Giglio & Del Galdo getting rich in Cicero

Giglio & Del Galdo are in the news for the law firms exorbitant bills in the village of Cicero. See Sun-Times (Leonard N. Fleming, Carol Marin and Don Moseley). h/t to a Proviso Probe contributor for bringing the Sun-Times article to my attention.

Giglio & Del Galdo is the law firm that has given extensively to political committees controlled by Melrose Park Village President Ron Serpico.

The firm has also been expanding its clients in Proviso Township. Mayor Anthony Calderone attempted to bring the firm to Forest Park to condemn residents homes to turn them into parking lots.

Also, Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) dumped Odelson & Sterk in favor of Giglio & Del Galdo.

Law firms serve as money laundering operations in local politics. The law firms run-up big bills. The politicians don't challenge the bills. The politicians don't object to the bills because they know they will derive some benefit from the money down the road. The politicians are "banking favors".

The system is very because legal work is not required to be bid out. And the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission doesn't see this behavior as violating the rules against attorneys mixing their financial interests with their clients.

Allegations of this kind of corruption are hard to investigate because the conspirators can claim attorney-client privilege, as the Village of Cicero has done in the Sun-Times article.

District 209 cans Stan Fields, hires Robert Libka

At tonight’s special board meeting the District 209 (Proviso Township High Schools) board of education voted to place Superintendent Stan Fields on paid administrative leave pending a termination hearing.

Former CEO Robert Libka was offered a 60-day contract as the interim superintendent.

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Four board members voted affirmatively for these moves: Brian Cross, Robin Foreman, Reatha “Sue” Henry and Emanuel Chris Welch. Dan Adams was absent. Robert Cox voted against both moves. Theresa Kelly voted “present” on the issue of removing Fields and opposed hiring Libka.

The meeting had to pause when the move to hire Libka was announced. The audience was laughing loudly enough to disrupt the meeting.

The board took some other actions.

The contract with Glenn Gerard to consult on the Proviso foundation was terminated. And the group that had been working with Gerard was disbanded. As I understood the meeting the foundation will still be created, but it will be done in-house. Gerard was brought to the district by Fields.

The student codes of conduct were approved 6-0.

Kelly raised the issue of Fields being paid a bonus. When she asked the rest of the board if Fields had been paid a bonus no one would respond. Also, after the meeting Kelly reminded people that board member Charles Flowers had pushed for a review of Fields’ performance while he was on the board. Kelly made it sound like Welch resisted the performance review.

Also, the police liaison agreement with the Village of Hillside was approved “as discussed in closed session”. Board president Emanuel Chris Welch who makes money billing school districts for legal work used this language twice. This discussion should have happened in open session. When I questioned the lawyer from Giglio & Del Galdo about why this was handled in closed session he said it was a personnel matter.

The Open Meetings Act provides for discussing personnel matters in closed session because of the issues about privacy and candidly discussing performance. Renewing a contract with a police department doesn’t fall in this category. If one applied the Giglio & Del Galdo analysis any contract where the services were ultimately provided by people would be a personnel matter to be discussed in closed session. Construction would be discussed in closed session because personnel would be used by the contractor to do the construction.

I also think canning the superintendent was a violation of the Open Meetings Act. I think removing a superintendent needs to be specifically publicized in the agenda. The heading of “Personnel Matters” seems too vague.

Feel free to discuss the back story in the comments.

[UPDATE Tuesday, 8:56 AM: Getting lots of traffic this morning.

[What do you think of Fields getting canned? Bringing back Libka? How should the community react? What should other public officials do to make District 209 a properly functioning school district?]

[UPDATE2: Forest Park Review (Josh Adams) has a good summary. The board members for terminating Fields declined to give reasons. But the attorney told Adams it wasn't because of the federal subpoenas. There's more to the article. Good read it.]

[UPDATE3: Chuck Fieldman seemed to think the earliest Proviso Herald would cover the story is Wednesday, eight days from now. But he was wrong. See Proviso Herald (Chuck Fieldman)

Cox said he had been advised to "not comment on the logic of the Board's decision to remove Fields as superintendent." He added that he wants his "no vote" to speak for his view of whether Fields should have been placed on leave, pending a termination hearing.

[Bob, Bob, Bob, feel free to consider the possibility that the people giving you advice are giving advice designed to serve their interests, not you, the board, the taxpayers or the students.]

[UPDATE4: I talked to Cox this morning (August 6) and he voted against putting Fields on administrative leave and for hiring Libka.]

Mike Del Galdo: the DOJ is curious about you

I occasionally check the Site Meter application at the bottom of Proviso Probe.

I saw a visitor from usdoj.gov. So I checked the details.

Apparently, somebody at DOJ did a Google search on Mike Del Galdo at 2:20 PM today. [UPDATE: It was 1:57 PM when the person at DOJ searched "Mike Del Galdo". Later someone searched "vito scavo navistar", although the outclick was to Proviso Insider. The link to that Proviso Insider blog entry is in this entry that talks about the lawyers coaching Melrose Park cops to lie to the feds. Proviso Insider floated the allegation that Mark Sterk coached Ric Cervone to lie. I suggested if the cops were coached by lawyers it was more likely Anthony Onesti or someone from Giglio & Del Galdo.]

One of the questions I've heard asked is about Giglio & Del Galdo representing the wife of Cicero Village President Larry Dominick in her child custody dispute. Inquiring minds want to know. Is Giglio & Del Galdo billing Dominick and his wife for this legal work? Or is it a freebie to a good customer?

See Sun-Times (Leonard N. Fleming) and Chicago Tribune (Sara Olkon). Austin Zimmer gets his number called in the Trib article. Zimmer is the Forest Park resident who got pissy with then Commissioner Patrick Doolin when Doolin opposed giving Giglio & Del Galdo legal work in Forest Park.

did a lawyer assist Cervone in obstructing justice?

I usually resist the temptation to debunk each story on Proviso Insider. My brother analyzed Proviso Insider as being “entertainment”, a sort of parallel universe created by the author(s). It is based on “what ifs” and wishful thinking.

But the spin on the Melrose Park PD indictments is interesting. See Proviso Insider.

Sources tell the Insider that one of the current police officers indicted is G. Ric Cervone, a board member in School District 89. Sources say Ric Cervone was probably indicted because he takes advice from Mark Sterk of Odelson & Sterk. Sources say both Mark Sterk and Burt Odelson are also about to be indicted.

Or Proviso Insider:

Sources tell the Insider that Burt Odelson and Mark Sterk of Odelson & Sterk, Ltd law firm will be indicted next by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. Sources tell the Insider that Mark Sterk was the attorney advising SD89 Board member Ric Cervone on how to lie to a grand jury. Sources also say Sterk was passing on fees for helping Cervone to Maywood SD89.

Proviso Insider says one of the Melrose Park police officers was coached to lie to the grand jury. This is not an exceptional insight. I heard this rumor when the cops were testifying and the indictment includes multiple obstruction of justice charges.

Proviso Insider claims that an attorney coached Ric Cervone to lie to the grand jury. The indictment doesn't name any attorneys, but it doesn't seem impossible that the attorneys played a role in helping Cervone and others to create a plausible defense.

Proviso Insider names Mark Sterk as the attorney who coached Cervone to lie. This part makes less sense. Proviso Insider claims Sterk helped Cervone because of their relationship at District 89 (Maywood and Melrose Park elementary schools). Cervone was on the board and Sterk was the board's attorney.

Why would Cervone turn to the school district attorney for help? He had a lawyer paid for by the Village of Melrose Park to work on this case.

If a lawyer coached Cervone to lie, it seems more likely it was either the attorney hired by Melrose Park to work on the case, Anthony Onesti, or, possibly, the village's general counsel Giglio & Del Galdo. Giglio & Del Galdo are large political contributors to Melrose Park village president Ron Serpico.

From the indictment:

COUNT TWO
38.It was further part of the scheme that on or about September 21, 2005, after learning of the existence of the federal criminal investigation, including the Grand Jury Investigation, defendant CERVONE met at the Police Department with Day Shift Officer 1 and Officer A and provided them with false information about their accumulated time due and how they had earned it, well knowing that time due was being investigated by the Grand Jury and with the intent that Day Shift Officer 1 and Officer A would present the false information to the grand jury and federal agents.
39.It was further part of the scheme that on or about September 21, 2005, after the meeting described in paragraph 38 above, and after learning of the existence of the federal criminal investigation, in the Grand Jury Investigation, defendant CERVONE again met with Officer A at CERVONE's home in Melrose Park, during which CERVONE directed Officer A to lie to federal agents and the grand jury about how Officer A earned his time due so as not to implicate CERVONE and defendant SCAVO.

COUNT TEN
2.On or about December 26, 2003, in the Northern District of Illinois, and elsewhere, VITO R. SCAVO and GUY RIC CERVONE, defendants herein, for the purpose of executing and attempting to execute the above-described scheme, knowingly did cause to be transmitted by means of wire communication in interstate commerce a writing, sign, and signal, in that defendants SCAVO and CERVONE caused a wire transfer, of which $2,149.21 represented Officer A's salary for the par period ending December 31, 2003, from Melrose Park's bank account at Banco Popular in Melrose Park to an ADP bank account through the Federal Reserve's facility in New Jersey;
In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343, 1346, and 2.

COUNT ELEVEN reads like COUNT TEN except the date is August 17, 2005.

COUNT NINETEEN
2.On or about September 21, 2005, at Melrose Park, in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, GUY RIC CERVONE, defendant herein, corruptly endeavored to influence, obstruct, and imped, and to influence, obstruct, and impede the due administration of justice, namely:
a. CERVONE provided Day Shift Officer 1 and Officer A with false information about their time due and how they accumulated it, well knowing that time due was being investigated by the grand jury and with the intent that Day Shift Officer 1 and Officer A would present the false information to the grand jury and federal agents; and
b. CERVONE directed Officer A to lie to federal agents and the grand jury about how Officer A earned time due so as not to implicate defendant CERVONE and Scavo;
In violationof Title 18, United States Code, Section, 1503.

Let's assume Cervone was going to work with a lawyer to concoct a story to protect himself or the enterprise from federal agents or the grand jury detecting the illegal acts. Which lawyer does it make the most sense for Cervone to engage? Or turn the question around. Which lawyer has a motive to approach Cervone about lying to the feds?
a. Mark Sterk
b. Anthony Onesti
c.Giglio or Del Galdo

Onesti and probably Giglio & Del Galdo already knew the facts of the case. If the feds brought down the enterprise Sterk wouldn't lose anything. He'd still have the same legal accounts. However, if bringing down the enterprise resulted in Ron Serpico losing his position as village president Giglio & Del Galdo would lose many of their most lucrative legal clients. Onesti got tapped for the MPPD contract because of his close relationship with Giglio & Del Galdo.

If Cervone worked with a lawyer on concocting a cover story it seems much more likely it was either Onesti or one of the lawyers at Giglio & Del Galdo.

What did Mike Del Galdo tell me at the special meeting of the District 209 board of education, “If you want to get treated like a professional you have to act like a professional.” Wouldn't it be ironic if unprofessional behavior got Del Galdo convicted? Hey, Mike, there's more to being professional than wearing a suit and sucking up to those in power.

BTW, props to Shamus Toomey for this lead, Sun-Times (Shamus Toomey):

The feds Thursday called it "an illegal racketeering enterprise."

In Melrose Park, it was known as the police department.

the big news?

[UPDATE: Cook County Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore was neither arrested nor indicted today. He was served with a subpoena for information connected with his insurance brokerage business.

[There are two main areas it would make sense for investigators are scrutinizing: Proviso Township High Schools (see Forest Park Review (Josh Adams)) and the Maywood Police Pension fund. Last I check EMM, Moore's front company, is not properly registered as a business in Illinois, but this seems too small an issue for a subpoena.]

I have been told be two sources who have talked with members of the State's Attorney's office that Eugene Moore will be arrested or indicted today for misconduct connected to Proviso Township High Schools (District 209).

I've also been told (yesterday) be a source that, “If it was going to happen tomorrow I think I would have heard about it.”

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Burt Odelson of Odelson & Sterk is closely linked to County Board President Todd Stroger. District 209 fired Odelson & Sterk in May, 2007. Subsequently the president of the D209 board of education, Emanuel Chris Welch, was let go by his former law firm, James J. Roche & Associates. Roche & Associates and Odelson & Sterk feed each other business.

It may be that personal issues caused the friction between Welch and Odelson. But it's also easy to paint a scenario where the grand jury testimony made it clear that the noose was tighening for some people connected to District 209.

Maybe Welch asked Odelson to make some phone calls to the State's Attorney to take the pressue off. Odelson could have told Welch, I can't help you.

Maybe Odelson saw the D209 house of cards was about to come crashing down. And Odelson encouraged Welch to fire his firm to minimize the damage and involvement of Odelson & Sterk.

Also, last night District 209 cut its relationship with Anthony Scariano's law firm. Scariano may be politically connected, but his firm is actually respected within the field of school law. Most of the law firms that get used in Proviso politics have minimal expertise beyond cashing checks and making political contributions.

One theory holds that both Melrose Park village president Ron Serpico and perhaps others are trying to bank favors with Giglio & Del Galdo in preparation for criminal litigation.

Cutting the relationship with Scariano's firm would be consistent with giving Giglio & Del Galdo more hours.

FPR coverage of D209 switching law firms

Forest Park Review (Josh Adams) wrote about Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) terminating Odelson & Sterk as the district's law firm and hiring Giglio & Del Galdo.

Odelson & Sterk is a politically connected law firm that is most closely associated with President of Cook County Board Todd Stroger, at this point. Odelson & Sterk also seems to have synergy with James J. Roche & Associates. Roche is (or was) the law firm of Emanuel "Chris" Welch.

Giglio & Del Galdo is a politically connected law frim tha tis most closely associated with Melrose Park Village President Ron Serpico, at this point. When Giglio & Del Galdo tried to get the District 209 business in the past, Burt Odelson made an issue of the firms questionable activities in Cicero.

The vote to hire Giglio & Del Galdo was... out of the ordinary. The vote initially failed three yeahs (Adams, Cox and Welch) to three nos (Flowers, Foreman and Kelly) and one abstention (Henry).

After moving on to other business and without holding any further public discussion on the issue, Welch announced that Henry and another board member had changed their vote, thus awarding the district's business to Giglio and Del Galdo.

I'm not a lawyer (IANAL), but that seems like it just ain't right. If board members can change their votes after the fact, couldn't public meetings go through the whole agenda without taking any votes and then have board members submit paper ballots with "yes" or "no" checked next to each motion?

Robert Cox, a newly elected board member from Forest Park, voted to bring in the new legal firm largely out of fiscal concerns, he said. Based on information provided by the superintendent, Cox said he understood that Odelson and Sterk was attempting to bilk the district out of money.

Bob Cox is a nice guy. I believe he means well, but... Just because Odelson & Sterk were billing more than the district wants to pay hardly proves that Giglio & Del Galdo will reduce the legal bills.

BTW, Cox was the treasurer for the Proviso First Party. I'm curious if Giglio & Del Galdo was a big contributor to Cox's election.

Also, you can read the Forest Park Review editorial.

I guess my comment on the editorial is that Forest Park Review probably should have spent more ink being concerned about the source of the Proviso First Party's campaign contributions before the election. Post-election hand wringing seems like closing the barn door after the cows have left.

In fairness to the Forest Park Review, the Citizens For Better Schools--the slate running against the Proviso First Party--didn't raise this issue very effectively as part of their campaign.

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GOV, District 209 changes law firms and insurance brokers [D209]

I missed tonight's District 209 (Proviso Township High Schools) board meeting.

Apparently the board fired Odelson & Sterk as the district's law firm. Giglio & Del Galdo has been hired to replace Odelson & Sterk. [UPDATE2: See this entry for Burt Odelson's critique of Giglio & Del Galdo.]

Odelson & Sterk is closely connected to Cook County Board President Todd Stroger. Cook County Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore is an ally of the Stroger family.

Giglio & Del Galdo are allied with Melrose Park Village President Ron Serpico.

So, Serpico has outfoxed or out-muscled Moore for the lucrative legal business of the district.

Also, Moore lost the insurance business for the district. Moore had been getting $18,000 per month through his business EMM & Associates for being the district's broker of record. See Forest Park Review (Josh Adams).

A rumor from a normally reliable source says board president Emanuel "Chris" Welch has been fired by his law firm James Roche & Associates. Roche & Associates and Odelson & Sterk share many of the same clients.

Anybody have any comments or insights about tonight's board meeting?

[UPDATE: I received information that says Odelson & Sterk was terminated, but Giglio & Del Galdo was not hired last night. I'm going to confirm what happened with Giglio & Del Galdo.]