Illinois Review

Whistlebower the target of explosion?

Daily Herald story may endanger whistle blower's safety

With the help of the Prospect Heights police, the Daily Herald may have placed a whistle blower into danger by reporting an August 25 explosion in a quiet Prospect Heights residential area was intended for another victim.

In a story that ran first last Friday afternoon in its online version followed by one in the DH's print edition on Saturday entitled "Cops:  Prospect Hts house bombed in case of mistaken identity," reporter Madhu Krishnamurthy said Prospect Heights' Police Commander Al Steffen speculated the August 25th explosion set off at a home in the 200 block of Gail Court South was likely intended for the home of "an area political activist."

"The intended target of the bomb 'was a whistle-blower in a political campaign,'" Steffen told the DH. "We were aware that there was an investigation going on involving that person."

(Our apologies for the first mistakenly published version of this story.  The corrected version was posted at 10:50 PM Sunday night.)

Froehlich resigns from Schaumburg Library board

Illinois Review has learned that Tuesday, the Schaumburg Township Library Board of Trustees received a September 2 letter of resignation from board Trustee Marilyn Froehlich.  The resignation is expected to be discussed at the board's September 21 month meeting.

The library board's minutes indicate Mrs. Froehlich has not attended a library board meeting since March, soon after Illinois Review and Fox News Chicago began airing stories about her husband, State Rep. Paul Froehlich (D-Schaumburg).  The four-term incumbent is facing public scrutiny over allegations that he may have accepted campaign donations from constituents in exchange for lower property tax assessments.

Fox News targets Berrios

Fox News Chicago has picked up on the Illinois Review story about the Joe and Toni Berrios activities. See post HERE. Below is the Fox News story that ran last night.

State contractors hire Madigan's law firm

The Sun-Times is reporting that over the past nine years, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan's law firm has made $171,000 by seeking property tax breaks for developers who get state financing to build low-income housing.

Records also show the firm of Madigan & Getzendanner helped another state contractor save about $300,000 in property taxes on the Atrium Mall and food court it operates inside the James R. Thompson Center, the state's main office building in Chicago.

More here.

Questions about campaign donations and Board of Review continue

In the 2008 primary, Democratic challenger Jay Paul Deratany raised questions about Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Joseph Berrios inappropriately receiving campaign contributions from attorneys who argued before him and the other two commissioners on the Cook County Board of Review. Berrios has recently been in Fox News Chicago's spotlight with similar questions involving State Rep. Paul Froehlich (D-Schaumburg) and local political operative Victor Santana.  

During the 2008 Democratic primary, a northwest suburban group held a forum in which no holds were barred and the audience raised questions about political favors and Board of Review tax assessment appeals. The Des Plaines Times wrote on January 30, 2008 how Democrat operative Thomas Jaconetty defended Commissioner Berrios' campaign donation sources:

"Anyone has a right to contribute to a campaign. They may be homeowners or business operators who feel they were fairly treated or that the system is efficient and effective. This is America," Jaconetty said.

Questions about Cook County assessment favoritism nothing new

Recent questions about the Cook County Board of Review's property assessment appeals process and possible links to campaign donations aren't new for Democrat State Rep. Paul Froehlich. The issue was front-and-center in the 2008 Democratic primary.

In a January 18, 2008 Chicago Sun-Times column, Neil Steinberg wrote about an inner party squabble among Democrats on Cook County's Board of Review. Board of Review Commissioner Joseph Berrios was challenged in the '08 Democratic primary by Democrat attorney Jay Paul Deratany, who was backed by Democrat Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan. Steinberg asked Deratany why Berrios should be defeated after nearly two decades of service. His answer:

"I'm disgusted with the fact that he gives tax breaks to certain people who appear before him. ...Lawyers who donate money to him, they seem to win huge breaks for huge corporations that don't need breaks. At the same time homeowners have had 300 and 400 percent increases over the past five years and that is going to push the fixed-income people, the middle-income people, the retirees, out of the city. I think this is sickening."

Friends of Froehlich -- the tax reductions are reversed

Remember Illinois Review's first "Friends of Froehlich" story questioning the comments State Rep. Paul Froehlich (D-Schaumburg) wrote at the bottom of a Board of Review appeal report? Comments that suggested a quid pro quo for intervening on behalf of the Schaumburg Comfort Suites' owner?

The Daily Herald reported Friday that Froehlich -- who they seem to have avoided writing about -- has ties to some Schaumburg area assessment appeals that the Board of Review has suddenly reversed. One is the Comfort Suites:

The assessment for Comfort Suites Schaumburg, at 1100 E. Higgins Road, owned by Bimal Doshi, which the board had lowered from approximately $1.3 million for 2007 to $839,000 for last year, was increased to nearly $1.1 million.

Friends of Froehlich -- the net widens

Connect the dots - R. Tamara de Silva, Paul Froehlich, Victor Santana, Joe Berrios, Cook County judge William Taylor. Watch Fox News Chicago's latest investigative report: (click to start)

Friends of Froehlich: Another chapter in the Board of Review saga

Fox Chicago News is running teasers about another segment by Dane Placko about the Cook County Board of Review's tax appeal process, and its internal investigation into Democrat State Rep. Paul Froehlich's 96 percent success rate with constituent appeals. It will include the Democratic operative Victor Santana and an attorney whose identity they'll reveal tonight.

Stay tuned...Illinois Review will stay on this story.