49th Ward Organization, led by Alderman Joe Moore and 49th Ward Committeeman David Fagus will face open hearings on October 17th before the Illinois Board of Elections.
The pre-hearings were conducted by hearing officer Philip Krasny who concluded that "based upon the evidence presented, it is the Hearing Officer's finding that there is justifiable grounds for proceeding to an Open Preliminary Hearing."
Despite the defense's best efforts to explain away thousands of dollars of unpaid rent, the facts prevailed. 49th Democratic Ward Organizations have failed to pay the city for use of their political offices.
They have further failed to report any in-kind contributions on their D-2 tax forms that could explain the free use of office space.
Cook County Republican Party Chairman Gary Skoien responded to the news by saying, "the days of arrogant democrat free-loading are numbered."
The Illinois State Board of Elections will decide on the hearing officers recommendations for the 49th wards on Oct. 17th at 11AM in the Bilandic Center.
Stay tuned to the "Broken Heart" of Rogers Park for updates. I'll let the Alderman hang himself this time.
6 comments:
The campaign contribution link posted in an earlier post most fascinating. Joe gets lots of money outside the area. Why is Pat Arbor, ex-CBOT pres. giving him so much? And why didn't Joe and David Fagus just get the Bergers, who have been mui generous, to dig them out of this hole?
Joe Moore in the News
JUSTIFIABLE GROUNDS!
40th and 49th Democratic Ward Organizations will Face Open Hearings
Cook County GOP chief targets 16 aldermen
By FRAN SPIELMAN - Chicago Sun-Times
Cook GOP Chairman Skoien Files Action to End City Funding of Democratic Political Ward Offices; Demands Reimbursement to City of Chicago
You'll forgive me if I am skeptical of any "news" published by the Cook County Republican Central Committee. Might be a bit biased. Can anyone find an article on this subject published by a less dubious source? My searches have been fruitless.
Also, are these hearings open to the public?
Hearing/complaint is on the Illinois State Board of Elections Oct. 17 agenda. See
http://www.elections.state.il.us/Downloads/AboutTheBoard/PDF/10_17_05Agenda.pdf
Meetings are open to the general public except for the portion where the board goes into executive session. The results of the boart meeting action should be posted on the Board of Elections website under their Minutes. It looks as though they are fairly good about updating the site.
Thanks Pam. According to this document the Cook County Republican Committee is trying to indict just about every democratic ward. The State Board of Elections seems to be focused on just a few wards(not the 49th) but lots of fund raising committees.
Election Board Ignores Recommendation in Partisan Vote
The Illinois State Board of Elections deliberated for nearly five hours in a closed session yesterday, but in the end partisan politics prevailed over the truth. The Board split its vote 4-4 on each of the nine complaints recommended for open hearings by their own hearing officer. The four who voted in agreement with the recommendation? Republicans. The four who voted against hearings? Democrats.
Despite the fact that the Board's own D-2 filings show that 9 Democratic Ward Organizations shared office space with the city and paid no rent, the 4 Democrat members of the board blocked further investigations. William Beavers (7th Ward Alderman) even admitted under oath that political work was indeed done in his aldermanic office. None of this mattered to the Board. "All four Democrats ignored their hearing officer - I'm disappointed, but not especially surprised, given the implications of the charges and the high-profile figures involved," said Cook County GOP Chairman Gary J. Skoien. "We intend to pursue all avenues and follow this through to a just conclusion."
Although the Board did not end up sending these complaints into the public hearing stage, several of them did acknowledge the seriousness of the allegations. Board member William McGuffage confessed that some of the charges constitituted criminal behavior, which would need to be investigated by the U.S. Attorney's office, not the State Board of Elections. McGuffage, however, declared that he would prefer to overlook these violations because it would open a floodgate for many more cases across the state. Sadly, the Board would rather ignore blatant violations of the law in order preserve the status quo than pursue justice. Chairman Skoien has indicated, however, that the Cook Couny Republican Party will continue to seek a just resolution in this matter.
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