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According to an ongoing investigation by the Tribune, 12th Ward Alderman George Cardenas has been using tax dollars to rent office space for his ward office from a company his family owns. The Tribune's investigation into how city aldermen are using their city expense accounts shows that Cardenas spent $17,120 in 2008 to rent his office, which is in a building owned by himself and some relatives. He told the Tribune he didn't see any problem with that, but then backed down when pressed. "There's no reason to be [in the company] if it's going to cause me headaches," he said. "I do everything aboveboard."
Cardenas told the Tribune that he was seeking an opinion from the city's Ethic Board on the matter, and that if they rule he can't rent from family members, he'll move his ward office out of the building. A spokesperson for Chicago's Law Department said that city attorneys were researching the issue.
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And my alderman (the former gov-in-law Richard Mell) drives around in a taxpayer paid for, foreign made, luxury SUV to events where he rambles on about his concern for the little guy and how he is concerned about how city budget problems will effect Chicago's citizens. I hope there are a bunch of unemployed alderman come 2011.
There is nothing wrong with him renting an office from himself. As long as he is paying himself actual market value. He needs an office. He needs rent from his building. He is going to rent one with city dollars anyway. Most of the time if you own the building that your business is in, the building is owned personally and leased to the business. It is a standard business practice. There could be rampant misuse of city funds, but this isn't one of them. Unless, as I stated earlier, he is paying himself a premium amount of rent.
Due to past corruption there is a specific city council rule that aldermanic discretion funds are not to be used to rent space in a building owned by the alderman. While Cardenes is not renting solely from himself he has a financial stake in the leasing agent.
dude, nobody has a problem with a company renting from themselves. That's their money, which is derived from their sales/profit.
Taking taxpayer money, however, is a different ball of wax. He used taxpayer money to rent in a building he owns, which means he is taking taxpayer money and putting it in his (and his family's) bank accounts. To suggest this is OK is ridiculous. Or maybe Chicago politics has jaded you to such a degree that you can't see corruption when it is staring you in the face.
I am certainly not jaded by Chicago politics. Like I said in my post, if he is paying himself a fair market value instead of paying someone else the same rent it is not an issue. For me the only issue is whether or not he was over paying himself.
What would you say if fair market value for the space was $25,000.00 per year and he leased it to himself at a discount to save the tax payers some money? Would you be singing a different tune.
I don't think I would, though. It's not about some kind of relativism to me.
Taking public money from the taxpayers and giving it to yourself and your family members, to me, is theft. Or at least a gross display of conflict of interest.
not to mention the fact that, if I owned a building, I wouldn't charge myself rent to use a part of it.