Des Plaines mayoral candidate denies ties to Chicago's Daley

Des Plaines mayoral hopeful Martin Moylan Wednesday denied media reports that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has ties to his campaign or is trying to influence his position on the O'Hare International Airport expansion.

Ward 2 Alderman Moylan, 58, said it's coincidence that two former Daley political operatives - Richard Pope and Diana Paluch - are helping with his campaign.

Moylan said Pope, a former Daley campaign ward coordinator and longtime political consultant, is a retired condominium owner in town who offered to help.

"He helps with the phone banks ... comes in when he's got spare time," Moylan said. "He was affected by the floods and came in to volunteer. We put him to work, that's all. We got all local volunteers from the community that are pitching in."

Pope could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Paluch, who worked on Daley's 1995 campaign, is an independent contractor for Oak Park firm Critical Strategies, hired by Moylan to produce his campaign literature. Moylan is paying the firm roughly $15,000 of his overall $50,000 budget for the race, which is being financed largely by construction, labor union and business interests.

"We formulate the message and then have them print it," Moylan said."It has nothing to do with the Daley administration or any of that. Daley has nothing to do with our campaign."

Moylan's longtime friend and campaign manager Rudy Pamintuan of Sherman Consulting, who also ran Moylan's aldermanic campaign, hired Critical Strategies from among a dozen firms because of its previous work in suburban elections, Pamintuan said.

Paluch said she last worked for Daley in 1995 after which she moved to the suburbs and started doing marketing and communications work for political campaigns, including ones in mayoral campaigns in Forest Park and Rolling Meadows.

"I have no connection with the Daley campaign," Paluch said. "I don't even know why Daley would be playing in Des Plaines. It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

As for Chicago's $15 billion plan to expand O'Hare airport, Moylan said there's nothing the next Des Plaines mayor can do to stop it.

"I'm for protecting our residents and making sure that we have proper air quality and noise monitors in place, and we restrict the number of air flights that are currently on the new northern runway," Moylan said.

He said he's never been approached by any Chicago operatives on the O'Hare expansion issue.

Des Plaines mayoral contender Michael Lake, 61, agrees the O'Hare expansion is a done deal and said the purported Daley link to Moylan is a stretch at best.

"It's stirring a pot that doesn't exist, trying to cause ripples and problems in a political system," he said. "It just doesn't make any sense."

It's not the first time allegations have surfaced about Daley trying to infiltrate and influence suburban mayoral elections. In the 2005 Bensenville mayoral race, incumbent Mayor John Geils sought to prove a link between Daley and Geils' then-challenger John Wassinger through his campaign consultant, Pope.

Bensenville has long fought airport expansion, which would bulldoze 611 homes.

And Des Plaines mayoral candidates Mark Thompson and Dick Sayad say they are not convinced by Moylan's explanation.

"We've known from past history that Mayor Daley has tried to intercede in the municipal elections in the cities surrounding O'Hare," said Thompson, 53, an attorney. "It's just a little curious that all these people who have worked for Daley are involved here."

Sayad, 65, a local businessman, said the possible Daley connection is worrisome, but he's more concerned about Moylan's union backing.