By Brittany Hutson State Senator James Meeks is no stranger to racial controversy. The reverend, who is currently running for mayor of Chicago, has been caught with his foot in his mouth in the past. Several years ago, he gave a sermon at his Salem Baptist Church in which he compared Mayor Richard Daley to […]
(NBC Washington) — The District of Columbia will pay $550,000 to settle a claim by Banneker Ventures, the firm owned by Friend Of Fenty Omar Karim. The city terminated a contract with Banneker last year as the D.C. Council probed the deal. Banneker had been hired to oversee the building of new ball fields and rec centers, […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — Vanessa James might go down as a statistic with the millions of other Americans who have lost their jobs in a limping economy, but the longtime Cook County employee says she was fired last week as an act of retaliation — not as a cost-saving measure. James, who says she has […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — Guilty until proven innocent. That’s soon to be the standard when it comes to companies accused of defrauding Chicago taxpayers. Emboldened by the city’s $11 million auto body contract with a convicted thief, the City Council’s Budget Committee agreed Tuesday to prohibit scammers from doing business with the city. Read More…
(Chicago Sun Times) — The Cook County state’s attorney’s office is investigating about a dozen no-bid contracts approved by top aides to Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, including one handed to a private company owned by his embattled deputy chief of staff, Carla Oglesby, law enforcement sources have confirmed. Two county employees and a political […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — African Americans, Hispanics, women and Asians were deprived of at least $19 million worth of construction contracts in 2008 alone because of “widespread” fraud, abuse and mismanagement of Chicago’s minority contracting program, an internal audit concluded today. Inspector General Joe Ferguson compared actual participation in the city’s minority contracting program to […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — A top aide to Cook County Board President Todd Stroger has been placed on unpaid administrative leave as an investigation unfolds into allegations she steered a no-bid contract to her privately owned public relations firm. Stroger said he’ll make a decision on her future with the county once Inspector General Patrick […]
(Chicago Tribune) — There’s finally a bright side to the recession for taxpayers. Municipalities throughout the area are getting more for their buck on new public works projects. In Tinley Park, overall costs are down by 20 percent to 25 percent, said Public Works Director Dale Schepers. One bid was 48 percent below the town […]
(Washington Post) — Businessman Sinclair Skinner, whose engineering company made about $900,000 last year for work on city parks and recreation centers, continued to demonstrate a poor recollection of his own business dealings in a second appearance Wednesday in a special D.C. Council probe into parks contracts. Skinner, a friend and fraternity brother of Mayor […]
(Washington Examiner) — D.C.’s attorney general interceded to keep a friend and fraternity brother of Mayor Adrian Fenty off a list of those banned from doing business with the city, the Washington Examiner has learned. Contracting officials drafted a letter that would have barred Sinclair Skinner from city contracts, but Attorney General Peter Nickles, a longtime […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — Sympathizing with the Tea Party movement, Mayor Daley on Monday cut spending by another $13 million and urged city contractors to reduce their prices by 10 percent to save taxpayers even more money. The contract cut is strictly voluntary. The mayor is relying on companies that do business with the city […]