More McHenry County Blog

Found below is Ex-President Walt Packard's golden parachute contract, which the McHenry County College Board inexplicably agreed to without dissent. Click on the images to enlarge the print.

Labels: George Lowe, McHenry County College, No Work, Walt Packard

Alderman Carother's Biography

Isaac “Ike” Carothers

Ike is a dedicated public servant, coming from a family of public service. His grandfather was the first African-American Democratic Committeeman of the 28th Ward and a former State Representative.

His father is a former Alderman and Committeeman of the 28th Ward.

Ike attended public elementary schools and is a graduate of DePaul University, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. He received his masters from Chicago State in Criminal Justice.

Ike started his public career as an investigator working for the Cook County Public Defender’s Office investigating cases for the poor and disadvantaged who could not afford private attorneys.

In 1989 he was appointed Superintendent of Chicago Department of Water, where he was responsible for the sale of water to city residents and suburban customers.

In 1993 he was appointed Director of Internal Audit for the Chicago Park District. He was responsible for the auditing performance for Chicago’s 550 parks and playgrounds.

In 1997 he was appointed Deputy Commissioner with the Department of Streets and Sanitation where he was responsible for 54.5 million dollar budget with 508 employees. He was directly responsible for snow and ice removal for the city and the maintenance of the Chicago Loop area.

Ike ran successfully for Alderman in 1999 and Ward Committeeman in 2000. Since that short time, he has garnished 60 million dollars in projects for his ward.

In August of 2001 he was appointed Chairman of the Chicago City Council’s Police and Fire Committee.

Some of the projects implemented by Ike are:

• two new schools,
  
• a 13 million dollar police station,
  
• a 22 million dollar project rebuilding the Central Avenue Bridge,
  
• a new Water Park located at Austin and Lake, the re-pave of Austin Boulevard from North Avenue to Roosevelt Road,
  
• the new street-scape project for Madison Street from Austin Boulevard to Central Avenue,
  
• a new fountain at Midway Park and Waller,
  
• the openings of a new “Save-A-Lot”, “Family Dollar”, and an “Aldi” in the 29th Ward.
  

Ike and his wife Sharron have two sons. He is a member of Original Providence Baptist Church.

Labels: Chicago Alderman, Ike Carothers

This article, written on Feb. 24, 2005, has been posted for reference purposes.

When a firm identified as part of the “Chicago Outfit” by the federal government gets into politics, who gets the money?

In today’s indictments of alleged mobsters and January’s unsealing of a late 2003 FBI request for a search warrant of Cicero’s M & M Amusement, the FBI provided probable cause to a Chicago federal court that the firm was operating an illegal video poker business.

Looking at the State Board of Elections data base turned up $13,000 in 17 contributions from M & M, including one to gubernatorial candidate Rod Blagojevich for $500 after his successful primary election.

Thursday morning, I asked Peter Giangreco, the Governor’s political spokesman, what Blagojevich planned to do about the money he received from M & M. No reply was received prior to the posting of this article.

The search warrant says that the FBI identified 44 bars, restaurants and social clubs in which M & M had placed video gaming devices. Bars in the towns of Cicero and Berwyn regularly pop up in the evidence presented showing that M & M split profits from video poker with owners of the establishments where the machines were installed.

M & M’s most recently reported contribution was $300 late last November to Michael Woodward, the City Clerk of Berwyn. This year, Woodward won the Democratic Party nomination for mayor, but lost the general election.

The Berwyn Regular Democratic Organization has been a consistent recipient of its campaign donations since 1999, when M & M started making them. In all, the Berwyn Democrats have gotten $4,700. Most of the organization’s candidates were beaten.

The powers that be in Cicero also have been regularly on the receiving end of the vending company’s checks.

Betty Loren-Maltese’s Cicero Political Action Committee got $1,500 from 1991 through 2001. Her committeeman fund received another $1,500 in 2002. And the Cicero Good Government Group, which backed both the winning Democrat and losing Republican candidate for state representative in 2004, as well as the election campaign of recently defeated Cicero Town President Ramiro Gonzalez, Loren-Maltese’s successor.

While the raid was primarily aimed at the Cicero office of M & M, all of the campaign contributions bear the address of 263 Driftwood Lane in Schaumburg, where the company is also registered with the Secretary of State’s Office. Michael A. Marcello is listed as the firm’s president. M & M was not accused of any wrong doing, but both Marcello and his brother James have just been indicted.

Labels: Berwyn, Betty Loren-Maltese, Cicero, Cicero Political Action Committee, M and M Amusements, Michael Woodward, Peter Giangreco, Ramiro Gonzalez, Rod Blagojevich