KLEPT, Daily Southtown gigs Hastings [D209]

Daily Southtown has been digging dirt on Kyle Hastings for awhile. Hastings is mayor of Orland Hills and director of auxiliary programs for Proviso Township High Schools. One of Hastings major responsibilities as director of auxiliary programs is summer school. He went on vacation during summer school last year. See Forest Park Review.

Daily Southtown's editorial describes how Hastings received consulting fees without being under a written contract. This should not be legal.

Eugene Moore used to play this game (1997) with Proviso Township. Moore would receive payments for "consulting" on senior services without providing any work product or being under a written contract.

If this practice is legal then there's no limit to what the politically connected can pay each other for "consulting". We need a legislative fix.

And BTW, if State's Attorney Dick Devine is really pissed at Cook County Board President Todd Stroger he could show he means business by prosecuting some Stroger pals for corruption and ghost pay rolling. Dick, if you're not willing to do anything about it, you're just performing for the cameras.

KLEPT, Hastings logrolls for consultant fees [D209]

Daily Southtown (Isaac Wolf)

Orland Hills Mayor Kyle Hastings has received almost $50,000 in consulting fees from South Suburban College, where village administrator John Daly serves as vice chairman of the board of trustees.

From 2000 to 2003 Hastings earned $1,250 per month to review the college's safety procedures and collected another $2,304 for teaching two classes. In total he received $46,679 from South Suburban College, financial documents reveal. All the while, he held down a full-time job as a "business liaison" with the Illinois secretary of state's office.

Do you get the impression the Daily Southtown reporters and editors think Hastings is crooked? It probably antagonized Daily Southtown people and inspire them to dig more aggressive when the Orland Park attorney, Mark Sterk, accused the Southtown of not being credible.

Kyle Hastings is director of auxiliary programs at Proviso Township High Schools.

PO-PO, Daily Southtown exposes police chief as liar [D209]

Kyle Hastings draws a six figure salary from Proviso Township High Schools, District 209 as director of auxiliary programs. He's also the mayor of Orland Hills.

The Orland Hills police chief was recently deposed about a bar, Fire and Ice. The chief claimed ignorance of things he told the Daily Southtown about in an interview. See Daily Southtown (Lauren FitzPatrick). The paper pretty much called the chief of police a liar.

What law firm is representing Orland Hills in this litigation? Odelson & Sterk, District 209's law firm.

Mark Sterk had a good quote.

Orland Hills attorney Mark Sterk, who represents Laveck in this case, said that the Southtown article doesn't prove anything.

"I don't believe anything I read in the paper unless it's a line score from a sporting event," Sterk said.

Sterk can attack the credibility of newspapers, but I think most people trust the newspapers more than they trust lawyers, especially from law firms that double as political hacks.

Other Orland Hills officials, including Mayor Kyle Hastings and village administrator John Daly, did not return several calls to comment. The head of the Fire and Police Committee, Trustee Cal Million, declined to speak on the record....

Casper and the bars have settled. Attorneys continue to depose village officials and seek to question Hastings, as well.