Daley, Vanecko Retain Counsel

By Kevin Robinson in News on Mar 30, 2009 2:40PM

If Al Sanchez's conviction for steering undeserving patronage workers into city jobs over a decade ago indicates anything about the nature of due process in this country, it's that the gears of justice turn slowly. That's why news that Mayor Daley's Patrick, and his nephew Robert Vanecko have hired a defense attorney shouldn't come as a surprise. You may remember Vanecko, whom the city Inspector General is investigating for his involvement in the management of millions of dollars of city pension funds. But Vanecko doesn't need an attorney for that investigation. At least not yet.

Young Daley and Vanecko have retained former federal prosecutor Charles Sklarsky with Jenner & Block, to represent them in the ongoing investigation of their role in a company that held millions of dollars in no-bid sewer cleaning contracts with the city. Their hidden involvement with Municipal Sewer Services first came to light in 2007 after (yet another) Sun-Times investigation into city corruption. That investigation led city and federal investigators to begin taking a harder look at the contracts. Patrick enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2004 shortly after he cashed out his investment with MSS. But Vanecko has recently come back into the investigative spotlight because of his partnership with Allison Davis in DV Urban Reality, a real estate investment fund that is using city pension money to develop properties on the South side of the city. Both Davis and Vanecko say that they want to use the funds they are "managing" to develop real estate in "neglected" city neighborhoods, including Washington Park, which will be the focal point of the Olympics of Chicago wins the 2016 bid.

Of the five pension funds that city IG David Hoffman has subpoenaed, two are resisting handing over records related to the investments, claiming that Hoffman lacks the authority. Regardless, the gears of justice in these cases may not turn quickly enough to stop the city from using its pension funds to "redevelop" such "neglected" neighborhoods as Washington Park. The International Olympic Committee arrives in Chicago this week to evaluate the city's bid, and is expected to announce its decision in October.