The day after federal prosecutors said Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown received what they described as bribe money from an employee, Brown was collecting money in a different way – by selling political advice for nearly $200 a head.

Brown, who was elected last year to her fifth term as clerk despite a federal grand jury investigation of the hiring and promotion practices within her office, hosted a training seminar on a Saturday last month for people interested in running for public office.

For $175 a ticket, plus $19.95 for an optional handbook, the day-long event promised “instruction on every aspect of being a candidate as a whole,” according to a flyer for the event.

“I realized that a lot of people want to run for public office but they don’t really know what to do,” Brown said during the program. “I’m about the business of not being selfish but giving back, and that’s what this is all about.”

As part of a Better Government Association and FOX 32 investigation, a BGA reporter paid the fees and attended the first half of the seminar, which took place in a hotel conference room in the Illinois Medical District on Chicago’s West Side.

Among the eight other participants, whose names the BGA obtained either from a sign-in sheet or when they introduced themselves to the others in the room: a Cook County judge, one of Brown’s neighbors and two individuals with apparent ties to Brown’s office – a man named Christopher Hodges and a woman named Zoe Neely.

A Christopher Hodges has worked in the clerk’s office since 2004 and is a manager making $56,000 a year, according to 2016 payroll records. A Facebook profile page that identifies Hodges as an employee of Brown’s office has a photo of the same man who attended the seminar. The Facebook page also states Hodges is a “servant” at Brown’s church, King of Glory Tabernacle Church of God in Christ, on Chicago’s South Side.

Neely is identified on LinkedIn as Zalita Zoe Neely. Her mother is Madina Neely, who has been employed in the clerk’s office since 2008 and has worked as Brown’s scheduler, according to sources. According to payroll records, Madina Neely was an office assistant in 2015 making $37,000 a year but last year made $63,000 as a manager.

None of them could be reached for comment. Brown’s spokeswoman Jalyne Strong declined to answer questions about their employment or on the seminar as a whole.

Instead, Strong said in an emailed statement the seminar was “not a part of the operations” of the clerk’s office and that she had “no information about it.” She added that “any attendees would have had to learn about it independent of the clerk’s office.”

Experts contacted by the BGA questioned whether it’s appropriate for the clerk to accept money from her employees. Even though the event was open to the public and outside work hours, the experts said Brown opened herself up to the criticism that employees could feel obligated to participate since she is their boss.

“You want to make sure protections are in place to make sure they don’t feel pressure to be part of anything they don’t want to,” said Sarah Brune, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. “It’s a delicate relationship when it’s boss to employee.” 

Sarah Brune

This isn’t the first time questions have been raised about Brown’s interactions with her employees.

The BGA and FOX 32 previously reported Brown had ties to the multi-level marketing company 5LINX and solicited her employees to join. The BGA and FOX 32 also found employees from the clerk’s office in 2015 circulated her re-election petitions. In 2010, the two media outlets uncovered a now-defunct fundraising practice in Brown’s office known as “Jeans Day” in which employees could wear jeans to work in exchange for cash that ultimately went unaccounted for.

What’s more, a federal grand jury had been investigating the hiring practices within the office.

On Feb. 17, the day before the seminar, the U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed Brown took a $15,000 loan — which prosecutors called a “bribe to obtain a job” — from a clerk’s office employee for a company called Goat Masters that’s owned by Brown and her husband, court records show. Vadim Glozman, an attorney at Edward M. Genson & Associates, the law firm representing Brown, said the money has been repaid, “definitely wasn’t a bribe” and had “nothing to do with getting any jobs.”

The clerk’s office employee, Sivasubramani Rajaram, was charged in 2015 with lying about the arrangement to a federal grand jury, which had been examining allegations of employees purchasing jobs and promotions in the clerk’s office.

Rajaram, who is no longer employed by the clerk’s office, was sentenced Monday to three years of probation. Neither Brown nor her husband has been accused of wrongdoing.

Despite the recent news coverage, which included front-page stories in both the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune on the day of her seminar, Brown made no mention of the situation during the seminar, at least not in the first half of the program.

Instead, Brown talked about the basics of running a campaign, including how to set up an organizing committee and file petitions, as well as how to shake hands and dress appropriately.

“You definitely do not go to the store with rollers in your head and a scarf on your head if you’re a woman,” she said. “You want to always dress up, even on Saturdays.”

She recommended ways to get involved in the community and meet people, particularly emphasizing churches as a good starting place to gain supporters and spread your message. She said candidates should start attending services first once a month and then more frequently as the election approaches, eventually every Sunday.  

“Churches have become very, very integral in getting people elected,” Brown said.

Brown also warned people of sabotage on several occasions, saying volunteers or other members of your political campaign could be working for or bought out by an opponent. Even printing companies can be “political,” Brown said, claiming that one time a printing firm printed the wrong address on petitions, which could have gotten her thrown off the ballot if she hadn’t caught the error.

“It’s a dirty game,” she said. “It can either lift you up or tear you down.”

The BGA reporter paid for the training with a credit card via PayPal and the fees appear to go to a company called “Candidates360,” although there is no business registered by that name with the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office or the Cook County Clerk’s Office.

Brown, meanwhile, recently made payments to her attorneys. Her campaign paid Genson’s firm $3,500 in December for legal fees, according to state campaign finance records.

Brown did not return phone calls for this story.

One comment she made during the training program about handling the media may explain why:

“You don’t want to go on camera if there’s something negative,” Brown said. “You stick your press spokesperson out there for the negative things.”

Cicero is about nine miles west of downtown Chicago, a 15-minute drive in light traffic.

 But last November, during a three-day education conference in the Loop, Cicero Public School District 99 officials apparently didn’t hop in their cars each night and zip home.
 

Instead, Supt. Rodolfo Hernandez and two board members charged taxpayers a total of $1,969 to stay at the Hyatt Regency Chicago on Wacker Drive during the conference.
 
Another board member, Derek Dominick, son of Cicero Town President Larry Dominick, expensed $559 for two nights at the swanky InterContinental Chicago on the Magnificent Mile for the same event, according to school district records obtained under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act by the Better Government Association and FOX32.
 
In all, District 99 has spent more than $35,000 since Jan. 1, 2012, on airfare, rental cars, hotels, meals, taxis and other costs related to local officials attending education conferences in Boston, Chicago, Nashville, New Orleans and San Diego, according to the District 99 records, which show no evidence that the vast majority of the expenses were ever reimbursed.
Two board members, Thomas Tomschin and Derek Dominick, accounted for a majority of the expenses. Both also work full-time for the Town of Cicero.
 
Legislation that would limit how much public officials can spend on travel is on its way to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s desk. The bill was prompted by reports from the BGA and other media outlets about lavish or questionable spending by some officials, says state Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills), the bill’s House sponsor.

Speaking generally, McSweeney says, “A lot of the meals and travel is outrageous. This is one way to reduce unnecessary expenses.”
 
In Cicero, school officials have not only stayed at high-end hotels, they’ve rented SUVs and dined on lobster, oysters and a $68 porterhouse steak, records show.

 
Meantime, District 99 spends $5,195 on instruction per pupil at its 15 elementary schools, lagging behind the statewide average of $7,419, while more than 94 percent of the 12,857 students come from low-income families, according to data from the Illinois State Board of Education. Just 11 percent of students met or exceeded expectations on recent academic achievement tests, versus the statewide average of 33 percent, according to the state board of education.

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District 99’s records also reveal that:

• Taxpayers picked up the $1,076 tab for Derek Dominick to stay four nights at a San Diego hotel in 2013 so he could attend the National School Boards Association conference. His first night at the hotel was two days before the start of the event.
• Also while in San Diego, Derek Dominick expensed $356 to rent a minivan for a week, even though the conference lasted three days. Other expenses included $22 at the Rainforest Cafe Disneyland – visited in Anaheim, 95 miles north of San Diego, the first day of the conference.
• Tomschin’s expenses for a 2015 conference in Nashville exceeded $2,500. That included $1,276 for five nights at the prominent Gaylord Opryland Resort, $365 for the rental of a 2015 GMC Terrain and $217 for meals.
• Taxpayers covered Derek Dominick’s $2,100 worth of expenses at last month’s National School Boards Association conference in Boston. That included $1,355 for lodging, $399 for meals and $20 for an April 11 Uber ride that ended about a block from Fenway Park.

April 11 was the last day of the conference – it was also the Boston Red Sox’s home opener. It couldn’t be determined if Derek Dominick saw the game at Fenway Park, but the conference was held about five miles from the ballpark.
 
He did not return messages.

Tomschin would only say: “All our conferences are done in order to give us more education and to better serve the public.”
 
In February, the BGA and FOX32 reported that the school district awarded a no-bid security contract to a company that employs Larry Dominick’s “bodyguard.”

District officials wouldn’t respond to questions about that deal.

A federal jury recently awarded $166,000 to a former Clyde Park District employee who claimed in a lawsuit she was fired for speaking to the FBI about alleged misuse of taxpayer money.

While the park district is on the hook for that payout, the tab for taxpayers could approach $1 million if a judge rules the agency – which maintains recreation programs and parkland in west suburban Cicero – must also cover the attorney fees for the former employee, Laura Perez-Garcia, court records show.

An elected board controlled by political allies of Cicero Town President Larry Dominick oversees the park district. His son, Brian Dominick, is on the park board and was named as a defendant, as was Larry Dominick, though the elder Dominick was later dismissed.

Either way, Perez-Garcia claimed Larry Dominick was behind her firing.

Attorneys for the park district have asked for a new trial, claiming in court filings, “This case involves a disgruntled former employee, who let a fantasy go to her head. . . . Her belief that ongoing corruption and fraud were occurring within the District is unreasonable due to her complete lack of knowledge.”

In court filings, Perez-Garcia alleges park district officials used agency credit cards for personal expenses and failed to produce receipts or other documentation for various payment and reimbursement requests.

Anthony Martinucci

At the center of her allegations is Anthony Martinucci, a precinct captain for Larry Dominick’s political organization and chairman of Morton College’s board of trustees. Martinucci holds three taxpayer-funded jobs, including executive director of the Clyde Park District.

His three positions collectively paid him more than $130,000 last year, payroll records show.

In court filings, Perez-Garcia alleges that Martinucci’s park district credit card was used to pay for personal items at Sports Authority, Toys “R” Us and Jewel. Additionally, he and other district officials allegedly submitted invoices for expenses related to work outside the district.

Perez-Garcia met with the FBI on two occasions in 2012 to report “suspicious and fraudulent billing activity” by Martinucci and others, she says in court filings. Reached by the Better Government Association, an FBI spokesman had no comment. The FBI usually does not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.

In court filings, Martinucci and other officials say they’ve never been interviewed by law enforcement about the park district.

Perez-Garcia was hired by the park district as a clerk in 1998. She later became Martinucci’s administrative assistant, where her duties included processing check requests and managing credit card accounts. District officials fired Perez-Garcia in 2012.

She sued the district and its board members in federal court in 2013, alleging she was terminated at the “express or implicit request of Larry Dominick,” in retaliation for meeting with the FBI about alleged financial misconduct.

The park district denies her allegation and says she was terminated, in part, for using its Sam’s Club account for “personal purchases,” according to court filings.

Ray Hanania, a Town of Cicero spokesman, said Perez-Garcia’s claims about Larry Dominick “were without merit,” adding the town president was “wrongly dragged into the issue.” As for Larry Dominck’s son, Hanania says, “We believe the jury was wrong regarding Brian Dominick and post-trial motions to vacate the judgment have been filed. There was no evidence presented at trial that Brian, or any of the defendants, knew she went to the FBI and we are confident the motions will prevail.”

Martinucci didn’t return messages. In a statement, the park district said Martinucci was “neither a defendant at trial nor was he found liable for any misconduct.”

As Clyde Park District’s part-time executive director, Martinucci was paid $52,000 last year. That’s on top of the $71,000 he made as Berwyn’s full-time recreation director and $9,200 for coaching boys varsity basketball at J. Sterling Morton High School, according to public records.

In court filings, Martinucci has said he logs 40 hours a week at Berwyn, plus 25 to 30 hours a week at Clyde Park. He devotes 12 hours a week coaching during basketball season, and about an hour a month as head of Morton College’s board, a volunteer position that offers no pay or benefits.

The BGA and FOX32 asked Berwyn and Clyde Park District for timesheets or other records to corroborate Martinucci’s claims about his workload.

Berwyn said no documents existed.

Clyde Park District provided copies of unsigned, handwritten timesheets.

The jury award in the Perez-Garcia case is only the latest political controversy to bubble up in Cicero.

The BGA recently reported that the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago subpoenaed town records relating to municipal vendors that donated to Larry Dominick’s campaign funds.

Separately, the BGA discovered that a private security firm that employs Larry Dominick’s “bodyguard” was awarded two contracts – which apparently were not subject to competitive bidding – by public agencies where Larry Dominick wields significant influence.

The BGA also has written about questionable towing and trash-hauling contracts in Cicero.

A private security firm that employs the “bodyguard” of Cicero Town President Larry Dominick has been awarded two contracts from agencies where Dominick wields significant influence.

Gamma Team Security Inc. obtained what appear to be no-bid contracts last summer with the Clyde Park District and Cicero Public School District 99, public records show.

The boards that awarded the deals are stacked with employees of Cicero’s municipal government, controlled by Dominick. One of his sons has a seat on the school board, while another is a park board trustee.

Northbrook businessman Wolf Iklov founded Gamma Team in August 2014. Iklov has no known connection to Cicero but the Better Government Association and FOX 32 found that Dominick’s “bodyguard” has ties to the firm.

Serge Rocher is Cicero’s $72,000-a-year director of Cicero’s Community Service Officers, a roughly 40-person municipal unit that issues parking tickets, provides security and crowd control at town events, and augments the police department. Rocher also provides security for Dominick and, in an unrelated lawsuit, is described as Dominick’s “bodyguard.”

An attorney for Gamma Team says Rocher isn’t an owner or manager of the private security firm. He doesn’t have an official job title, either. “He’s in a sales role,” Chicago attorney Ed Williams explains. “He doesn’t do operations.”

Even so, Rocher is scheduled to attend a Las Vegas trade show later this month as a Gamma Team representative, according to a list of attendees found online.

Williams declined further comment and officials at the Cicero school and park agencies wouldn’t say why Gamma Team was chosen and whether Dominick had any influence in the decision to pick the firm.

Ray Hanania, a Cicero town spokesman, says Dominick “never recommended Gamma to any government agency.”

As for Rocher, Hanania says, “What he does outside is not our business,” and adds that he wouldn’t describe him as Dominick’s bodyguard.

Confronted at a recent Cicero town board meeting, Rocher declined to speak with a reporter. Iklov didn’t return messages.

Hanania says Gamma Team has approached Dominick about working for the town. Dominick “rejected it saying that we have a security agency now,” Hanania says.

Cicero’s contract is with Monterrey Security Consultants Inc., a Pilsen firm whose assignments include Solder Field. Hanania declined to say when Gamma Team approached Dominick and whether Rocher was part of that conversation.

Records obtained under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act show the park district board awarded Gamma Team a contract last July, a one-year deal that can be renewed annually. Gamma has been paid nearly $24,000, based on a billing rate of $20 an hour for each security guard.

District 99 board members approved Gamma Team’s deal last August.

The school district has paid the firm $21,000, records show. The company bills the system between $16 and $18 an hour for each guard.

In requesting the billing and contract records, the BGA and FOX asked both agencies for any records that would show whether the deals were part of a competitive bidding process, and officials indicated no such records exist.

In local government, competitive bidding is generally considered a best practice, increasing transparency, helping ensure money isn’t wasted and preventing unqualified companies from getting taxpayer-funded work. It’s unclear whether bidding was required in these instances.

Rocher joined Cicero as an auxiliary police officer in 2005, town records show. He was promoted to director of Community Service Officers in November 2014. In addition to his salary, he has the use of a town-owned vehicle, a 2008 Ford Explorer, Hanania confirmed.

This is just the latest instance of questionable contracts awarded by government bodies in Cicero.

The BGA previously reported that a garbage company was paid millions by Cicero taxpayers in a no-bid deal and donated big to Dominick’s campaign funds.

The BGA also found that a towing firm co-owned by relatives of Cicero Town Attorney Michael Del Galdo towed vehicles for the town government but didn’t share revenues or pay rent to use a town-owned parcel.

An off-duty McCook police officer visiting Harrah’s Casino Joliet last winter ended up slugging a panhandler in the valet area of the gaming facility, in an incident caught on surveillance video recently obtained by the Better Government Association and FOX 32.

The officer, Robert Wells, was suspended without pay for two days by his tiny southwest suburban department and ordered to attend “private counseling services,” according to records obtained from the Village of McCook under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

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The records said about Wells, “your failure to remove yourself from the situation allowed this incident to escalate . . . your conduct will be held to a higher standard than the general public and you will be held accountable for your actions on-duty as well as off-duty.”

While several jarring videos have recently been publicized involving Chicago-area police officers, Wells’ case isn’t so clear cut because there’s no audio accompanying the video, the man brushed against Wells prior to the punch and then took off, never filing a complaint, authorities said.

An investigator for the Illinois gaming board – which regulates casinos in Illinois – stated in a report that, after reviewing the evidence, “it is clear Mr. Wells was the aggressor.”

But Wells and his wife, who had been at the casino with her husband, told a Joliet police detective that the man punched by Wells had made “harassing statements of a blatantly sexual nature” and threatened to bite off Wells’ ear and “kill him,” according to a written account from the detective, who interviewed the couple more than two weeks after the Jan. 17, 2015, incident.

In a brief telephone conversation with the BGA, Wells said he “definitely” was not the aggressor.

The Joliet detective, Paul Rodriguez, relayed to a reporter, “I don’t have an opinion on . . . who’s the aggressor.”

Shortly before midnight on the night of the altercation, Wells and his wife were standing in the valet area of Harrah’s, waiting to leave the far southwest suburban casino, when they were approached by a man, according to records and interviews.

A casino security supervisor described the man “as homeless looking,” who approached Wells and his wife “begging for money” as a “heated” conversation ensued, according to a police report from a Joliet officer who responded to the scene.

Surveillance video shows the man approaching the couple, a “discussion occurs,” and the man “backs away and then approaches them again,” according to a Harrah’s security incident report. The man “then backs away again and Wells approaches him.”

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The unidentified man “extends his arm or elbow and makes contact with Wells,” according to the security report. “Wells then grabs the [man] and then pushes him and then punches him in the face and takes him to the ground. Wells then goes into the valet attendant outside area and the [man] gets up and approaches him. Wells then goes into the trunk of his vehicle and takes an item out and moves toward” the man, who “then walks quickly away and leaves property.”

The item was a “police-type” baton or flashlight, records indicate.

When casino security arrived, Wells “became argumentative and aggressive” towards a security official, placing “his hand on [the official’s] chest when explaining the situation,” according to the casino incident report.

Wells also mentioned he was a cop, the report indicates.

Wells said “he was upset with Harrah’s security because of what he felt was a lack of protection,” according to the detective’s report.

Wells and his wife drove off before Joliet police arrived, though Wells told a reporter he did so because his wife was upset, and that he left a business card at the valet stand for follow-up questions.

Wells added that the man he punched was not homeless; he had come out of the casino, so must have been a patron.

McCook Mayor Jeff Tobolski, who also is a Cook County commissioner, said the two-day suspension was appropriate given the circumstances, but added, “I have concerns with the inability of either the Joliet Police Department or the casino to provide safe and adequate protection out there. My understanding is that this officer may be looking into bringing a lawsuit against the City of Joliet and also the casino for failing to do that.”

Wells wouldn’t comment on that.

Darren VanDover, senior vice president and general manager of Harrah’s Joliet, released a written statement saying, “The safety of our patrons is the company’s top priority, and we regret that, over a year ago, this unfortunate incident occurred. Upon learning of the incident, our on-site security team responded in approximately 3 minutes. We will, nevertheless, review our security procedures to determine how a similar situation might be avoided in the future.”

The gaming board has not taken any enforcement action against Harrah’s relating to the incident, and no criminal charges have been filed against anybody, officials said.

For now, Joliet police said their investigation is “suspended.”

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Bounced by Democratic Party, Circuit Court clerk scrambles to stay in race, and enlists the help of her government employees to do so.

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When the Cook County Democratic Party stripped away its endorsement of Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown this fall amid revelations about a growing federal corruption probe, she lost a lot of organizational firepower – including party foot soldiers to collect signatures to get her on the ballot.
 
So Brown turned to another group to help her beleaguered re-election campaign: Her own government workforce.
 
The Better Government Association and FOX 32 found that at least a dozen – and perhaps up to 100 – Circuit Court employees ended up in the field in recent weeks, collecting the requisite 5,365 signatures of registered voters so her name could appear on the March 2016 primary ballot.
 
And these “petition circulators” weren’t just rank-and-file employees, according to copies of the signature sheets obtained by the BGA and FOX.
 
Some of Brown’s top lieutenants – many with six-figure salaries – appeared to be among them, though few would explain how that came to be, whether they felt pressured to gather signatures, or if any of the signatures were collected on county property or county time.
 
One of the names listed on a petition sheet as a circulator was Kelly Smeltzer – the name of one of Brown’s top in-house attorneys, being paid $111,000 a year.

Dorothy Brown image courtesy of the Sun-Times.

Reached on the phone Wednesday by a reporter, Smeltzer said, “I don’t have a comment on that,” then hung up.
 
Wasiu Fashina is Brown’s $119,000-a-year chief of staff. Somebody by that name also gathered signatures, records show. He couldn’t be reached for comment.
 
Somebody named Robbin Perkins also gathered signatures for Brown, whose chief human resources officer at the Circuit Court clerk’s office has the same name.
 
Reached by phone, Perkins told a reporter, “I don’t have a comment. Thank you. Bye-bye.”
 
Richard Ringfelt, chief deputy clerk at the Third Municipal District courthouse in Rolling Meadows, confirmed he was one of the petition circulators, but insisted nobody put the arm on him.
 
“I’ve always supported her as a candidate,” he said.
 
Brown’s spokeswoman Jalyne Strong said via email that nobody was pressured to volunteer, and that petitions weren’t circulated by Brown employees on county time.

“All U.S. citizens have the freedom of choice in their political activities,” said Strong.

Asked why she chose to pass petitions, Strong said, “It’s my prerogative.”
 
A federal grand jury has been investigating possible corruption at Brown’s office, including allegations that jobs and promotions were traded for money. Brown has denied wrongdoing but one of her lower-level employees was charged last month with lying to a grand jury. That employee allegedly loaned money to a meat company run by Brown and her husband.
 
In past BGA/FOX investigations, Brown has faced allegations that she pressured employees to donate to her campaign, and to special initiatives supposedly benefitting charity. She also faced criticism for trying to rope employees into a multilevel marketing effort, known as 5Linx, that she personally benefitted from.
 
Battered by ethical questions, Brown pledged several years ago to stop accepting campaign donations from her workers.
 
However, sources familiar with the Circuit Court clerk’s office said since that decree Brown’s campaign workers have continued to solicit Circuit Court clerk employees, sometimes asking that contributions be made in cash or in other people’s names to avoid detection. Donations over $150 must be reported by donor name to the Illinois State Board of Elections, and those records are accessible online to the public.
 
Two people – one a current Brown employee, the other a former employee – acknowledged to the BGA making donations through other people so Brown wouldn’t be detected collecting money from her workers.
 
Strong, Brown’s spokeswoman, said, “I have no knowledge of that.”
 
The sources said fundraising has also been going on in the Circuit Court clerk’s offices.
 
Accepting donations in other names – and politicking on government time – are violations of state law.
 
The federal investigation of Brown’s office has also had an impact on her outside campaign fundraising. Attorney John Fotopoulos held a small breakfast fundraiser for Brown a couple of months back, donating $3,000 to her campaign in the process, records show.
 
Fotopoulos said he asked Brown about her legal travails and she denied she was under scrutiny. He soon found out otherwise from the news and canceled his donation checks.
 
Fotopoulos wrote Brown an email saying: “As you know, I inquired regarding rumors that had surfaced pertaining to any criminal investigation involving you and/or your office and you indicated that there was no truth to the rumors. As an officer of the court, I can no longer support you in your efforts to be re-elected Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court.”
 
It was Brown’s reported lack of truthfulness on the same subject that led Democratic Party leaders to strip away their endorsement in October – and the accompanying financial and field support in the form of door knockers.
 
Brown then had to scramble to collect enough signatures before the Nov. 30 filing deadline. She ended up filing 2,315 petitions, most with multiple signatures, perhaps eight times more than the requisite 5,365 signatures, according to records and interviews.
 
But rivals are likely to challenge the authenticity of many of the signatures – meaning it’s not a sure thing she will end up on the ballot. Chicago Ald. Michelle Harris (8th), former Ald. Shirley Coleman (16th), attorney Jacob Meister and activist Tio Hardiman are also running in the Democratic primary.
 
The signatures must be of registered voters. But the BGA and FOX found numerous entries from Brown’s signature sheets that weren’t even actual people. Examples include a commercial real estate firm, a hotel, a tavern, a rug store, a dry cleaner and a liquor store.
 
Business owners contacted by reporters were surprised to learn their companies’ names had been used on the petitions, including Galleria Liquors in Old Town.
 
Store owner Benjamin Pourkhalili said, “I did not sign anything. I was not aware of it. I wasn’t very happy my name was there.”

Scene of 2014 accident between Maywood resident Brianna Reedy and Cook County sheriff’s officer.

Sheriff’s officer zips wrong way down one-way street, collides with driver – who finds government a nightmare to deal with as she tries to get compensated for her car.

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Cops are supposed to follow the “rules of the road” like the rest of us when they’re not responding to emergencies.

But that’s not what’s happening near the Cook County courts complex in Maywood, where sheriff’s employees are cutting through a residential neighborhood and driving the wrong way down a one-way stretch of 2^nd Avenue dozens of times a week – not because they’re headed to a 911 call, but apparently because they want to avoid back-ups along 1^st Avenue and quickly reach the Eisenhower Expressway.

Maywood resident Brianna Reedy, 27, said she learned of this “short cut” the hard way: Her 1994 Chevy Corsica was totaled and she ended up in the hospital after colliding with a sheriff’s officer traveling south on the northbound-only street, according to records and interviews.

Linda Reedy, left, with granddaughter Brianna Reedy. Photo by BGA

“I’m from this area and I know no cars should be coming from that way,” said Reedy, a mother who at the time was working at a local fast food restaurant. 

The accident ended up costing her dearly.

Aside from her bumps and bruises, Reedy said she lost her job as a result and, when she couldn’t come up with towing fees, her car was crushed, with personal items inside.

But perhaps the biggest take-away was a tough lesson on how local government operates and, too often, seems intent on protecting its own interests over those of taxpayers.

When she submitted a claim to county government to get reimbursed for the value of her car and her possessions – less than $2,000 in total – Reedy said county bureaucrats dragged out her request so long, past a one-year statute of limitations, she no longer qualifies for a payout. And then they blamed her for the crash, despite strong evidence that the sheriff’s officer was at fault.

“They waited until my case was a year old and I could do nothing about it,” Reedy said.

A total loss
 

The accident occurred the morning of Oct. 20, 2014, as Reedy drove from home to work. Heading east on Congress Parkway, she collided with a marked sheriff’s squad car that was traveling south – the wrong way – on 2^nd Avenue, according to police records and interviews.

The officer’s lights and sirens were not on, and he seemed to be traveling at least 35 mph, Reedy said.

She was transported by ambulance to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood for a sprained neck and contusions, and her car was hauled away by Area Towing, Inc., which the Village of Maywood uses to handle municipal towing, according to records and interviews.

Reedy was released later that day, and she said she asked her grandmother to help get personal items from the car, including a jacket, a pair of shoes and a phone charger. But the towing company would not let them “remove anything from the vehicle until the tow and clean up and storage charge was paid,” about $700 in all, Reedy said. The car was a total loss and not drivable, but Reedy still wasn’t permitted to get into the car, she said. The tow firm also relayed that once the fees were paid, she “would have to immediately remove the car from their lot,” Reedy said. 

A Cook County sheriff’s vehicle goes wrong way down one-way street in recent days in Maywood. Photo from FOX Chicago

Reedy said her grandmother contacted Maywood police and “confirmed that this was a policy and there was nothing that could be done.”

The president of Area Towing, Frank Varchetto, told the Better Government Association he doesn’t know the specifics of Reedy’s case but noted it’s allowable under the law – and standard procedure – to prevent the recovery of personal items unless there is payment, except if there’s something important in a vehicle such as medicine or credit cards.

“We did everything by the law,” Varchetto said.

Without enough money, and not knowing what to do with the mangled Corsica anyway, Reedy left the car in the tow yard, and it was crushed two weeks later.

Meanwhile, Reedy said she lost her fast-food job some weeks after the crash because she said she was in pain and could no longer perform certain tasks such as lifting. 

Reedy said she hired an attorney to get the county to at the very least pay for the estimated value of the car, about $1,500, plus another couple hundred dollars to compensate her for the lost personal items. (Reedy said she had insurance, but it didn’t cover the loss of the car.)

The attorney tried “for months” to work with the county but told Reedy “he was having a problem” with the county “being responsive,” Reedy said.

The attorney eventually left the case, she said.

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‘Not acceptable’

Overall, the family or attorney had contact with officials from the sheriff’s office, the county’s Risk Management agency and even Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin in recent months.

Reedy’s grandmother, Linda Reedy, said that on Oct. 20, 2015, a Risk Management contractor called her to say the county wouldn’t be paying anything because the sheriff’s officer’s lights and sirens had been activated at the time of the crash, so Brianna Reedy was at fault. The contractor also indicated the one-year window had closed to make her case.

A spokesman for County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who oversees Risk Management, said the sheriff’s paperwork indicated the officer in the crash was on official business and “his lights were activated.”

The sheriff’s officer told a responding Maywood police officer that he had been going down the one-way street as he “attempted to catch up” with a wrong-way driver, according to the Maywood police report.

Reached by a reporter Wednesday, the sheriff’s officer said, “I prefer not to say anything.”

“We take any claims of county liability seriously,” Frank Shuftan, the Preckwinkle spokesman, said. “We are obligated to investigate all claims and in this case, all proper outreach and protocol occurred. Further, the report from the sheriff’s office contradicts Ms. Reedy’s claim.”

Brianna Reedy insists the officer had no lights and sirens on and noted she likely would have been ticketed if that’d been the case.

The Maywood police report detailing the crash makes no mention of lights and sirens, and one of the Maywood cops who responded to the scene told the BGA it was clear the sheriff squad’s emergency equipment had not been activated. 

Just after the claim was denied, Linda Reedy got in touch with Dana Wright, first deputy chief of police for Sheriff Tom Dart. Wright said she hadn’t known about the family’s troubles until the call.

Wright sent an investigator to 2^nd Avenue to see how often sheriff’s employees were going the wrong way down the one-way street, which is lined with homes. Turns out it was a frequent occurrence – something the BGA and FOX Chicago confirmed separately through surveillance, and from interviews with neighbors, who relayed this practice has been going on for years.

Roughly 20 sheriff’s officers have now been given written reprimands for taking the short cut, Wright said.

“It’s not acceptable, we have a standard,” Wright said.

The officer involved in the 2014 accident was not among them, but Wright also is reviewing the circumstances of the crash and statements he made about his lights and sirens. If it turns out he lied, he also could face discipline, Wright said.

Beyond that, sheriff’s officials are now reviewing paperwork related to Brianna Reedy’s compensation claim, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Cara Smith.

The sheriff’s office, which serves as Maywood’s inspector general, also plans to look into Area Towing to see whether it improperly prevented Brianna Reedy from accessing her car after it was towed, officials said.

Wright said she apologized to the elder Reedy for the troubles the family has gone through and now is working to “get to some closure.”

Dorothy Brown addresses Democratic Party leaders Friday.

Cook County Democratic Party leaders decided Friday to withdraw their endorsement of Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown – and instead back Ald. Michelle Harris (8th) – following revelations that Brown is the target of a federal corruption investigation.

Despite an impassioned plea from Brown during a morning meeting of dozens of township and ward committeemen Friday at the Erie Café in Chicago, the group rescinded its August “slating” of Brown in her reelection bid, and threw its support to Harris.

The decision doesn’t mean Brown can’t run in the March 15 Democratic primary. But it deprives her of organizational support in the form of funding, and foot soldiers who knock on doors to get the signatures needed to get candidates on the ballot.

Brown appears to lack her own real political machinery and had less than $40,000 on hand in her campaign fund at the end of September, records show.

Brown wouldn’t comment about the party’s decision, which followed last week’s revelations that the FBI had showed up at Brown’s South Side home with a subpoena for her cell phone – and that a federal grand jury was investigating whether Brown had accepted loans or other financial support from employees in exchange for jobs or promotions.

But she tried hard to keep the endorsement, urging the leaders Friday to back her for a post “which I so richly deserve and worked very hard for over the years.”

“Investigations are started all the time,” Brown told party leaders. “It could be your opponent. It could be a disgruntled customer. It could be anybody.”

The party unanimously decided to back away from Brown, said Cook County Democratic Party Chairman Joe Berrios, the county assessor.

Brown told ABC 7 earlier in the week that she didn’t know whether she was the target of the investigation, but sources have said she is.

Meanwhile, the Better Government Association, FOX Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times have learned two other Circuit Court clerk employees – one part of Brown’s upper ranks – have hired defense attorneys as the criminal investigation appears to heat up.

Asked separately about allegations of job selling, the two employees told reporters they’d hired attorneys and declined further comment. The attorneys either couldn’t be reached or declined comment.

Authorities also have been asking questions about a business called Goat Masters, sources said. Illinois secretary of state records show a firm by that name was incorporated in 2014 by Brown’s husband, Benton Cook III, with Cook and Brown listed as directors of the business, and the business located at the home the couple shares.

Illinois secretary of state records indicate the company is no longer in “good standing.”

Asked about the company by a reporter earlier in the week, Cook said, “Talk about it with” Ed Genson, Cook’s lawyer.

Genson had no comment.

But one source said Goat Masters is listed on federal subpoenas. Another source said investigators signaled their interest in the company more than a year ago.

It’s unclear what type of operation Goat Masters is or was, but Brown was involved in another firm, Sankofa Group LLC, that appeared to have some connection to the meat industry at one time, public records show.

Sankofa was at the heart of a land deal that helped spur the current federal investigation.

In 2011, Brown campaign donor Naren Patel gave Cook a Near Southwest Side parcel, the BGA and FOX revealed in a 2013 story. The land was then transferred to Sankofa and sold for $100,000 in 2012.

Brown didn’t disclose the transaction on her campaign or ethics filings.

Spurred by the BGA/FOX findings, Cook County Inspector General Patrick Blanchard opened an investigation, which led to an inquiry by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office and the ongoing federal probe.

The Democrats dumped Brown on Friday, at least in part, because they felt she had lied to them. She was asked during the August slating whether she was under investigation, and she said no.

Before Friday’s meeting got underway, Brown chatted with Illinois House Speaker and Illinois Democratic Party chief Michael Madigan for several minutes. It’s unclear what they were discussing, but Madigan has a number of political supporters employed in the Circuit Court clerk office, a patronage-rich agency that serves as the repository of court records.

As he left Friday’s meeting Madigan said he supported shifting the endorsement to Harris.

Other potential candidates in the primary include attorney Jacob Meister and community activist Tio Hardiman.

They have both portrayed the Circuit Court clerk’s office as a mess, behind the times in terms of technology, and a place where court records are routinely lost.

But speaking to party leaders, Brown said her office “is a model for the country.”

The executive committee of the Cook County Democratic Party didn’t take a stand Wednesday on whether Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown’s endorsement should be rescinded following revelations that she’s the focus of a federal corruption probe.

Instead, the panel of nine political powerbrokers – including Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Cook County Recorder of Deeds Karen Yarbrough and state Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) – decided to let the party’s entire leadership tackle the issue on Friday, when a special meeting was set for all 80 Democratic committeemen at the Erie Café in River North.

​”We will put it to a vote of the entire [party leadership] whether we withdraw the endorsement of Dorothy Brown,” Cook County Democratic Chairman Joe Berrios said outside party headquarters on LaSalle Street. “We feel this is a decision that has to be made . . . by the entire party.”

Berrios, also the county assessor, said “about four” people have expressed interested in being slated in Brown’s place. Among them: Ald. Michelle Harris (8th) and Ald. Walter Burnett (27th).

Last week it came to light that a federal grand jury is investigating Brown’s conduct.

Part of the probe is focusing on loans or other money possibly given to Brown by Circuit Court clerk employees, allegedly in exchange for jobs or promotions, sources said.

Some Democratic Party officials have said they’re angry and believe Brown purposely misled them in August when, during endorsement interviews, she insisted she wasn’t under investigation, when she was.

It’d be highly unusual for an endorsement to be stripped away. Such a move would not prevent Brown from running in the March 15 primary as a Democrat, but it’d mean she’d lose crucial party support in the form of petition circulators and money.

Candidates have until late November to turn in nominating petition signatures to get on the ballot.

A spokeswoman for Brown didn’t return messages.

But in an interview with ABC 7 on Wednesday, Brown acknowledged the FBI recently approached her with a subpoena for her cell phone. But Brown said, “I don’t have any idea who the target of the investigation is.”

The federal investigation appears to be an outgrowth of a probe by Cook County Inspector General Patrick Blanchard, who began investigating Brown following a November 2013 news story by the Better Government Association and FOX Chicago about a land deal involving Brown, her husband, Benton Cook III, and Brown campaign donor Naren Patel.

Dorothy Brown photo courtesy of the Sun-Times. Berrios photo courtesy of Cook County Assessor’s website.

A Democratic Party committee is set to meet Wednesday to discuss rescinding the party’s endorsement of Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, with Ald. Michelle Harris (8th) and Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) being floated as potential replacements.

​As word of the meeting spread Tuesday, another alderman, Ricardo Munoz (22nd), revealed he was interviewed last year by the FBI about a Lawndale land deal in his ward that involved Brown, her husband and a campaign donor. Brown handily defeated Munoz in the 2012 Democratic primary for Circuit Court clerk but said he has no interest in running for the office this time around.

Munoz said it was a “phone call” from “special agent somebody” asking about the property, apparently because as alderman he has a say in development and zoning matters.

Munoz said he knew nothing about the parcel, which was given to Brown’s husband by a Brown campaign donor and later sold for $100,000 – without being disclosed on Brown’s campaign or ethics filings.

“That was the extent” of the conversation with the FBI, Munoz said.

A spokeswoman for Brown didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment.

Cook County Democratic Party Chairman Joseph Berrios said last week that party leaders would take a fresh look at their decision to endorse Brown — who is seeking her fifth term — after news reports revealed that the FBI had seized Brown’s county-issued cell phone.

Additionally, the Chicago Sun-Times, Better Government Association and FOX Chicago TV reported that the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago has a grand jury looking into loans Brown might have gotten from employees, according to a source familiar with the case.

Manuel Galvan, press secretary for the Cook County Democrats, said Tuesday that the party’s executive committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday afternoon and that “one of the topics is a discussion on Dorothy Brown.”

​The meeting isn’t open to the public — and the executive committee can’t decide to rescind Brown’s endorsement on its own, Galvan said. But the committee can make recommendations to the county’s 80 Democratic committeemen, who could then vote to remove Brown from their endorsed slate of candidates for the 2016 election.

At least one committeeman, Ald. Carrie Austin (34th), said she’s standing by Brown. “She’s still my slated candidate,” Austin said.

The county’s endorsement, known as slating, comes with financial support and manpower giving slated candidates a leg up in elections.

Attorney Jacob Meister has formed a campaign committee and is circulating petitions to get on the March 15 primary ballot to unseat Brown. But party insiders said leaders are discussing other potential candidates for the countywide office, including Burnett, a protégé of Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, and Harris.

Candidates have until late November to turn in nominating petition signatures to get on the ballot.

Burnett said he’s interested in the position but wants to see what the party leaders decide.

​”My mentor, [White], is asking me to take a look at it,” Burnett said. “I will say a lot of my supporters have been pushing me . . . I may if the party asks me. I’ll consider it.”

Harris also expressed interest by making phone calls to committeemen to float her name as a possible replacement on the Democratic ticket.

The Circuit Court clerk’s office is the repository for county court records and historically has been a haven for patronage workers.

Party leaders asked Brown whether she was under criminal investigation when she had her Democratic slating interview in August, Berrios said last week. That was about a year and a half after news reports from the BGA and FOX revealed authorities had begun investigating the land deal in Munoz’s ward.

“The question was posed to her by various people, and she had said ‘No,’” Berrios said. “We’ve got an executive committee, and we’ve got the full committee. We will discuss it, and we’ll see where it goes from here.”