Fran Spielman on Daley's Family Frackus

By Kevin Robinson in News on Jun 17, 2009 7:00PM

The political embarrassment of Mayor Daley has been brewing publicly for a few months now (not counting the earlier charges that his son and nephew had hidden ownership stakes in a company that did millions of dollars of business in contracts to clean city sewers). To wit, Daley's nephew, Robert Vanecko, has been at the center of an investigation by city Inspector General David Hoffman, and now federal prosecutors, over a real estate investment firm he ran with Daley fundraiser Allison Davis, DV Urban Realty. That company, which bought up South side properties which eventually lost money in the hosuing meltdown last year, was financed with nearly $70 million in city pension funds.

Daley has been largely mum about the scandal, saying that he's alright with the ongoing investigation, while denying knowledge of the alleged crimes. The Sun-Times's City Hall reporter, Fran Spielman, though, has a different take on the matter:

Mayor Daley wants Chicagoans to believe he knew nothing about his nephew's risky real estate venture with $68 million worth of city employee pension funds until the Chicago Sun-Times blew the whistle nearly two years ago. ... Daley reads from the same script after every scandal -- whether it's Hired Truck, city hiring, minority contracting, Patrick Daley's sewer deal or the $1.25 million bailout loan from perennial city trucking contractor Michael Tadin that triggered the resignation of Ald. Patrick Huels (11th). Daley condemns the wrongdoing, denies he knew about it and cuts the offender off at the knees. The script is getting old.

Where this scandal will lead, and whether it will end with an indictment remains to be seen. But Spielman has been around City Hall too long to think that the mayor's hands are clean in the deal.