Chicago congressman's campaign loan under scrutiny
Rep. Luis Gutierrez did not break any laws when he did not disclose a $200,000 loan from a campaign donor he and his wife used to buy a lot in Chicago, according to his office.
Members of Congress are required to report liabilities over $10,000. But the eight-term Chicago Democrat is not required to report the liabilities of a business in which he has "an interest," his office said Wednesday, citing the Web site of the House Standards of Official Conduct.
Gutierrez got the loan from the Fulton Corridor Land LLC in 2004 under a limited liability corporation, Avocado LLC, that he managed, his staff told The Associated Press. Gutierrez repaid the money within 58 days.
The Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday that Gutierrez lobbied Chicago Mayor Richard Daley to back a development pushed by Calvin Boender, who loaned the $200,000 so Gutierrez and his wife could buy a lot he owned.
Gutierrez is under federal "scrutiny" as part of an investigation into how developers may have used improper influence to get city approval of the questionable development of a West Side industrial site into a residential and commercial zone, according to the newspaper.
The Tribune did not name its sources, but said a grand jury obtained a July 7, 2004, letter written on House stationery to Daley from Gutierrez as part of the investigation. It also said authorities subpoenaed records related to Boender's project.
Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago, declined to comment.
Boender did not immediately respond to a telephone message.
Gutierrez said in a statement Wednesday that no evidence exists investigators are interested in his letter.
Any suggestion that his conduct was inappropriate was not supported by facts, he said. And he described his involvement in the development as "minimal and that it was fully disclosed and transparent."
Gutierrez's office later said Boender never received any favorable treatment and no conflict existed.
Gutierrez sent the letter after he said a city planner told Daley that Boender was a "bad guy of sorts," something the congressman said he could refute.
"I would ask for any support that you can give him at this time," Gutierrez wrote.
Boender and the city eventually reached a compromise, allowing for a 14-screen movie theater and a residential development.
Boender and his wife, Marla, contributed to Gutierrez's federal campaign fund and a state and local fund the former Chicago alderman also maintains.
Boender gave the federal fund a total of $4,000 in four separate contributions since his first donation in 1997, according to Federal Election Commission records. His wife gave $5,000 to the same fund between 1997 and 2001.
Boender contributed $10,000 to the state fund in 2001 and his company, Elmhurst-based North Development Ltd., gave $2,500 in 2002, according to Illinois State Board of Elections.
In his disclosure for 2004, Gutierrez said that the lot, bought in early 2004, was valued in the range of $250,001 to $500,000 at year's end. In 2005 he put the year-end value at between $500,001 and $1 million. For December 2006 he registered a loss of $2,693 after selling the lot for $690,000.