Bruno, legal bills, Cicero, James Roche & Assoc.

I missed this Sun-Times (Steve Patterson) article dated August 12, 2005.

The new government is going after Bruno for legal expenses improperly billed to the village. One of the law firms that did the legal work was James Roche & Associates. That's the same law firm that signs Chris Welch's paycheck.

The town's lawsuit comes after bills were found to have been paid not only defending Bruno and Donahue in a civil rights lawsuit, but also in defamation suits the two filed in response to that lawsuit.

Jeffry Pesek claimed the two muscled him to gain control of his building at 6001 W. Roosevelt Rd. After Pesek declined to sell to the two, a car slammed into his building -- after which he was asked again. When he again declined to sell, he was denied town permits to repair his building, his lawsuit says.

Though Pesek says Bruno told him he wanted the building "for his personal interest," Lazarus said Bruno was acting on behalf of the town.

I wonder if these subpoenas have anything to do with the glorified FOIAs filed in Forest Park.

In general I'm suspicious of these municipal law firms that do a large amount of business with shady local gov't and make significant campaign contributions. My suspicion is that this is money laundering. Tax payer money is sent to law firms to pay padded bills. The law firms then send the money back to the chosen politicians.