Thread: FBI Probes Gutierrez Connection To Calvin Boender, Convicted

FBI Probes Gutierrez Connection To Calvin Boender, Convicted Developer
First Posted: 05- 4-10 11:59 AM | Updated: 05- 4-10 01:10 PM


Share Comments 6 Representative Luis Gutierrez has been the center of a great deal of media attention as the national political debate has shifted to immigration reform. Long a vocal opponent of the government's policies toward immigrants, the congressman from Chicago was arrested this past weekend at a protest demanding changes.

But as he appears in the national news, Gutierrez has also made a spate of local headlines for a different reason: suspicious dealings with city real estate developers.

The latest, and perhaps most damning: the Chicago Tribune reports that the FBI has been asking questions about Gutierrez's ties to real estate developer Calvin Boender. In March of this year, Boender was convicted of five counts of bribery and obstruction of justice.

Gutierrez, a nine-term congressman, has had questionable dealings with Boender dating back to 2004. At that time, the developer loaned Gutierrez $200,000 in a real estate transaction. While some of the paperwork is missing, Gutierrez says he paid Boender back with interest within a few months.

But that deal, coupled with the tens of thousands of dollars donated over the years by Boender to Gutierrez's campaigns, appears to have endeared Boender to the congressman. Later in 2004, as Boender sought city approval for his controversial Galewood Yards development project, Gutierrez made the unusual move of lobbying City Hall strongly on his behalf.

TheTribune reports:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-m ... full.story



Gutierrez told Daley he understood that a planner, Nancy Kiernan, told the mayor at the summer meeting that Boender was "a bad guy of sorts."
"I absolutely refute this characterization," Gutierrez wrote. "Mr. Boender also has been responsible for development in Bucktown and (elsewhere) during the past 25 years, and I take issue with the Planning Department official's alleged negative comments."

Gutierrez asked the mayor for "any support that you can give" Boender.

The congressman's letter created a stir in Daley's planning department.

Danita Childers, a former top planning official who testified at Boender's trial, called the congressman's involvement in a local zoning matter "highly unusual" and said she was shocked at the tone of the letter.

The FBI ultimately prosecuted Boender for arranging $40,000 in free improvements to the home of Ald. Ike Carothers in exchange for the alderman's support on the project. Both he and Carothers have been convicted.

According to the Tribune, Childers' testimony about Gutierrez's involvement in Galewood Yards, as well as information about the $200,000 loan, piqued the FBI's interest.

The Bureau "has interviewed City Hall employees and Chicago aldermen" about Gutierrez's involvement in the case, the Tribune reports.

And while most of the questioning happened in 2008, as the FBI was preparing its case against Boender and Carothers, some inquiries took place as recently as February of this year.

On Monday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported onGutierrez's daughter's purchase of an affordable housing unit in 2008 that showed she received preferential treatment. Gutierrez denies any wrongdoing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/0 ... 62784.html

See Stories from Chicago Sun-Times Here


Luis Gutierrez's daughter's sweet housing deal
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-197598.html


Rep. Gutierrez arrested outside of White House in immigration
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-197259.html
Stories at end of page three and on page four

Time for Gutierrez to 'retire' so that he can attend to the needs of his family.

My state is so ready for candidates who will fight for the needs of citizens and legal immigrants.

Mark Kirk, Republican, is leading for the race to 'Obama's' senate seat. That would be quite a blow....

Gutierrez's influence cited
Developer's trial told of congressman's meeting with Daley

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez has made more than $420,000 on real estate deals

By Jeff Coen and Todd Lighty Tribune staff reporters
March 12, 2010


Testimony in the federal corruption trial of a Chicago developer on Thursday revealed that U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez met with the developer and Mayor Richard Daley to push for the city's approval of a controversial real estate venture.

Gutierrez's involvement in lobbying Daley to support the project goes a step beyond what the congressman has previously told the Tribune in stories documenting his political and financial relationship with the developer, Calvin Boender, and his unusual role in backing a project outside his congressional district.

The Tribune previously has reported that Gutierrez wrote a letter to Daley on Boender's behalf after receiving a $200,000 loan from Boender. The newspaper reported Sunday that relatives of Gutierrez and two other Chicago politicians who supported Boender landed jobs tied to the project known as Galewood Yards.

Gutierrez, a friend and golfing partner of Boender's, has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

Boender is on trial in federal court on charges he bribed former 29th Ward Ald. Isaac "Ike" Carothers as a reward for Carothers' supporting the West Side project and helping change its zoning from manufacturing use to residential and commercial.

Denise Casalino, a former city planning commissioner, testified Thursday that she was in a meeting with Gutierrez, Boender and Daley in the winter of 2004-05 at which Boender brought a model of his 50-acre project. Gutierrez's letter on U.S. House stationery was sent earlier the same year and was obtained by the FBI during its investigation of the Boender case, the Tribune has reported.

Casalino did not testify about what Gutierrez said but indicated Daley had a brief response. "He said, 'Thank you.' That was about it," Casalino said.

Gutierrez's office did not respond to requests Thursday for comment. Corporation Counsel Mara Georges issued a statement on Daley's behalf calling the meeting routine.

"During the course of a year, the mayor meets with thousands of people in brief meetings," the statement read. "According to the mayor's schedule, this was one of those meetings that occurred over five years ago. The mayor's scheduling office located this information and provided it to the U.S. attorney's office."

In 2008 the Tribune chronicled how Boender overrode the opposition of city planners to Galewood Yards after enlisting the support of Carothers and Gutierrez, D-Ill. Boender and his associates had donated about $55,000 to Carothers' re-election campaigns and $41,000 to Gutierrez's.

Gutierrez told the Tribune at the time there was no connection between the $200,000 loan and his lobbying of Daley. The congressman had sought to downplay his role in supporting Boender's project, saying at the time that his involvement was "extremely minimal" and "entirely appropriate."

Gutierrez, who is up for re-election this year, has a sister-in-law who had sold real estate for the project.

Meanwhile, another former planning official testified Thursday that Boender berated her in a 2004 telephone conversation when she raised the possibility of including his site for residential and commercial development in a planned manufacturing district.

Nancy Kiernan, a former manager in the planning and development office, said Boender reacted angrily, telling her he had "a deal" with the alderman of that ward and didn't need to listen to her.

"He said that he didn't know who I was, and he didn't need to know who I was," Kiernan testified of the call with Boender. "He didn't need to deal with me because he had a deal with the alderman. He said no one was going to tell him how to develop his property."

Kiernan said Carothers also rebuffed her when she tried to talk to him about the project at a City Council meeting.

"He said he didn't need to talk and he didn't want me to talk to anybody," she said. "He was going to do what he wanted to do with the land in his ward."

Kiernan also testified that Daley was briefed on the development and that he appeared to back her position to designate the site for a planned manufacturing district. She recalled explaining the plans and Daley responding, "PMD'em."

Lawyers for Boender have subpoenaed the mayor to testify, but U.S. District Judge Robert Dow has not decided whether to allow it.

It also remained unclear whether prosecutors would call Carothers as a witness. He pleaded guilty last month and agreed to continue to cooperate with the government. He had earlier worked undercover, wearing a wire on targets.
-----------
jcoen@tribune.com
tlighty@tribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 1199.story

Maybe,if we are lucky,his career will come crashing down as some others in the Illinois area.

fedupinwaukegan wrote,

Mark Kirk, Republican, is leading for the race to 'Obama's' Rolling Eyes senate seat. That would be quite a blow.... Cool

Are you serious? That would be great!

The real estate market in Chicago sure seems to find strange bedfellows for the politicians that run the area.

Originally Posted by fedupinwaukegan

Time for Gutierrez to 'retire' so that he can attend to the needs of his family.

My state is so ready for candidates who will fight for the needs of citizens and legal immigrants.

Mark Kirk, Republican, is leading for the race to 'Obama's' senate seat. That would be quite a blow....

I've had differences of opinion with Mark Kirk, especially some of his votes, but he's in the Guard and a patriot. His office will always listen politely when you call, even if you aren't in the district. Besides, he's running against a mob banker with ties to Obama's favorite real estate man, Tony Rezko.