The pilots of a United Airlines plane that slid off an O’Hare Airport runway last December had been awake for 23 hours or more at the time of the incident and discussed feeling “fatigued” even before departing Seattle for Chicago with more than 160 passengers on board, according to a recently obtained Federal Aviation Administration document.

 What’s more, the pilots apparently believed they were landing on a different, longer runway at O’Hare, and may have made a series of braking errors while trying to bring the jetliner to a stop, according to the document, which also notes the landing strip was “obscured by snow.”

 The paperwork – turned over by the FAA in response to an open records request from the Better Government Association – does not give an exact cause for the Dec. 30 runway “overrun,” and officials at the FAA and United Airlines said that their investigations are ongoing, so it’s too early to point fingers or give too much weight to the information.

 “It is a very small piece of a larger investigation,” said FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory, describing the two-page document as “non decisional.”

Photos of Flight 1977 overrun obtained from Chicago Department of Aviation.

 Still, the document provides a more-detailed glimpse as to what may have been going on in the cockpit and on the ground, and raises serious questions about pilot judgment, FAA oversight and the Chicago Department of Aviation’s ability to clear the airfield during wintry conditions.

 It was a snowy morning with temperatures in the 20s when the Boeing 737, operating as Flight 1977, touched down on Runway 9 Left/27 Right, which stretches 7,500 feet and opened in 2008 as part of O’Hare’s ongoing expansion and reconfiguration project.

 An FAA air traffic controller cleared the plane for landing and said “braking action” was reported as “good” – meaning not too slippery, according to a copy of radio transmissions.

 But soon one of the pilots reported, “Be advised, braking action was nil,” meaning the tires weren’t catching on the pavement very well. The aircraft ended up off the runway, and records from the aviation department, which falls under the domain of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and operates O’Hare and Midway airports, indicate the plane slid. In fact, city crews were standing by to conduct a “friction” test and, if necessary, clear away snow and ice.

 Nobody was injured.

 The recently obtained FAA record said the captain of Flight 1977 was awake for 25 hours “at the time of the incident,” while the first officer – the second pilot – was awake for 23 hours.

 “Crew discussed being fatigued at length prior to departure from [Seattle], but felt compelled to complete the mission,” the document stated. “Crew discussed napping as a fatigue mitigation strategy enroute.”

 The FAA document also indicated:

• The pilots “thought they were landing on the longer of the parallels [runways], but in fact were landing on the shorter.”
• The pilots may have “inadvertently selected” a less-powerful brake setting and did not accommodate for the runway being “obscured by snow.”
•  The captain, even though he was fatigued, “decided to hand fly” the plane from 10,000 feet to arrival rather than let autopilot handle things.

Photos of Flight 1977 overrun obtained from Chicago Department of Aviation.

The FAA, which regulates airspace, airports and airlines, requires that pilots have a “10-hour minimum rest period prior to the flight duty period” with “an opportunity for eight hours of uninterrupted sleep within the 10-hour rest period.”

 But “rest” doesn’t necessarily mean “sleep,” and an “opportunity” for sleep also doesn’t necessarily mean actual snoozing, aviation experts said. Either way, the FAA record doesn’t delve deeply into this topic with the Flight 1977 crew.

 Bill Waldock of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University noted that FAA rules also put great responsibility on pilots to not fly when they are overly tired. “They have to positively affirm that they are fit for duty” before taking off, Waldock said.

 Brian Hennessy, a pilot and principal of the consulting firm Blue Hawk Aviation, said the major carriers take fatigue much more seriously now than in the “old days” and don’t hesitate to yank pilots from duty if they report being too tired.

 Referring to the number of hours the Flight 1977 pilots were reportedly awake, Hennessy added, “If that’s true, I can easily see” how mistakes could have been made.

 According to the FAA, “Fatigue is characterized by a general lack of alertness and degradation in mental and physical performance. Fatigue manifests in the aviation context not only when pilots fall asleep in the cockpit in flight, but perhaps more importantly, when they are insufficiently alert during take-off and landing. Reported fatigue-related events have included procedural errors, unstable approaches, lining up with the wrong runway, and landing without clearances.”

 The FAA record obtained by the BGA indicated one or both Flight 1977 pilots “will receive” training in, among other things, “cold weather ops” and “fatigue risk management.”

 United spokesman Charles Hobart would not confirm the training or divulge other details, only saying the airline is still conducting an “internal review” but believes “there may be other contributing factors involved” beyond possible fatigue and pilot error, including “possible runway conditions,” weather and “ATC,” or air traffic control.

 Chicago Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans wouldn’t comment.

 The Dec. 30 incident was one of three similar overruns at O’Hare on the same runway during the winter. There have been at least nine “excursions” from O’Hare runways and taxiways since 2010, city records show.

Selections from FAA documents regarding Flight 1977.

The federal investigation into alleged job selling at the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk’s office – a probe spurred by a BGA/FOX32 report on a curious land deal involving the politician running the agency, Dorothy Brown – resulted in a guilty plea of a Brown employee earlier this month.

From the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago:

“Sivasubramani Rajaram admitted in a plea agreement that in August 2014 he loaned $15,000 to Goat Masters Corp., whose president was the husband of the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk. The following month, Rajaram was hired by the Clerk’s Office as a level four Senior Clerk, according to the plea agreement. Rajaram had previously worked in the Clerk’s Office but had been living in India for several years.”

“On or about Oct. 1, 2015, Rajaram testified before a federal grand jury that was investigating possible criminal violations in connection with the purchasing of jobs and promotions within the Clerk’s Office. During his testimony, Rajaram said he had not spoken to the Circuit Court Clerk after his 2014 hiring. He also testified that he had spoken to another high-ranking employee of the Clerk’s Office only ‘three or four times’ since returning to Chicago from India. Rajaram admitted in the plea agreement that both statements were false.”

“Rajaram, 48, of Glenview, pleaded guilty to one count of making a false declaration before a grand jury. The charge is punishable by up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.”

Click here for a copy of the plea agreement.

Click here and here for copies of related stories on the federal investigation and Brown, who appears to be the ultimate focus of the federal probe but who has said she’s done nothing wrong.

Rivers Casino has paid one of the largest gaming-related fines in modern times – $1.65 million – following an Illinois Gaming Board investigation spurred in part by questions over a security and maintenance contractor’s ties to reputed mob figures.

Last year, the Better Government Association discovered that Rivers – Illinois’ newest and most lucrative casino – hired United Service Cos. for security and cleaning work at the Des Plaines gaming site.

United is run by Richard “Rick” Simon, who has had admitted business and personal ties to reputed mob figures, including his late friend and boss, Ben Stein. Simon made news earlier in the week when it came to light that former Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy launched a security consulting business affiliated with United.

The BGA asked Rivers officials last May about United’s hiring because Illinois casinos are not supposed to have even a hint of organized crime connections – something that helped sink Rosemont’s years-long push to score a gaming license.

The gaming board, which regulates casinos and video gaming in Illinois, can penalize gaming license holders for anything that “would discredit or tend to discredit the Illinois Gaming industry,” including “employing persons of notorious or unsavory reputation,” according to state rules.

Rivers officials said at the time they hadn’t known about Simon’s background – even though it had been documented for years in news reports – and then notified the gaming board about United’s work for Rivers. The gaming board started a probe, which was later combined with another investigation into problems with patron promotions at Rivers.

In August, the gaming board proposed a $2 million fine against Rivers, though the regulators didn’t directly take the casino to task for hiring United.

Instead, the gaming board slammed Rivers for the way Simon’s company was hired – without competitive bids and, in some instances, even a formal contract, in violation of procurement protocols that are supposed to ensure the integrity of casino operations, according to the state agency’s disciplinary complaint.

The gaming board also raised regulatory issues with Rivers unrelated to United. For instance, the casino was accused of allowing patrons to enter a “$250,000 Sign Up and Win New Member Giveaway” after the promotional period had ended.

Rivers entered into settlement talks with the gaming board and an agreement was reached in late January and early February to pay $1.65 million, according to the settlement agreement.

A spokesman for Rivers and Neil Bluhm, chairman of the venture that owns Rivers, wouldn’t comment other than to say the fine has been paid and “United Services is no longer a vendor.”

Don Tracy, chairman of the gaming board, said “I think it was a fair settlement,” and the fine was “the biggest one in my tenure.”

Tracy was appointed to the post last year by Gov. Bruce Rauner, though he has yet to be confirmed by the Illinois Senate.

More than a decade ago, Elgin’s Grand Victoria Casino was accused of hiring a contractor with reputed mob ties and hit with a proposed $7.2 million fine by the gaming board. Grand Victoria and the agency later settled on a $3.2 million payment.

Rivers was “responsible about it, they didn’t duck the issues, they started negotiating right away, they cooperated,” Tracy said.

The settlement agreement says the gaming board “acknowledges that all issues alleged in the Complaint were discovered and self-reported by Rivers.” Yet, Rivers only reported the United hiring after the BGA contacted the casino while doing research for a news story.

Other questions remain, including:

Why was there no mention of Simon’s connections in the final gaming board report?

How was the gaming board fine calculated?

Is Rivers barred from using United in the future?

Why didn’t the gaming board know of Simon and United until the BGA started making inquiries?

Mark Ostrowski, the gaming board’s administrator, would not return phone calls.

Simon declined to comment.

Former Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy has started his own security consulting business that apparently will work closely with a larger company whose top executive, Richard “Rick” Simon, has had ties to reputed mob figures and once was investigated in a still-unsolved missing persons case.

 A former top aide to McCarthy at CPD, Robert Tracy, was also hired as a senior vice president by Simon’s firm, United Service Cos., according to a recent Trade Show Executive magazine article, which noted McCarthy’s new firm, GFM-Strategies, has formed an alliance with United.

Neither McCarthy nor Tracy returned calls or emails.

Simon is a former Chicago cop who years back moonlighted for United when it was run by his friend and mentor, Ben Stein, a mob associate and felon.

Simon was investigated by Chicago police and Cook County prosecutors after Stein’s female companion Karen Koppel went missing in 1980, according to records and interviews. Simon refused to testify before a grand jury probing the disappearance, according to a police record.

After Stein died in 1996, Simon started running United, which offers security, janitorial and trade show services around the country.

Koppel has never turned up dead or alive, and Simon has been adamant that he had nothing to do with her vanishing, and that he is an upstanding businessman who may have known reputed mob figures over the years, but is not and has never been affiliated with organized crime.

The trade publication article quoted Simon as saying, “Robert Tracy is a distinguished member of both the public law enforcement sector and the private corporate sector. His leadership, along with the ability to partner with Garry McCarthy and GFM-Strategies, gives us a significant advantage as we ramp up our next generation security at public facilities.”

McCarthy led the Chicago Police Department until late last year, when he was forced out by Mayor Rahm Emanuel amid furor over police shootings and accountability. Tracy retired from his CPD job as chief of crime control strategies earlier this year.

McCarthy has been a friend of Simon’s since arriving in Chicago following command stints in Newark and his native New York. At GFM, McCarthy “will work exclusively with United on various industry-based projects through his new private-sector venture,” according to the trade magazine. GFM’s web site indicates the firm specializes in everything from “executive protection” to “corporate safety” consulting, and even can “provide strategic direction” on “union issues.”

It’s unclear whether GFM will provide all services itself, or enlist United for some matters.

GFM was incorporated by McCarthy’s attorney-wife, according to Illinois secretary of state records and interviews. GFM’s office is located at United’s South Loop headquarters. McCarthy is listed on his LinkedIn page as CEO of GFM.

The Better Government Association discovered last year that United had done maintenance and security work at Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, prompting the Illinois gaming board to launch an investigation and the casino to fire United.

Casinos in Illinois are not supposed to have any hint of organized crime ties, and the gaming board is tasked with ensuring the integrity of gambling at the state’s casinos.

When the gaming board probe wrapped up, regulators proposed fining Rivers $2 million.

In proposing the fine – one of the largest ever for an Illinois casino – the gaming board didn’t directly take Rivers to task for hiring United. Instead, the agency slapped Rivers for the way Simon’s company was hired, allegedly in violation of certain procurement protocols.

Simon and his companies have been politically active, donating to, among others, the campaign fund of outgoing Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. One of her predecessors oversaw the long-ago grand jury probing Koppel’s disappearance.

While directing United Airlines Flight 1977 to land at O’Hare Airport the morning of Dec. 30, an air traffic controller relayed to the crew what other pilots had apparently reported after touching down: “Braking action good.”

In other words, even with snow, and temperatures in the mid to high 20s, the runway surface was believed to be in good enough shape to successfully apply the brakes.

But the Boeing 737, arriving from Seattle with more than 160 passengers, ended up sliding off the end of the runway, records show.

“1977 has departed the end of Runway 27 Right,” one of the pilots said, according to audio transmissions recently obtained by the Better Government Association. “Be advised, braking action was nil” – meaning the tires weren’t catching on the pavement very well, a sign of slippery conditions.

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UAL Flight 1977

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Nobody was hurt, and the incident remains under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration, which refused to discuss the possible cause of the runway “excursion” or “overrun” and two other relatively minor incidents since then that also involved planes reportedly sliding off O’Hare runways. FAA officials said they would wait to comment until their investigations are complete.

The Chicago Department of Aviation, which operates O’Hare and Midway airports and is overseen by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, also wouldn’t get into details, except to insist city snow-removal crews were out in force at the time of the three runway incidents. Aside from Dec. 30, they occurred Jan. 22 and March 1 on the same 7,500-foot-long runway – 9 Left/27 Right, which opened in 2008 as part of O’Hare’s massive expansion and reconfiguration project – amid fairly similar weather conditions. A plane also slid on a taxiway on March 1.

An aviation department spokesman, Owen Kilmer, said “any excursion is undesirable,” but added: “The recent excursion events had many factors involved other than snow removal activities that we are unable to discuss due to pending investigations.”

The BGA obtained a memo, written by O’Hare’s north airfield snow-removal coordinator, indicating that as the Flight 1977 overrun occurred around 7:40 a.m. on Dec. 30, city crews were waiting to conduct a “friction” test on the landing strip and, if necessary, clear away snow or ice.

In fact, the friction testing crew, sitting on a nearby taxiway readying to gauge the slickness of runway pavement, radioed for permission to drive down the strip “to go to the aircraft for any assistance,” according to the memo, which was obtained from the aviation department in response to an Illinois Freedom of Information Act request.

Photos of Flight 1977 overrun obtained from Chicago Department of Aviation.

Kilmer said via email that pilots “had reported good braking action” on the runway prior to Flight 1977’s arrival.

“Nevertheless, the [aviation department] is required to make a visual inspection of the runways and taxiways once a day,” Kilmer said. “Further, during snow/other severe weather events, a visual inspection is done within every two-hour period, which is what was being done that day.”

City crews were “also preparing to take a friction test of the runway to corroborate the pilots’ assessment, as well as to update the Notice to Airmen . . . for pilots operating in and out of O’Hare. The runway inspection was part of the typical operating procedure during snow events.”

The BGA also found there were two more incidents at O’Hare on Dec. 30 within hours of the Flight 1977 overrun that may have been weather related.

A business jet maneuvering on the ground “inadvertently crossed a hold line” for a different runway, prompting an approaching flight to be “sent around by air traffic before it could land,” according to an FAA spokeswoman, who said the ground pilot later relayed the pavement marking “was covered by snow, and could not be seen.”

Kilmer, however, said city crews were sent to inspect the “runway/taxiway intersection” and found signs and pavement markings “all fully visible.”

The FAA wouldn’t provide identifying information for that plane, so the aircraft operator couldn’t be reached.

Meanwhile, two city snow trucks collided at O’Hare later in the day, sending one worker to the hospital, records show.

The trucks were in a “staging area” on the north side of the airport when it “is believed that the snowplows may have slid into each other,” Kilmer said, adding the employee was not seriously hurt.

As with the Flight 1977 incident, the crew of United Airlines Flight 734 was told by an air traffic controller that runway braking appeared to be good when the aircraft landed on the same runway around noon on Jan. 22 with more than 180 people on board.

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UAL Flight 734

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But radio transmissions show problems after the jet landed.

“United 734, turn right . . . if able,” the controller said.

A pilot responded, “No we’re not going to be able” and later reported, “There’s nil braking action here,” meaning little or none, and then, “We’ll need a tow.”

City records say the plane “slid off the runway.”

Pilots often tell air traffic controllers, who work for the FAA, how their landings went, and the controllers then relay runway conditions to inbound pilots. City crews clear the pavement as needed, coordinating with the FAA.

In one of the March 1 incidents, a smaller jet with two pilots aboard “slid off the end” of 9 Left/27 Right, according to the FAA, while minutes later an American Airlines flight slid on a taxiway.

Representatives of the airlines involved in the O’Hare incidents declined to comment beyond confirming basic details.

Photos of Flight 734 overrun obtained from Chicago Department of Aviation.

While the FAA regulates U.S. airports and airspace, the National Transportation Safety Board investigates serious or potentially serious aviation accidents and incidents.

The recent O’Hare incidents weren’t considered alarming enough for the NTSB to get involved or to even catalogue, according to records and interviews.

NTSB records show there were nearly 200 “runway excursion and/or landing area overshoot accidents” in the U.S. in 2015 and so far in 2016, including three in Illinois at other, smaller airfields.

The FAA has yet to tell the BGA how many total runway excursions there have been at O’Hare and Midway airports in recent years.

This much is clear: The topic has generated a fair amount of research and concern nationally.

A 2009 Flight Safety Foundation report includes a litany of “risk factors” for runway overruns, including pilots touching down too fast or far, “ineffective braking” and “runway contamination.”

Weather can play into that, and one commercial pilot interviewed by the BGA noted weather conditions can change rapidly at O’Hare, while another expert, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University professor Bill Waldock, said keeping runways totally clear in winter is “a constant battle.”

Whatever the FAA ultimately finds in its investigations, “security and safety are the first priority,” Kilmer said, adding “if there’s any evidence of deficiencies in this area,” Chicago Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans, a mayoral aide, will “take immediate action to correct it.”

When disgraced Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett resigned last May as a federal investigation was swirling around her, she left without any payouts for unused vacation time.

That’s because CPS officials concluded Byrd-Bennett had used up all her vacation time when she went on leave in April as subpoenas flew and the FBI raided CPS offices.

But 10 other CPS executives who exited in Byrd-Bennett’s wake departed with sometimes-sizable checks for unused vacation days, including her one-time chief of staff, Sherry Ulery, who was cut a check for $20,000, according to CPS records obtained under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett exits federal court after pleading guilty to wire fraud. | Ashlee Rezin /Sun-Times Media

In all, those 10 people left with an average of $13,000 that covered unused vacation time, the records show.

In 2012, the Chicago Board of Education cut in half the number of vacation days CPS employees can bank and cash out. Nowadays, employees with 10 years of service or less can save up 20 vacation days, those with 11 to 20 years of service can bank 25 days and those with more than 20 years can bank 30 days.

The cash value of unused vacation days varies based on the salary of employees.

Accumulated sick days used to be a bonanza for exiting CPS employees. But after the Better Government Association found $227 million in unused sick time payouts between 2006 and 2012, the perk was killed, though there was a grandfather clause for employees who had already accumulated days.

Among the CPS higher-ups who left after Byrd-Bennett and received vacation payouts:

• Tim Cawley, who had been CPS’ chief administrative officer. He received $18,605, records show.
• Markey Winston, who had been chief of diverse learners. She received $17,577.
• Rhonda Saegert, who had been chief of schools. She received $15,784.

None of the 10 officials has been accused of any wrongdoing in the federal probe, and Byrd-Bennett ended up pleading guilty to a scheme in which she steered a $23 million no-bid contract to a company that promised her kickbacks.

A tolling template in Kane County?

A 2009 report commissioned by Congress tried to “re-envision” how government pays for road and bridge improvements and repairs – how to meet increasing needs with less and less money.

Among the options studied: Linking tolls to specific projects – so tolls are charged on a stretch of road to pay for construction there.

Not a well-traversed concept in Illinois, but one being contemplated by Kane County government as it oversees the $115 million “Longmeadow Parkway” road and bridge project, with an initial phase slated to get underway this spring.

Image from Longmeadow Parkway Flyover Video courtesy of Kane County.

The roadway – which is being met with fierce resistance from some residents because of cost and environmental concerns, among other issues – is expected to stretch 5.6 miles and include up to four lanes from Huntley Road to Route 62 through parts of Algonquin, Barrington Hills and Carpentersville. A new bridge over the Fox River would require tolls of $1 or less for passenger vehicles, with prices fluctuating depending on the time of day. Trucks would pay more. Although the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority oversees most toll roads in Illinois, it wouldn’t be running this bridge, but could serve as the money collector via I-PASS, the electronic toll payment system.

This at least is the plan as of now, according to Kane County’s deputy director of transportation, Tom Rickert, who said charging tolls isn’t optimal, but seems to be the only option giving funding challenges. “The chances are likely this will be a toll bridge,” he said.

But unlike the Illinois toll authority that decades ago promised to eventually do away with fees for drivers, only to renege, Kane County would eliminate tolls once the $35 million or so in projected construction loans – covering just the bridge work – are paid off with toll revenue. That probably will translate into no more than 20 years, Rickert said.

The project – also funded by federal, state and local money – is based on “existing and future traffic needs” and intended “to support economic development and job growth in portions of the county,” he said.

But Barrington Hills resident Ed Fagan, a vocal opponent of the Longmeadow project, questioned traffic projections and called the project “a massive waste of tax dollars” that will ruin the feel of the area and negatively impact the natural environment. Fagan noted the $115 million price tag doesn’t include another $30 million or more already spent on land acquisition, engineering and other costs.

The county has approval to start the initial phase of the project – which has been discussed for decades – but still is awaiting state and federal government sign-off for all the work, Rickert said.

Whether such targeted tolling becomes a local trend remains to be seen, but Rickert said, “I know there are a lot of agencies statewide and even at the federal level who are saying, ‘We want to see how Kane County does this.’”

A disgraced cop cops a plea

Terry Meagher used to be an investigator for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Soon, he’s going to be an inmate, after pleading guilty last month to transportation of child pornography and, in the process, admitting to some pretty sordid stuff.

Using the screen name “trckgirl69,” Meagher visited a “file-sharing network” in 2012 and “engaged in conversation with a user who, unbeknownst to Meagher, was an undercover law enforcement officer” out of state, court records show.

After Meagher shared a password, the undercover officer downloaded files from Meagher’s computer, and found 88 “image files” of kiddie porn, which “depicted real prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, as well as sadistic and masochistic conduct,” court records show.

Separately, Meagher also secretly photographed the private parts of a child who was under his care, the records show.

Meagher is expected to be sentenced next month to at least five years in prison but no more than 20, court records show.

It’s unclear whether any of Meagher’s misconduct occurred while on the clock for taxpayers, and whether his conviction will impact his government pension.

For part of his career he was assigned to federal task forces handling drug and customs cases – coveted spots because there’s little oversight and big opportunity for extra income. In the eight years before he resigned, Meagher was paid more than $130,000 in overtime, county records show.

Meagher’s attorney had no comment.

Fabio Valentini is one of the top prosecutors for Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.

 
Jack Garcia runs Alvarez’s investigative squad, which consists of 100 or so police officers.
 
Raymond Balcarcel is the chief financial officer for the entire agency.
 
Aside from sharing the same boss, they have something else in common: They’re all donors to Alvarez’s campaign fund.
 
Valentini, the $153,000-a-year chief of criminal prosecutions, gave Alvarez’s political fund $300 in a donation recorded by the Illinois State Board of Elections on Dec. 4, plus a $250 donation recorded Sept. 30 and a $150 donation recorded July 17.

Fabio Valentini, seen here with Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez | Sun-Times file photo

Garcia, the $140,000-a-year chief of investigations, gave $250 to Alvarez’s campaign fund in a contribution recorded Dec. 31, and another $250 in a donation dated Sept. 30.
 
Balcarcel, who is paid $119,000 a year by taxpayers, gave Alvarez’s campaign fund $250 in a donation recorded Dec. 31.
 
The three men aren’t alone. As Alvarez faces a tough reelection battle, her campaign has accepted more than 100 donations from roughly 60 employees who collectively gave almost $25,000 in the second half of 2015, elections board records show.
 
Neither Alvarez nor her aides would answer questions.
 
But Kim Foxx and Donna More, Alvarez’s two March 15 Democratic primary opponents who both have worked as Cook County prosecutors, said while they aren’t restricting campaign money from state’s attorney’s employees during this race, if elected they won’t accept donations from their workers.
 
“I worked in the state’s attorney’s office before . . . and it was, from an employees’ standpoint, you’re in an uncomfortable position when your name is on an email list for a fundraiser,” Foxx said. “It was just an icky feeling so I don’t want to impose that on anybody.”
 
“There was always that cloud” that certain employees got promoted “because they went to a number of fundraisers,” and Foxx said she wants to avoid that perception.
 
Foxx acknowledged going “to maybe two of Anita’s fundraisers” in past years, “but I think I just snuck in, past the table because you’re broke.”
 
No donors on Foxx’s publicly available campaign reports are listed as state’s attorney employees. But only those giving $150 or more have to be mentioned, and Foxx said there are some employees who likely donated, but less than the $150 disclosure threshold.
 
None of More’s donors are listed on campaign filings as state’s attorney workers either, but More said she knows of one state’s attorney employee who donated below that level to her campaign.
 
Even so, More said she thinks it’d be problematic to take campaign cash from underlings if she ran the office.
 
“I just think it’s a perception issue, obviously there’s nothing illegal about it,” More said, adding she doesn’t want employees “to feel obligated,” or to think promotions are dictated by campaign contributions.

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez (center) and her opponents in the March 15 Democratic primary election, Kim Foxx (left) and Donna More, debate before the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board, Friday, Feb. 5, 2016. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Besides, More said, “it’s a hardship” for many employees to give, “these guys aren’t exactly overpaid.”
 
In the last three months of 2015, Alvarez’s campaign fielded 38 donations from 33 employees totaling more than $9,800, elections board records show.
 
In the third quarter of 2015, 42 employees donated 68 times for a total of more than $14,000, records show.
 
Some employees gave in both periods, so in all 59 Alvarez employees were donors in the second half of last year. The agency, which prosecutes criminal cases and represents county government in civil matters, has more than 1,100 employees.
 
The nearly $25,000 in employee donations represents about 5 percent of the $482,000 in individual donations accepted by Alvarez’s campaign fund during that time frame.
 
Balcarcel said he donated to Alvarez because “I’ve known Anita for more than 25 years and I consider her a friend and I will always support her.”
 
He said was “absolutely not” solicited for the donation.
 
Valentini and Garcia didn’t return calls.
 
Among the other Alvarez donors in 2015: Daniel Gallagher, who ran the state’s attorney’s civil division for Alvarez until resigning last October amid questions about crass Facebook posts he’d made, some possibly during work hours.
 
Gallagher gave $300 to Alvarez’s campaign in a donation dated July 29, and $250 recorded on Sept. 30.
 
It’s difficult to gauge the full level of employee giving prior to the period examined because employers often weren’t listed with donors on Alvarez’s filings.
 
There’s no law preventing campaign donations from government employees to their political bosses, and such giving is common in Illinois.

A businessman who has had ties to reputed mob figures and was once investigated in a still-unsolved missing persons case recently donated $1,000 to the campaign fund of Cook County State’s Attorney Alvarez – and it’s not the first time her campaign has taken money from him.

The Better Government Association reported in June that Richard “Rick” Simon and his business interests had given $5,000 to Alvarez’s campaign since 2008, when she was first elected top prosecutor.

The BGA also reported at the time there was a Richard Simon listed on Alvarez’s campaign finance committee – a major fundraising vehicle – though Alvarez refused to say whether it was the same man.

Now, campaign finance reports filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections show that Simon, who runs United Service Cos., donated another $1,000 to Alvarez’s campaign in a contribution dated Jan. 29 of this year.

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Related Article: Alvarez Donor Was Once Investigated In Missing Person Case

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Neither Alvarez nor her staff would answer questions about the money, including whether Simon’s campaign donations represent a conflict of interest for Alvarez.

Simon, a former Chicago cop, said via email, “as a former member of law enforcement in the community I believe my donation speaks for itself.”

A spokeswoman for Simon’s company would not say whether Alvarez’s camp solicited the donation but said, “He is still a supporter, he is not fundraising for her and he has not attended any of her fundraisers.”

Simon was questioned by police after the 1980 disappearance of Karen Koppel, who had been romantically linked to Simon’s friend and boss, now-deceased mob associate Ben Stein. The Cook County state’s attorney’s office was overseeing the case and at one time convened a grand jury – which Simon refused to testify in front of, according to a Chicago police document obtained by the BGA.

Koppel’s case remains unsolved and, while the investigation is not active, it’s still open with Chicago police and, presumably, Cook County prosecutors as well.

A retired prosecutor who handled the long-ago Koppel investigation under one of Alvarez’s predecessors was quoted in the BGA’s June story as saying, “I would be surprised that an elected prosecutor would take money from a person who was related to an investigation like that.”

Besides the Koppel case, Simon has acknowledged knowing people with reputed ties to organized crime, in addition to Stein.

Simon was in a side business for several years with alleged mob figure William Daddano Jr.

Simon also knew reputed mobster Dominic Senese and was interviewed by members of the Joint Organized Crime Task Force after somebody tried to kill Senese in 1988 near his Oak Brook home. Senese survived the incident and died several years later of natural causes.

In previous interviews, Simon portrayed himself as an upstanding person who is involved in a lot of charitable causes and knows a lot of people, but is not and never has been involved in the mob, had nothing to do with Koppel’s disappearance and knows nothing about who tried to whack Senese.

Simon also made news last year when the BGA revealed that Simon’s company, which provides janitors to businesses among other services, had been doing work for Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, a disclosure that raised concerns by Illinois gaming regulators.

An off-duty McCook police officer visiting Harrah’s Casino Joliet last winter ended up slugging a panhandler in the valet area of the gaming facility, in an incident caught on surveillance video recently obtained by the Better Government Association and FOX 32.

The officer, Robert Wells, was suspended without pay for two days by his tiny southwest suburban department and ordered to attend “private counseling services,” according to records obtained from the Village of McCook under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

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The records said about Wells, “your failure to remove yourself from the situation allowed this incident to escalate . . . your conduct will be held to a higher standard than the general public and you will be held accountable for your actions on-duty as well as off-duty.”

While several jarring videos have recently been publicized involving Chicago-area police officers, Wells’ case isn’t so clear cut because there’s no audio accompanying the video, the man brushed against Wells prior to the punch and then took off, never filing a complaint, authorities said.

An investigator for the Illinois gaming board – which regulates casinos in Illinois – stated in a report that, after reviewing the evidence, “it is clear Mr. Wells was the aggressor.”

But Wells and his wife, who had been at the casino with her husband, told a Joliet police detective that the man punched by Wells had made “harassing statements of a blatantly sexual nature” and threatened to bite off Wells’ ear and “kill him,” according to a written account from the detective, who interviewed the couple more than two weeks after the Jan. 17, 2015, incident.

In a brief telephone conversation with the BGA, Wells said he “definitely” was not the aggressor.

The Joliet detective, Paul Rodriguez, relayed to a reporter, “I don’t have an opinion on . . . who’s the aggressor.”

Shortly before midnight on the night of the altercation, Wells and his wife were standing in the valet area of Harrah’s, waiting to leave the far southwest suburban casino, when they were approached by a man, according to records and interviews.

A casino security supervisor described the man “as homeless looking,” who approached Wells and his wife “begging for money” as a “heated” conversation ensued, according to a police report from a Joliet officer who responded to the scene.

Surveillance video shows the man approaching the couple, a “discussion occurs,” and the man “backs away and then approaches them again,” according to a Harrah’s security incident report. The man “then backs away again and Wells approaches him.”

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The unidentified man “extends his arm or elbow and makes contact with Wells,” according to the security report. “Wells then grabs the [man] and then pushes him and then punches him in the face and takes him to the ground. Wells then goes into the valet attendant outside area and the [man] gets up and approaches him. Wells then goes into the trunk of his vehicle and takes an item out and moves toward” the man, who “then walks quickly away and leaves property.”

The item was a “police-type” baton or flashlight, records indicate.

When casino security arrived, Wells “became argumentative and aggressive” towards a security official, placing “his hand on [the official’s] chest when explaining the situation,” according to the casino incident report.

Wells also mentioned he was a cop, the report indicates.

Wells said “he was upset with Harrah’s security because of what he felt was a lack of protection,” according to the detective’s report.

Wells and his wife drove off before Joliet police arrived, though Wells told a reporter he did so because his wife was upset, and that he left a business card at the valet stand for follow-up questions.

Wells added that the man he punched was not homeless; he had come out of the casino, so must have been a patron.

McCook Mayor Jeff Tobolski, who also is a Cook County commissioner, said the two-day suspension was appropriate given the circumstances, but added, “I have concerns with the inability of either the Joliet Police Department or the casino to provide safe and adequate protection out there. My understanding is that this officer may be looking into bringing a lawsuit against the City of Joliet and also the casino for failing to do that.”

Wells wouldn’t comment on that.

Darren VanDover, senior vice president and general manager of Harrah’s Joliet, released a written statement saying, “The safety of our patrons is the company’s top priority, and we regret that, over a year ago, this unfortunate incident occurred. Upon learning of the incident, our on-site security team responded in approximately 3 minutes. We will, nevertheless, review our security procedures to determine how a similar situation might be avoided in the future.”

The gaming board has not taken any enforcement action against Harrah’s relating to the incident, and no criminal charges have been filed against anybody, officials said.

For now, Joliet police said their investigation is “suspended.”

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The Better Government Association recently obtained grisly surveillance video showing a dog being choked by at least one Chicago animal care worker trying to bring it under control at the city pound.

The dog died soon thereafter, and the employee and several others were disciplined. (If you haven’t seen the footage, here’s the link.)
 
For anyone critical of Animal Care and Control (ACC) based on the video’s images – which showcase the latest foul-up with the taxpayer-supported agency, overseen by Mayor Rahm Emanuel – consider the cynical way City Hall handled things when we came calling:

• On May 19, 2014, we asked for disciplinary records tied to the March 15, 2014, dog-choking incident, as well as video, citing the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, which guarantees public access to public records, including video. Our interest: Get to the bottom of what happened. This was an agency with many problems, and the Emanuel administration showed little apparent interest in fixing them.
• Under FOIA, the city was supposed to turn over records within five business days – 10 at the most. Instead, the city took an extra week’s extension, and then acted as if we had given permission for the extra cushion. “Thank you for allowing the City the extra time to comply with your request,” the city’s FOIA officer wrote us.
• On June 10, 2014, the city turned over paperwork related to the dog choking – showing four workers were being disciplined – but refused to turn over the video, violating FOIA.
• On June 12, 2014, the BGA sued the city in Cook County Circuit Court for the video, arguing it was supposed to be turned over under FOIA.
• In denying the video’s release, City Hall unabashedly struck a protective tone over the family that had given up the dog to the pound because of the animal’s reported aggressiveness. Among other things, the city argued in its FOIA denial that “it would be highly emotionally distressing” for the family to see the video publicized. No matter that at least one city employee likely led directly to the dog’s demise.

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Related Article: Video: Dog Choked, Dragged At City Pound

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• In refusing to turn over the footage, the city also lashed out at us in its written FOIA denial, suggesting the BGA only wanted the video so we could post “salacious content” on our web site to “sensationalize the incident, resulting in more publicity … and higher click-throughs.” The city ignored that we’d been covering the pound vigorously for several years, and had a documented history of taking an interest in animal welfare, employee competency and mismanagement.
• The city also indicated that it couldn’t release the video because it would be too “costly” – likely $3,000 to $7,000 – to fuzz out the faces of employees on the footage. City Hall argued the city “does not have the capability to blur the faces of the involved ACC employees,” so “would have to contract an outside vendor.” However, when the city ultimately turned over the video, faces indeed were blurred, and a city official admitted to us that City Hall didn’t use an outside vendor – instead, working with city government’s in-house television operation to do the job.
• On Dec. 21, 2015, City Hall posted a news release (and publicized an online job description) announcing an “expansive” search to replace the ACC executive director who retired a couple of months earlier. City Hall made a point of saying in the postings that it was collaborating with animal welfare groups and wanted to find a real professional in the field – ignoring that under Emanuel at least one top ACC official was installed without any animal welfare experience. City officials wouldn’t answer questions about whether the news release was publicized that day to temper the next day’s release of the dog video to the BGA.

• On Dec. 22, 2015, Christmas week, the Emanuel administration released the dog-choking video to us in response to our lawsuit – but city officials edited in written messages at the beginning and end of the footage to say how diligent the city had been in disciplining the workers involved, and that ACC “has since provided additional training to staff and enhanced protocols to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.”
• On Dec. 29, 2015, the BGA published a story about the video and released it on our web site. There was immediate outcry, with calls for more professionalism and care at the city pound.
• On Dec. 30, 2015, pets blogger Steve Dale posted a write-up entitled, “Video of Dog at Chicago Animal Control May Not Be What Some Assume,” in which he said, “I saw this video over a week ago.” He later told us that the city contacted him to get his “impression” of the video, and that he relayed he couldn’t do so without seeing it, so they sent it to him. Asked whether the city leaked him the video to try to “spin” the story, Dale said, “You could say it was a PR move . . . I’d say yeah but it could have backfired” if he ended up hammering city officials, who “didn’t have any input” on what was written. Either way, his blog post didn’t criticize the city very much. Rather it ripped the BGA for pursuing the video, saying, “Releasing of the video, I believe is about politics – about finding a way to ‘get to’ the Mayor. I truly don’t see how releasing the video helps the animals.”
• On Jan. 8, 2016, the city acknowledged flagging other animal welfare advocates about the video ahead of time and making a copy of the tape available to them. According to the city, Dale “was not shown the video before it was released to the BGA. In December Mr. Dale contacted the City on a couple of occasions interested in learning more about the onboarding of the future [ACC] director. During this time he learned about the pending release of the video and made a request to view the video. [ACC] contacted Mr. Dale the day before the video was released to notify him of the impending release as a courtesy, as he has been an advocate for Chicago’s animals and for [ACC] for years. Because the City had been having ongoing discussions with both animal welfare leaders and advocates, it was appropriate to also inform them of the video that would be made public. As a result, the groups requested a copy of the video be provided to them. The City was within its right to share the video concurrent with the release of the video to the BGA.”

So what does all of this show?
 
Emanuel’s people – as they’ve done with the Chicago Police Department, Chicago Public Schools and other city agencies – will go to seemingly any length to try to control public information, the way it’s released and how it’s cast.
 
They should never wonder why trust is in such short supply these days.

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