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 scandal 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 HAVEPULLED 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.
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.
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
yeas 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
role? For a hint, take a look at my two
novels of Chicago politics, The Chairman, A Novel of Big City
