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Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett is due to appear in federal court Tuesday. She was indicted last week on mail and wire fraud charges as part of an alleged scheme to steer no-bid contracts to a former employer.(Photo: 2012 photo by M. Spencer Green, AP)
CHICAGO — What is the matter with this city?
Until we imported Michael Jordan from North Carolina in 1984, Chicago’s most renowned resident was the Prohibition-era gangster Al Capone.
From the administrations of Richard J. Daley to his son Richard M. Daley, Chicagoans let a patronage system fester for decades — one in which it was virtually accepted<span style="color: Red;">*</span>practice for jobs and contracts to be meted out to the connected backers of the city’s political machine.
Corruption has seeped through the city and all the way to the state Capitol in Springfield. Three Illinois<span style="color: Red;">*</span>governors since the 1970s — including Rod Blagojevich who is currently serving a federal sentence in part for attempting to sell President Obama’s old Senate seat — have been convicted on corruption charges related to their time in office. A fourth governor, Dan Walker, was convicted years after he left office for federal bank fraud.
The city<span style="color: Red;">*</span>became known for doing things “the Chicago Way,” an expression immortalized by the character Jim Malone (played by Sean Connery) in the movie The Untouchables.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>It’s become shorthand for the city’s collective willingness to look the other way at graft and patronage as long as the snow is plowed and the potholes got filled.
Chicago once again has burnished its image as America’s most corrupt metropolis.<span style="color: Red;">*</span> Former Chicago Public Schools chief<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Barbara Byrd-Bennett<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is the latest to join Chicago’s rogues<span style="color: Red;">*</span>gallery after she was indicted last week on federal mail and wire fraud charges related to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>steering<span style="color: Red;">*</span>$23 million in contracts to former employers in exchange for a 10% kickback and college funds for her two grandchildren.
USA TODAY
Indicted ex-Chicago schools chief to appear in court
USA TODAY
Ex-Chicago public schools chief to plead guilty in contract kickback scheme
The latest bruise to Chicago’s image comes as the city is weighed down by nearly $500 million in unmet pension payments for teachers and as Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pushing for the biggest<span style="color: Red;">*</span>tax hike in modern Chicago history<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to meet a pension payment due for police and firefighters.
Byrd-Bennett, who has said through her attorney she intends to plead guilty to the corruption charges and cooperate with investigators, is scheduled to make her first court appearance on Tuesday. The former Chicago schools CEO previously led Cleveland and Detroit’s public schools.
The audacity of Byrd-Bennett’s corruption is astounding, even by Chicago standards.
Using her powerful position, she pushed the Chicago Public Schools to sign contracts for executive training programs with the suburban companies SUPES Academy and Synesi, firms for whom she had served as a consultant before joining the Chicago school system.
In emails between Byrd-Bennett and SUPES Academy owner Gary Solomon, who was indicted along with Synesi’s Thomas Vranas, the two detail their alleged conspiracy to bilk Chicago taxpayers and children for their own gain. Solomon was an adviser to Emanuel’s transition team after the mayor was elected to his first term in 2011.
“I have tuition<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>pay and casinos to visit[.],” Byrd-Bennett, who drew $313,000 in annual salary and benefits, wrote in one email discussing the kickbacks.
Chicago mobster Al Capone is seen at a football game in Chicago.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: 1931 AP photo)
That email from Byrd-Bennett, who oversaw the closure of 50 schools in predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods during her tenure, might be<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the knife twisting in the back of parents and the city’s 396,000 students (86% who the district says are economically disadvantaged.)
Questions about the training contracts first surfaced in the summer of 2013, when the education watchdog publication Catalyst Chicago<span style="color: Red;">*</span>first reported on the unusually large no-bid contract going to a company that had close ties to Byrd-Bennett. Principals, who had gone through the program, also complained to the Catalyst that the training program was a waste of time and taxpayer money.
Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich is one of three former governors to be convicted on corruption charges related to their time as the state's chief executive.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast, AP)
The city inspector general opened an investigation after the Catalyst report, but news of a federal investigation didn’t surface until this April — not long after Emanuel managed to win a second term as mayor after being forced into an unprecedented runoff against a little-known and relatively sparsely funded opponent.
In the aftermath of the Byrd-Bennett indictment, Emanuel has lamented his handpicked<span style="color: Red;">*</span>CEO’s “criminal activity.” But he’s chaffed at the notion of his responsibility in the mess.
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Emanuel argues with merit<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that the mayor getting personally involved in awarding individual<span style="color: Red;">*</span>contracts is a recipe for disaster. The mayor also told reporters Monday that he "played a role" in selecting Byrd-Bennett,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>but he also stressed that his staff asked Byrd-Bennett hard questions about the ill-fated contracts.
Internal emails, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, show that Byrd-Bennett bristled at Emanuel’s top education adviser when she questioned the $20.5 million no-bid contract for SUPES Academy and suggested she might even quit. The city’s board of education — which is appointed by the mayor — ultimately approved the contracts.
There may be room for debate about how much of this debacle should be pinned on Emanuel.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>But one thing is for certain, the mayor — and this great city — must destroy “the Chicago Way” once and for all.
Chicago can’t afford not to.
Madhani is USA TODAY's Chicago correspondent
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