Chicago City Hall Drowning in Corruption, Daley's Water Dept Boss latest to be plugged by Feds
Friday, October 22, 2004
By The Leader-Chicago Bureau, Illinoisleader.com

The Hired Truck Scandal ensnared yet another lieutenant of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley with the arrest of former Water Department honcho Donald Tomczak. How many in the Daley administration earn a "vacation" to "Club Fed" remains to be seen.

CHICAGO - The City of Chicago Hired Truck scandal got one step closer to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley today.

One the biggest guns in the 11th Ward the home turf of the Daley clan for two generations, was the sixth man to be arrested.

Donald Tomczak, former first deputy commissioner of Chicago's Water Management Department, was arrested today on charges of mail fraud and bribery charges stemming from the ongoing public corruption investigation of the city's Hired Truck Program.

Two weeks ago, Tomczak, 69, was identified only as retired "Official A" in the complaint against Gerald Wesolowski, who was arrested along with John "Quarters" Boyle.

Weslowski was accused as acting "as a bagman for an unnamed Chicago Water Department employee, collecting bribes and gifts, along with campaign contributions for an unnamed alderman and a relative of his unnamed colleague," according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

The impact of this latest arrest may well extend beyond Chicago's city limits and into Will County where Tomczak's son, Jeff, serves as county states attorney.

It has been reported that Jeff Tomczak's campaign benefited to the tune of some $20,000 in campaign contributions from participants in the hired truck program schemes.

After this revelation came to light, Jeff Tomczak gave the alleged illicit campaign contributions to charity. Tomczak is in the middle of a heated re-election fight with former Democrat Will County States Attorney Jim Glasglow.

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald was asked about the timing of this arrest given its possible political implications. "I don't live in Will County. The office doesn't care who wins in Will County," Fitzgerald answered. "We don't rush things before an election or delay things after the election."

The U.S. Attorney said if he had waited until after the election that reporters would be asking why he had delayed. "Then people would have accused us of trying to influence the election."

Fitzgerald said he personally had made the decision to bring in Tomczak now because "he was going around telling people to be quiet. If people are going around obstructing justice, we are going to act now."

He said the conversation to which he referred had been tape recorded.

State's Attorney Tomczak issued a statement saying that he would stand behind his father, who now lives in Crest Hill (Will County).

Two weeks,ago the FBI raided the Will County Land Development Office in Joliet, carting off copies of computer disks and other records. Several employees were subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury. This followed the wholesale carting off of two years of land records in early September. It remains unclear whether or not there is any connection between the Tomczak arrest and these other federal law enforcement activities.

According to federal prosecutors, the hired truck scandal is about work being doled out under a no-bid protocol in return for payoffs and campaign contributions to unspecified political candidates.

The first to be arrested, shortly after the Chicago Sun-Times broke the story, was Angelo Torres, who headed up the program. Torres has been linked to the Daley-sponsored Hispanic Democratic Organization or HDO.

Joe Ways, speaking for the FBI, asked those knowing about public corruption to call 312-786-2699, the public corruption hotline. He said there were now 20 FBI agents investigating public corruption in the Chicago area, up from 16.

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