CHICAGO POLITICS

RE; GRANT 07-203387


Mr. Thomas J. Homer, Inspector General
Office of the Legislative Inspector General
420 Stratton Building
Springfield, Illinois, 62706


Dear Mr. Homer:

In response to your letter of June 26, 2008, I must point out to you that you have zeroed in on one narrow aspect of the problem completely missing the larger complaint. To begin the Aurora Highway Commissioner is Fred Burgess, not Craig Burgess. Rep. Linda Chapa La Via had nothing to do with obtaining the Grant and should not have been given public credit for it.


I am forwarding to you copies of letters from the Grant file that you may not have. One letter shows the dte the Grant was approved, February 1, 2007. Until May 22, 2007 in a letter from Rep. Mike Madigan's office, Rep Chapa LaVia's name is never mentioned in connection with the Grant. The project began in 2004. Originally Mr. Burgess tried to fund the project with money from the City of Aurora and the Township Highway Department, but the Grant was eventually approved by the Dept. of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for $80,000 and the accepted bid was $74,343.30. The check for $20,000 from Rep. Madigan was issued May 3, 2007, months after the Grant was already approved and unnecessary.

Exhibit A, April 4, 2007, third paragraph states:
:Subject to the execution of this Agreement by both parties, the Grantee is hereby authorized to incur costs against this Agreement from the beginning date of 2/1/7 through 3/31/8, unless otherwise specified." Mr. Burgess did not need the $20,000 to proceed with the project. "The Grantee hereby agrees to use the funds provided under the Agreement for the purposes set forth herein" Not in any of the four bids received was there an amount quoted for the signs. The signs are never mentioned.

Before laying out the basis for my complaint, be informed that I sent copies of my initial protest letter to all the local state legislators whom Mr. Burgess had contacted when seeking funds for "Road Rebuilding". All turned him down stating there were no funds available. No letter exists from Rep. Chapa LaVia stating that she could not get the funds for "road rebuilding". There is no letter on file to Mr. Burgess indicating she was working on the Grant instead. There are not any letters in the file from Rep. Chapa LaVia. No paper trail. All transactions must have been done by phone or personally. How convenient, how unprofessional. It has been my experience that most questionable actions operate covertly. I do not intend to let this case go unnoticed, even if the local press treats it as if it is nonexistent. I do not want one man'ns opinion on this matter. Letters are being sent to my jury.

In law, the maxim is "qui tacet consetire", "silence gives consent", therefore if we are to construe anything from Rep. Chapa LaVia's silence in this matter it would be that she consented to the signs. Consented is perhaps too weak a word, I believe a deal was made in exchange for the $20,000. Rep. Chapa LaVia had ample opportunity to have the signs removed and to disclaim the message on the signs. Do you expect me to believe that Mr. Burgess had the four congratulatory signs erected without Rep. Chapa LaVia's knowledge? Those are stories for children.

The case here involves Grant 07-203387, which was issued on Feb. 1, 2007, to the Aurora Township Highway Dept. to "Span-Wire Traffic Signal Installation" from the Dept. of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for $80,000. Mr. Burgess wrote to the local legislators on March 26, 2007 seeking funding for "Road Rebuilding". Sen. Lauzen in his reply to Mr. Burgess suggested Sen Holmes and Rep. Chapa LaVia should be able to deliver funds to him now that the Ruling Majority owns all three appropriations elements. Rep. Chapa LaVia obviouls went to Rep. Michael Madigan's office seeking funding. There is where the switch comes in.

There is no receipt for the purchase of the signs, the cost of the labor or mention of when the signs were installed. Except that I presented the Township with pictures of the signs which were placed in the file, no one would know that the signs existed. Mr. Burgess never mentions or refers to them in his reports. Repeated requests for this information has continually been denied to me. Someone paid for these four large signs. Perhaps it was Rep. Chapa LaVia herselfand that is why Mr. Burgess is taking the hit for this serious matter. I call it fraud.

Besides the numerous letters that were sent to Mr. Burgess and to Mr. Murphy, the Township Supervisor, requesting the information on the signs, I raised the issue at two public Township meetings. Still I could not get a reply. I wrote to Mr. Jack Lavin, Director, Dept. of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, on five occasions requesting this information. I did not receive replies to my letters. I did get a phone call from the attorney for DCEO. The information I requested was not forthcoming. What are they concealing by their silence? Perhaps you should contact them. Stonewalling is not a virtue.

As it now stands the cost of the project was paid out of the Township General Revenue funds to be reimbursed by DCEO. The Township has not been reimbursed as of last week. I believe the DCEO is waiting for funding themselves. When questioning Mr. Burgess at a Township meeting as to what he intended to do with the $20,000 now that it is not part of the Grant, he replied "keep it".

Have you asked Rep. Chapa LaVia why she has remained silent throughout this controversy? Why she did not have the signs taken down since she did not obtain the Grant for the Township and that them message on the signs were misleading the public. A letter was sent to the papers from Rudy Neuberger praising her for her work in obtaining the Grant. My response to Mr. Neuberger was not printed. At the onset of this case I spoke with two reporters from the Beacon. I assume it was the editor who chose not to go public with the story. Why?

If you find out where the signs were purchased, you can find out their cost and the person who purchased them.. The company who made the signs can tell you who paid for them. It was not the Township or the Highway Department. There would be a record of it in the reports if they had paid for them. Who paid for the signs?

As the attached letters dated March 18 and 19, 2008 indicate, Rep. Chapa LaVia is still getting credit for the Grant she had nothing to do with. That is the most important aspect of my charges.

Joan Solms

Copy to: Sen. Chris Lauzen
Sen. Linda Holmes
Rep. Tom Cross
Rep. Tim Schmitz
Rep. Pat Lindner
Aurora Beacon
Fox Valley Labor News
El Conquisador

2112 W. Galena Blvd. #8, Box 180, Aurora, Il., 60506 630-631-5072