Can't get enough of that tasty Duff
Yesterday in Federal Court, a highly connected contractor James Duff, plead guilty to "obtaining money from the city through fraudulently obtained contracts." What he actually did was to use his clout at city hall, he is after all one of the largest donors to Mayor Daley and his machine, to obtain contracts which should have gone to minorities through a variety of shell corporations. For more info see http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-050110duff,1,3446811.story?coll=chi-news-hed which details Duff's guilty plea.
But the more outrageous part of the story is the effort by Duff's lawyer to portray his client's acts as a wash for the city. He states that the city did not lose any money in the contracts as Chicago paid for janitorial services and Duff's companies provided them.
The city lost out on actually helping the contractors it is required to help. The city of Chicago has a quota on minority and women owned businesses. Those businesses lost out when Duff and the city rigged the contracts.
But the more outrageous part of the story is the effort by Duff's lawyer to portray his client's acts as a wash for the city. He states that the city did not lose any money in the contracts as Chicago paid for janitorial services and Duff's companies provided them.
The city lost out on actually helping the contractors it is required to help. The city of Chicago has a quota on minority and women owned businesses. Those businesses lost out when Duff and the city rigged the contracts.
posted by Peter Young @ 10:52 PM
1 Comments:
At 2:25 PM,
Peter Young said…
Good point Andy. This is not about minority set a sides. This is about the lengths that tose with clout will go to get every penny of City Hall money for themselves.
Duff wanted more and more from the city. He paid campaign contributions to get it. The mayor and city hall obliged.
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