"Sister of Daley insider gets sweet deal"

This story has it all: good old Chicago corruption (as usual inextricably linked to the name "Daley") as well as a peek behind the curtain of affirmative action:

Virginia Reyes -- the sister of Victor Reyes, Mayor Daley's key political operative -- was on the verge of snagging a contract as a minority-owned business to supply toilets and other plumbing items at O'Hare International Airport.

But she had two problems.

She needed City Hall to quickly certify her firm, Toltec Construction, as a minority vendor of plumbing supplies.

And she needed plumbing supplies...

[...was certified in two days...]

...City officials didn't need to ensure that Reyes -- an attorney then at City Colleges of Chicago -- actually had any plumbing supplies to sell.

Reyes, 41, the president of Toltec, told the city she would just be reselling items bought from a suburban plumbing supply company -- a firm owned by white men...

...Toltec didn't even have to deliver the supplies for the two O'Hare warehouses built for the city by Centerpoint Properties.

Toltec ordered the supplies from the white-owned business, Builders Plumbing and Heating Supply Co.

Builders then delivered the plumbing material to Cecchin Plumbing and Heating, the white-owned contractor running the O'Hare plumbing job.

Inserting Toltec into the deal cost taxpayers more money. How much is unclear. Overall, Toltec got about $218,000 for the work on two buildings, starting in 2003, city records show. Toltec got another $480,000 for helping Cecchin with the infrastructure at O'Hare, city records show...

Ain't "liberalism" grand?

MultiCultiCult · Sun, 01/16/2005 - 20:45 · · Importance: 1