The Chicago Tribune's Juan Perez, Jr. is asking the questions about the Rula Lenska of Progressive Chicago Politics, that I have asked for years. My heart is warmed. Mr. Perez has a nice set of teeth.
Forrest Claypool, the Rula Lenska* of Chicago politics, has had one helluva run! For decades this fading beauty has been treated to quality moisturizers, Dior Air-Flash foundation, blot & powder and just the right blush on those apple cheeks, by the stooge propagandists at WTTW, ABC 7, NBC5, and . . .oh, what the hell CBS2.
About the time Rula Lenska was bombarding the TV airwaves hawking Alberto Culver products and stunning millions of Americans into raising the question " Just Who IS Rula Lensaka?" Forrest Claypool was brushing the Saluki moss from the back of his grey worsted Brooks Brothers and insinuating his way into the corridors of power on La Salle and Clark between Washington and Randolph. Soon, Chicagoans were saying, " Just Who IS Forrest Claypool?"
No one seemed to have the insight, or the gumption to say," He's a grifter and damn well-practiced one, Rubes."
Nope, we are too nice. We swallow anything, because our news papers and electronic media is as much a part of the political anatomy of Chicago, as the 14th Ward Regular Democratic Liver, Bacon and Onions Boosters.
Forrest Claypool oozed into Chicago Power Politics with David Axelrod, Judson Miner, and Rahm Emanuel.
They helped Abner Mikva and Michael Shakman remove the City That Works' political limbs, leaving a Progressive torso that requires much more monetary sustenance, than the once functioning apparatus had ever dreamed of stealing. The old time political crooks never stole everything. Progressives do.
Progressives are loyal only to power and those who bring more power to the table. Claypool is master of the game. He requires short memories and no interested inquiry on the part of people who should know better. Do any Progressive a favor and a politician will soon find a six inch blade where his kidneys once functioned. The political landscape is littered with corpses of once trusting and effective public servants.
Claypool gets appointments via his network. If he runs for office, he generally gets his ass handed to him - County Board President and Cook County Assessor. He did manage to squeak by Ted Lechowicz and grab a comfy seat on the county Board
He has been appointed
- to Cook County Board of Appeals
- as Deputy State Treasurer
- Mayor Daley's Chief of Staff
- Head of Chicago Parks
- CEO CTA
- CEO CPS
Now, with digital media some people begin to ask " Who Exactly IS Forrest Claypool?" Even the always pliable Chicago Tribune has turned its blind but gimlet eye on Forrest Claypool and his modus operandi.
The inspector general for the Chicago Board of Education says his work has been obstructed and duplicated by a better-funded arm of CPS chief Forrest Claypool's office, according to a report that lays out a political scuffle between the legally mandated watchdog and the mayoral-appointed administration.
In his report, Nicholas Schuler accuses auditors for Chicago Public Schools of "significant interference" with his investigation into the alleged theft of tens of thousands of dollars worth of CTA fare cards by a district employee.
A "parallel investigation" of that case by CPS' Office of Internal Audit and Compliance last year "compromised a criminal investigation by prematurely alerting a main subject, and sowing fear and confusion in the minds of key witnesses," Schuler said in his report, which was sent to Claypool and the school board.
Auditors also contacted Cook County prosecutors in an effort to inject their department into the inspector general's fare card investigation, Schuler's office said. He said "very troubling issues remain" with other investigations being undertaken by the auditor's office.
Gee, who'd a thunk? Carol Marin? Jay Levine? Neil Steinberg? Mark Brown? Jamie Kalvan?
No one worried too much when Rahm made Claypool the CTA Boss and got Rev. Pfleger to do a politcial hatchet job on the Presidentod Amalgamated Transit Workers Local 308, or about Bombardier contracts, or the Ventra Card Boondoggles. Why should WTTW worry about the fighting Progressive beaten by Joe Berrios, when he took over CPS, after Triple B sold the store to SUPES?
Forrest Claypool pads himself with dollars and silence afforded by trhe compliant media. Now, that same padding is getting shredded. Lookee H'yar!
The district's internal audit team is led by Andrell Holloway, who previously worked with Claypool in a similar role at the CTA. The unit has received significant funding increases since Claypool took office.
CPS budgeted a little more than $958,000 for the audit department in 2015. This year, the budget for Holloway's office is roughly $4.4 million, not including up to $14 million worth of consulting contracts that he manages.
This year's budget for Schuler's office is about $2 million, relatively unchanged from recent years. The office perennially asks the school board for more money and staff.
"I think there's a fundamental disagreement, at some level, about the importance of the IG's office," Schuler said in an interview. "I've been told that at the end of the day, nobody's going to stand in our way. We're free to do what we can. But I see that as something different than a wholehearted embrace of the inspector general's function and the idea that there's going to be independent and transparent investigations. CPS declined requests to interview Claypool and Holloway about Schuler's report." (emphasis my own)
Forrest managed to drag poor old Frank "The Mailroom Guy" Clark -former CEO of ComEd into the bed of Claypool's making
Frank Clark, the school board's president and a mediator in the dispute, said Holloway's unit needed more firepower after "not meeting even the minimal obligations of an internal audit department."The IG's investigation applies the Bounty to the slug trails going back to Claypool's Boss-time at CTA and his Boss-time for the children at CPS.
"Of course he would like more people," Clark said of Schuler's office. "That could be said for almost every office in central office. But it's unrealistic."
CTA and CPS, like Chicago Park District all seem to have the same players and same grift. The IG's concern now is the connection between Claypool's CTA Boss-Time and his CPS Boss-Time.
Schuler's office concluded the CPS employee "participated in a criminal conspiracy" in which he would steal transit passes from his office, then distribute them to accomplices who sold them on the black market.
Schuler's investigators believed the employee, who has not been charged with a crime, took at least $72,700 worth of transit passes over about seven months.
The CPS employee was fired in November, according to Schuler's report, which said Holloway's audit department conducted an "improper separate and parallel investigation" into the theft.
Schuler's office said the audit team "disregarded repeated requests … to refrain from simultaneously and separately investigating the matter."
According to the report, Holloway and other members of his team instructed one person interviewed by the IG's office to contact the audit department about the investigation, and conducted separate interviews that Schuler said "prematurely alerted" the suspected employee.
"This investigation implicated a subject who had been hired from the CTA," said a summary of Schuler's investigation.
"Thus, so as to avoid the mere appearance of any impropriety or undue influence on any investigation into the theft of CTA transit passes purchased by CPS, Internal Audit clearly should have stepped aside and let the (IG's office) — the statutorily independent investigative body — undertake its own investigation," the report said.
Schuler's office concluded the CPS employee "participated in a criminal conspiracy" in which he would steal transit passes from his office, then distribute them to accomplices who sold them on the black market.
Schuler's investigators believed the employee, who has not been charged with a crime, took at least $72,700 worth of transit passes over about seven months.
The CPS employee was fired in November, according to Schuler's report, which said Holloway's audit department conducted an "improper separate and parallel investigation" into the theft.
Schuler's office said the audit team "disregarded repeated requests … to refrain from simultaneously and separately investigating the matter."
According to the report, Holloway and other members of his team instructed one person interviewed by the IG's office to contact the audit department about the investigation, and conducted separate interviews that Schuler said "prematurely alerted" the suspected employee.
"This investigation implicated a subject who had been hired from the CTA," said a summary of Schuler's investigation.
"Thus, so as to avoid the mere appearance of any impropriety or undue influence on any investigation into the theft of CTA transit passes purchased by CPS, Internal Audit clearly should have stepped aside and let the (IG's office) — the statutorily independent investigative body — undertake its own investigation," the report said.
Back in Jaunary of 2016. Juan Perez wrote a brilliant study of Claypool's long and slimy trail of grift in public service.
The career grifter has the Winston Strawn attorney Ron Marmer and the mega donor Ron DeNard and all of the old gang in his wagon train. Now, it's in a tight defensive circle.
Juan Perez is attacking the wagons! Watch you back, Juan. Bruce Dold has long ridden in Claypool's wagons.
Just who is Forrest Claypool? He's no Rula Lenska. Better ask Juan Perez! Tell it, Son!
