that’s not the point here.) his fellow captains carry their precincts. He raised money prodigiously for the Ward
Organization, even if by leaning on those in his employ at the city. His fellow captains, if reports are to be
believed, may think Mr. Bills had the tendency to tell a tall tale and
exaggerate his connections and achievements, but nobody had anything but the
greatest respect for his ability at his job, which was, at its core, to produce
for Mike Madigan. That Mr. Bills started out of high school as
a street lamp repairman and wound up as a deputy managing commissioner making
nearly $140,000 is testimony to his ability.
It’s not crazy to postulate that a guy with Mr. Bills’
ability, his gift of gab, his reported affability and ability to tell an
engaging, if exaggerated tale, might have been able to convince the people at Redflex that he indeed had what he
didn’t have: the genuine power to steer
the red light camera contract to whomever could come up with enough largesse to
satisfy John Bills. Remember, the
Redflex people were, and are, from out of town.
They hadn’t read my books and
don’t know how things work in this town.
Yeah, maybe they’re smart, but perhaps they are only book smart and not
street smart like John Bills. Maybe he
could indeed convince these ingénues
that he was the guy they had to mollify, he was the guy they had to take care
of, to grease this contract through.
Notice my extensive use of the words “maybe” and
“perhaps.” Yours truly is certainly not
arguing that this case stops at John Bills, that there are no higher-ups
involved. I still think someone higher
up has to be involved. But the more I
read and hear about John Bills, the more I think that it is unwise to
completely dismiss the possibility that John Bills single-handedly, or with the
help of only Marty O’Malley, pulled the wool over the gullible eyes of the big
shots at Redflex.
Further, while it is hard to admit this, I would, in a
perverse way, applaud such an outcome.
As a fellow South Sider
(Note: You can take the boy out of the
South Side, but you can’t take the South side out of the boy. Never, by the way, have truer words been
uttered.), though a nearly completely apolitical one, I would find it somehow
laudable that a street guy like John
Bills could have hornswoggled the suits at Redflex.
See my two books, The Chairman, A Novel of Big City Politics and The Chairman’s Challenge, A Continuing Novel of Big City Politics, for further illumination on how things
work in Chicago and Illinois politics.
MY LATEST…AND MY
FIRST…POSTS ON REDFLEX AND JOHN BILLS:
THE REDFLEX SAGA:
WHAT DO MARTY O’MALLEY AND
A CANARY HAVE IN COMMON?
The man whom I referred to as “mysterious “consultant” Marty O’Malley” has decided to
cooperate with the feds in their ongoing investigation of Redflex’s nine figure red
light camera contract with the city of Chicago USA
CEO Karen Finley. John
Bills, the former city official most intimately connected with the Redflex
affair, was also indicted with Ms. Finley and Mr. O’Malley; in Mr. Bills’ case,
that was his second indictment in connection with the case. Mr. O’Malley, who faces five years in the
hoosegow, is expected to plead guilty as part of his deal with the feds.
As I’ve said ad nauseam,
going back to the dawn of the Redflex caper, if anything has the potential to
bring down some very big people in Chicago ,
it is this scandal. Clearly, the feds
aren’t going through all this time and expense to put John Bills, a deputy
managing commissioner of the Chicago
Transportation Department and a precinct captain (albeit a very good and
important precinct captain) for Mike
Madigan’s 13th Ward
Regular Democratic Organization, away.
And it would seem that a deputy managing commissioner is not in a
position to have much influence over a contract the size of Redflex’s red light
camera contract, at least not in Chicago 5/18/14 post (REDFLEX: COULD JOHN BILLS HAVE PULLED THIS OFF
(NEARLY) ALONE?, Rant Lifestyle); in
it, I outline a plausible scenario under which Mr. Bills could have acted
alone: perhaps Mr. Bills, a man of
powerful persuasion skills and, reportedly, figurative cajones the size of church bells could have convinced the naïve
suits at Redflex that yes, indeed, he did have the power to make things
happen. The smart money, though, has to
be on Mr. Bills being something of a pissant
in this whole caper. The feds seem to
think so and would like to get to the real decision makers.
So Mr. Bills seems to be the ball game here. Does he risk going away for a long, long time
with both Mr. O’Malley and former
Redflex Executive VP of sales, Aaron
Rosenberg, cooperating against him?
Theoretically, both Mr. Bills
and Ms. Finley could go away for
life. What, or who, would a man give in exchange for
his life?
A further note, which might not mean anything but is still
interesting:
When the first reports of the Redflex tale emerged, the
Tribune reported Marty O’Malley was a member at St. Bede Parish, on 82nd and Kostner (just a few blocks
from one of my favorite pizza places, Vito
and Nick’s, or Nick & Vito’s,
which is easier to say but not quite official.
I have to say that, based on our last few visits to this south side
institution, Vito & Nick’s is a little off its game; perhaps it has
something to do with the place’s having been on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives,
but I digress.), as was and, supposedly is, John Bills. These two guys living in the same parish, as
I explained in a lesson the social mores of my species (i.e., south side Irish Catholic), made Mr.
O’Malley’s claim that he didn’t know John Bills until they started working on
the Redflex deal highly suspect. Now it
is reported that Mr. O’Malley lives in Worth,
a suburb several miles southwest of the 13th Ward, outside the
borders both of St. Bede and, obviously,
of Mike Madigan’s 13th
Ward. Does this give Mr. O’Malley’s “I
didn’t know the guy until we started working on Redflex” argument any more
credibility? Maybe.
But maybe not. Worth is clearly not in Mike Madigan’s ward
and is not in his 22nd state
House district. But that doesn’t
mean that Mr. O’Malley, though living in Worth, is not a parishioner at St.
Bede. We, for instance, belong to a
parish in my old neighborhood even though we don’t live anywhere near the
church. Perhaps Mr. O’Malley once lived
in St. Bede, has moved to Worth, but prefers to go to church, and maybe remain
otherwise active, in his old parish.
This is very common behavior among us south side Irish types.
More saliently for this case, Mr. O’Malley doesn’t live in
the 13th Ward but is
active, at least financially, in its politics; he, according to the Tribune’s story back in October, 2012,
admits to contributing $1,000 in 2007, $1,500 in 2009. and another $1,500 in
2010 to Mr. Madigan’s political operations.
Remember, too, that Mr. Madigan’s influence emanates throughout the
whole state, but its intensity increases as one nears his 13th Ward
base of operations. He is especially
entrenched in the southwest suburbs, like Worth and Oak
Lawn , where many of his former 13th Ward and 22nd
District constituents and their adult children have moved as part of the white flight that has characterized the
southwest side of the city over the
last few decades.
Given their possible, though admittedly stretched, parish
connection and their much more likely 13th Ward connection, it
remains highly doubtful that Mr. O’Malley’s contention that he didn’t know John Bills until they started working
together on Redflex is true. Now, the Tribune is describing Mr. O’Malley as
Mr. Bills’ “longtime friend,” so who knows where this perhaps trivial aspect of
the story is going? It has been a long
time, one supposes, since the Redflex contract was won in 2005 and even longer
since the maneuvering began for this contract.
But from the perspective of guys the vintages of Messrs. Bills and
O’Malley (53 and 74, respectively) and yours truly (somewhere between those
two), nine or so years seems like the blink of an eye.
NOTE: WE HAVE SINCE LEARNED, AT THE BILLS TRIAL,
THAT MESSRS. BILLS AND O’MALLEY MET NOT IN CONNECTION WITH 13th WARD
POLITICS OR THOUGH THE NORMAL COURSE OF PARISH CAMARADERIE. ACCORDING TO MR. O’MALLEY’S TESTIMONY, THEY
MET AT AN ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS MEETING.
SINCE IT’S IMPERTINENT TO ASSUME THAT MR. O’MALLEY WAS PERJURING
HIMSELF, LET’S ASSUME THAT’S TRUE. THAT
ASSUMPTION DOES LITTLE, IF ANYTHING, TO MODIFY THE CASE OR MY THINKING ON IT. MQ 1/17/16
See my two books, The Chairman, A Novel of Big City Politics and The Chairman’s Challenge, A Continuing Novel of Big City Politics, for further illumination on how things
work in Chicago and Illinois politics.
MY FIRST POST ON THE REDFLEX DEAL, as promised above:
REDFLEX TRAFFIC SYSTEMS AND
CHICAGO
POLITICS: TRUTH NEARLY AS INTRIGUING AS
FICTION
The City of Chicago
has just scratched the surface in the malodorous dealings of Redflex Traffic
Systems, Inc., which supplies the city with red light cameras. Redflex has been barred from bidding on the
city’s upcoming speed camera system after having paid a hotel bill for a city
purchasing agent and covered up this indiscretion for two years. Redflex
continues to be the vendor for red light cameras for at least the time
being. The background story of Redflex
and its dealings with the powers that be in Chicago politics is, typically, murky but,
er, interesting.
Redflex Traffic Systems was among several companies bidding
for the red light camera contract in Chicago
back in the early part of last decade; it won the contract in 2005. The city official in charge of overseeing
the contract was (Get this title; talk about bureaucracy!) Managing Deputy Commissioner of the
Department of Transportation John Bills.
John Bills was, and is, a substantial figure Illinois House Speaker,
Chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party, and Ward Committeeman Mike Madigan’s
13th Ward Regular Democratic Organization, serving as a registrar,
or the guy who supervises collection of signatures on candidate petitions, for
Mr. Madigan. One supposes that Mr.
Bills is also a precinct captain for Mr. Madigan, but I can’t verify that. Mr. Bills also lives in St. Bede Parish on
the southwest side, which is also Mike Madigan’s parish. I HAVE SINCE LEARNED THAT MR.
MADIGAN DOES NOT LIVE IN ST. BEDE AND THAT MR. BILLS IS, OR WAS, A PRECINCT
CAPTAIN FOR MIKE MADIGAN. THIS KNOWLEDGE, TOO, CHANGES LITTLE, IF ANYTHING,
REGARDING THE CASE. MQ, 1/17/16
Redflex just happened to hire as its “consultant” on the red
light camera project one Marty O’Malley, who also lives in St. Bede. Mr. O’Malley claims no affiliation with Mike
Madigan’s organization, but admits to contributing $1,000 in 2007, $1,500 in 2009.
and another $1,500 in 2010 to Madigan’s political operations. These contributions were made possible
largely by the commissions Mr. O’Malley earned on the red light camera sales,
but more on that later. Mr. O’Malley
denies having known Mr. Bills, or Mr. Madigan, before he and Mr. Bills started
working together on the camera project.
Mr. O’Malley’s not having known Mr. Bills is plausible, given their
ages; Mr. O’Malley is 72, Mr. Bills is 51.
But, for those of you unfamiliar with the mores of the southwest side,
one’s parish is a big thing; it often is the center of many of one’s
activities, spiritual and otherwise.
As it turns out, Redflex won the contract and Mr. O’Malley,
who denies that he used political clout or geographical proximity to either Mr.
Bills or Mr. Madigan when interviewing for the consultant job, got a commission
of $1,500 per camera, more, according to Mr. O’Malley, than he was
expecting. His total payday came to
$570,000. Some of that, as we learned
above, made its way into Mike Madigan’s political coffers. Mr. Bills denies playing any role in getting
Redflex the contract; Mr. Madigan, as far as I know, has not been asked if he
had any role in this deal.
There was a small fly in the ointment. It seems that, according to Mr. Bills, he was
in Arizona
for a Cubs pre-season game (That a guy from St. Bede would have any interest in
a Cub game makes this story suspicious on its face; perhaps Mr. Bills was going
to root for the opposition, thus adhering to a proud south side tradition, but
I digress.) and didn’t have a hotel reservation. He called a Redflex executive (Redflex has
offices in Phoenix .)
to see if he could help out. Redflex
booked him a room in a luxury hotel and the bill somehow never found its way
onto Mr. Bills’ credit card, which he didn’t notice for quite some time. For this minor transgression, and for two years
of covering it up, Redflex is banned from bidding on the speed camera
contract. Mr. Bills also retired from
his Managing Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Transportation job last
summer after 32 years of working for the city.
No one has said Mr. Bills' retirement and the Redflex problems are
related, but who’s kidding whom?
And it gets better…
Since these shenanigans have taken place, Mr. Bills has been
appointed by “reform” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle to a
position on the Cook County Employee Appeals Board. This position is part time and pays part time
($35 grand a year), but includes health benefits. The Appeals Board has long been known as a
receptacle for hacks who have somehow run afoul of either the law or the
vicissitudes of the voting booth. Ms.
Preckwinkle will not say whether Mike Madigan recommended Mr. Bills for the
job.
So…
A minor figure in this drama loses his job for accepting
$500 in accommodations from a city vendor.
The vendor keeps its current contract but can’t bid on a new one, though
the city Inspector General is investigating the case.
It looks like there is more to this story and that there are
more important people involved than Messrs. Bills and O’Malley. How likely is it that larger heads will roll? For a hint, take a look at my two novels of Chicago politics, The Chairman, A Novel of Big City Big
City
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