Stroger pledges to cooperate in probe
Cook County President Todd Stroger's Deputy Chief of Staff Carla Oglesby resigned Tuesday after being charged with three counts of corruption, but others in and around his government speculated on how deep into his administration the scandal might go.
County board members said Stroger's media spokesman and childhood friend Eugene Mullins is the public official accused of pressuring for a contract to be rewarded to a company controlled by Oglesby in the charges filed against her, although Mullins, like Stroger, is not named in the complaint or charged with any crime.
The court documents refer to several other unnamed Cook County officials who signed purchase orders or requested authorization related to the contracts.
Stroger issued a statement saying he'll “fully cooperate with authorities in their investigation, but skirted actual contact with reporters before, during and after Tuesday's Cook County Board meeting, and his spokesman Marcel Bright said he was “unavailable to talk about this issue. Mullins took a sick day and did not reply to requests for comment.
Oglesby, 41, who was arrested Monday by the Cook County state's attorney's office, was charged in criminal court with three felony corruption counts: theft of government property, money laundering and official misconduct. She was being held in protective custody in Cook County jail on $250,000 bond. If she is convicted, the charges carry a sentence of six to 30 years in prison, without the possibility of probation.
According to court documents laying out the case against Oglesby, the money-laundering charge stemmed from a no-bid contract issued to her own CGC Communications public-relations firm shortly after she joined the administration earlier this year after serving as Stroger's campaign spokeswoman in his failed re-election bid.
It is among the so-called “24-9 contracts that are just under the $25,000 threshold calling for county board approval.
Oglesby, who had been given signature authority for disbursements under all departments within Stroger's office, is accused of writing a check to her firm for $24,975 for work on Homeland Security flood-relief outreach work prosecutors say was never done. She is accused of then writing checks from the account to an unidentified individual.
Oglesby's attorney, Anthony Schumann, denied the allegations.
Prosecutors credited “Public Official D with revealing that work CGC supposedly took credit for was actually done by herself with no input from the company. Stroger spokeswoman Chris Geovanis identified herself as “Public Official D and said she had been subpoenaed by a Cook County grand jury and would fully cooperate. She said she did not know how widespread subpoenas were within the administration and had not heard of anyone else receiving a subpoena.
“I have every reason to believe that I am not a target, Geovanis said, “and I look forward to addressing any questions they might have.
Oglesby was also charged over a $24,995 contract awarded to ARREI Management. According to Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez's office, the company had been owned by Oglesby but was dissolved in 2007. The court documents said “the president's media representative, presumed by county board members to be Mullins, “pressured for the contract to be awarded to her firm. The contract was for energy-efficiency outreach, but again the prosecutors said “no such work was ever performed.
The state's attorney also charged that Oglesby awarded more than a dozen similar contracts, several to firms that weren't even incorporated before receiving the payments. “To date, prosecutors charged, “the investigation has found that little to no legitimate work was performed by any of these companies.
The investigation estimated that Oglesby skimmed $300,000 in government funding.
“It's 25 here and 25 there, and all of a sudden you're talking about real money, said Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer, a Chicago Democrat. She pointed to how the contracts and checks were issued in a hurry, adding, “They were able to move at lightning speed, and say what you want about the county, payments don't usually move at lightning speed.
Stroger, in his statement, referred to the “24-9 contracts as “standard, and not an unusual process.
“This case should send a strong signal that there are extremely serious penalties for anyone who steals public money in Cook County, Alvarez said. “Our message today to anyone in county government who has any knowledge or information about these schemes is this: You should come and talk to us now before we come talk to you.
Riverside Republican Commissioner Tony Peraica said he believes the Oglesby indictment is “the tip of the iceberg and that he expects the case to “involve at least a half dozen individuals, perhaps more, who have used this process of issuing contracts just under $25,000 to reward campaign workers and contributors to the campaign.
“I think you'll see other charges brought, concurred Cook County Commissioner Timothy Schneider, a Bartlett Republican. “How far it will go, I couldn't tell you at this point.
They laid blame for the scandal at Stroger's feet.
“Todd Stroger's signature is on each and every one of those checks, Peraica insisted.
Bright called that “intentionally misleading, saying, “All checks issued by the county have the president's signature.
Schneider and Peraica both raised the issue of how Stroger briefly suspended Oglesby when word of the CGC contract broke earlier this year, but then brought her back to work. “He said he was going to suspend her until the investigation was complete, but that only lasted a week, Schneider said.
Geovanis acknowledged that was one of the things being investigated by Cook County Inspector General Patrick Blanchard, who also has been looking into Oglesby and the 24-9 contracts.
“A lot of people are going to go down on this, Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno said to fellow Chicago Democrat Robert Steele as the county board meeting was winding down.
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<h1>More Coverage</h1>
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<h2>Related documents</h2>
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<li><a href="/pdf/oglesbyproffer.pdf">Details of case against Oglesby</a></li>
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<h2>Stories</h2>
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<li><a href="/story/?id=412904">Stroger aide Oglesby arrested on corruption charges<span class="date"> [10/04/10]</span></a></li>
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