Investing the pension funds of city departments, in this case Chicago PD, into a realty company owned by Mayor Daley’s nephew sounds really fishy. How the heck does this guy last as mayor with all the shady deals–Meigs Field, Ohare Expansion, and this, among others…. Like the old adage says, “It is good to be king.”
Officers also blasted fund officials for not complying with a subpoena from Chicago’s inspector general
By Dan Mihalopoulos | Tribune reporter
April 30, 2009
Dozens of Chicago police officers jammed their pension fund’s board meeting Wednesday to question an investment deal for a real estate firm involving a nephew of Mayor Richard Daley.
The officers blasted fund administrators for declining to comply with a subpoena from the city’s inspector general, David Hoffman. In March, the Tribune reported that Hoffman is investigating public employee pension fund dealings with DV Urban Realty, which includes mayoral nephew Robert Vanecko.
David Kugler, the police fund’s attorney, said officials would not provide Hoffman with recordings of closed board sessions where the deal was discussed.
Among the officers who spoke at the meeting was Mike Mette, who was freed from an Iowa prison last year when the courts reversed his conviction for punching a man. The board’s refusal to cooperate with Hoffman “makes a lot of us feel something is being hidden,” Mette said.
The police board voted 7-1 in April 2006 to invest $15 million in DV Urban, part of a $68 million infusion in the firm from local government pension funds.
“This isn’t the friends and family program of the mayor,” said Trustee Mike Shields, who was elected to the board since the investment was made and was the only member who voted to comply with the subpoena.
Pension fund director John Gallagher said the board had not known that Vanecko was Daley’s nephew and might not have approved the deal otherwise.
“There is a segment of police that does not like Daley or anything that has to do with him,” Gallagher said.