The Watchdogs Column from the Chicago Sun-Times

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Disabled Chicago paramedic is now a Cook County Forest Preserve cop

A paramedic who suffered a hand injury while trying to fix a stalled ambulance 32 years ago made a deal to leave the Chicago Fire Department and collect disability checks amounting to about three-quarters of what he’d been making — more than $425,000 so far. Despite his claim of permanent disability, Gregory J. Serratore eventually found another government job — as a police officer with the Cook County Forest Preserve District — after writing on his application that he was in “excellent” physical condition.
Taxpayers get legal tab for Assessor Joe Berrios’ ethics fight over nepotism

Cook County’s taxpayers are footing the bill for private legal counsel to represent Joe Berrios — the Cook County assessor, who is also chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party — in his fight against charges he is violating anti-nepotism rules by having his son and sister on the payroll, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show.
Koschman prosecutor Dan K. Webb’s bill so far: $255,213

The special prosecutor investigating the case of David Koschman — who died after being punched by a nephew of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley — has submitted his first bills, totaling $255,213.

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Convicted of vote fraud, head of Ald. Moreno’s political group sees his record wiped clean by Quinn

THE WATCHDOGS: Despite a conviction for committing vote fraud when he ran for office, Juan Elias now leads 1st Ward Ald. Joe Moreno’s new “independent Democratic political organization.” Elias was one of a group of convicted criminals who recently received pardons from Gov. Pat Quinn.

Payments to disabled cop suspended after Sun-Times reports

Chicago’s police pension board suspended the disability benefits Thursday of a police officer who, after going on disability because of an injury he said made it impossible for him to safely fire a handgun, has shot and killed several animals while on safari. The board took up the case as the result of a Chicago Sun-Times investigation.

Emanuel wants more medical exams for firefighters, paramedics on disability

Chicago firefighters and paramedics on disability leave would have to submit to more frequent medical check-ups to determine if they could go back to work under new rules proposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel Tuesday. Emanuel’s action comes two weeks after City Hall proposed a similar crackdown on police officers on disability.

Clemency gives Niles man another chance to seek office

Because of his criminal record, George Alpogianis was forced to step down just weeks after voters in Niles elected him to the village board there in 2009. But now he’s been granted clmency by Gov. Pat Quinn and plans to run again.

Emanuel bans Windy City Electric from doing city business

Windy City Electric Co., its owners and their politically connected husbands have been permanently banned from working for City Hall for orchestrating a fraud scheme that landed them millions of dollars in city contracts set aside for companies owned by women and minorities, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration has announced.

Graffiti removal slower in Chicago after budget cuts

When it comes to removing graffiti, Mayor Richard M. Daley was quicker on the draw than Mayor Rahm Emanuel. City Hall’s budget cuts have hit the graffiti-removal program, eliminating nearly a third of the workers who scoured Chicago to clean public and private property spray painted by gangbangers and taggers marking their turf. And business owners have taken notice.

Cook County official had his half-brother on agency’s payroll

Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Larry Rogers Jr., a self-proclaimed reformer, until recently had employed his half-brother for years at the agency that rules on property-tax appeals, records show.

THE WATCHDOGS: Ex-judge wants more from CHA settlement in 3-year-old’s death

THE WATCHDOGS : It’s been four years since an iron gate fell at a Chicago Housing Authority project, crushing 3-year-old Curtis Cooper as he pedaled his tricycle. His mother has settled her wrongful-death suit with the CHA and Urban Property Advisors. But the Illinois lawmaker and the former Cook County judge who initially handled the case are still fighting for a bigger slice of the hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, after being rejected by a judge who questioned their billings.

Does grand jury have David Koschman surveillance video?

THE WATCHDOGS: No surveillance video has ever surfaced from the spring night in 2004 when a nephew of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley threw the punch that led to David Koschman’s death, but now a grand jury led by Special Prosecutor Dan K. Webb has subpoenaed Rush Street-area bars including Mother’s, Butch McGuire’s and The Lodge looking for video.

City Hall’s outside lawyers’ conduct questioned by judges

They worked together for just over a year in the mid-1990s as attorneys at the Chicago law firm headed by Philip Rock, the former Illinois Senate president. But Mara S. Georges didn’t forget her former colleague Andrew M. Hale after leaving in 1997 to become …Read More

THE WATCHDOGS: Another ‘Hollywood’ grant under scrutiny by feds

THE WATCHDOGS: Another state grant sponsored by former state Sen. Rickey “Hollywood” Hendon has come under scrutiny by federal authorities.

Chicago Fire Department tab for disability payments: $27 million

There are even more Chicago Fire Department personnel on disability leave than police officers, though the fire department has fewer than half the number of employees the police department has. That’s the latest finding of a Chicago Sun-Times investigation into police and fire disability. Among the 390 firefighters and paramedics on disability is Patrick J. Kehoe, a former district chief who gets $91,113 a year tax-free — and who did a campaign commerical for Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Rahm Emanuel: ‘Cheap trick’ to cite his ties to fire chief on disability

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday he isn’t embarrassed by the revelation that a former Chicago firefighter who starred in an Emanuel campaign commercial is collecting $91,113 a year in tax-free disability pay.

10 days in the police academy, 14 years on disability

A SUN-TIMES INVESTIGATION: Two Chicago police officers are collecting disability because of injuries sustained while still in the police academy, even though both were deemed fit for light-duty jobs with the Chicago Police Department. Both are working other jobs while on disability.

1 family, 3 Chicago cops on disability

One family. Three police officers on disability. And one rogue cop.

Lifetime pay for paramedic trainee hurt in academy

Pension officials rejected Barbara S. Lawson’s claim that she was hurt on the job and deserved lifetime disability payments for a leg injury suffered while she was in the Chicago Fire Department academy. They said the 40-year-old paramedic trainee had “an ongoing degenerative condition.” But she sued and won disability benefits.