The Chicago Tribune welcomes the Investors in the Group that purchased the Flat-lined by Stupidity Chicago Sun Times with brimming bowls full of vitriol tossed right in the Lamps.
One of the best working journalists in the business Ray Gibson and a Tribune staff writer Michael Oneal seem to be doing the bidding of the same Editorial Band of geniuses who attempted to smear former Cook County Sheriff Mike Sheehan a few years ago. Sheriff Sheehan mocked the Tribune after a jury took less than twenty minutes to toss the case of Gang-Bangers/Lefty Lawyers and the Tribune's Full Court Press on a trumped up Cook County Jail Abuse Charge.
Mesirow Investment Chief James Tyree, a man with a sterling reputation for turning around businesses on life-support like the hapless Sun Times News Group ( STNG - the Progressive Independent Revolutionary Shining Path Cadre Mountain Molehill Heapers - Conrad Black's Children of the Corn and Banana Republic Payoff Mogul Cyrus Friedheim's Red Arm and Hammer Bangers*) has stepped up to save a Chicago newspaper.
Paper Hat Col. Bob McCormick's and No Popery Joe Medill's children led by Bruce 'Kenny G is Jazz' Dold seem to be following the Old Sun Times Playbook off the cliff - the one James Tyree kept The Obnoxious Oracle of Orleans Street from using.
In today's "Welcome to Progressive Journalism" oyster cracker, Gibson and Oneal squirt poison from the pens linking Tyree's Investors to a failed casino venture ( which Abner Mikva did his best to sink, it seemed to me, hearing no good word for the Emerald Investors in his Star Chamber treatment of the Casino License review - Emerald had the great Bob Clifford as counsel. BTW- I participated in one of the hearings and it sure seemed to me as though Abner Mikva had his mind set on swamping the Flynns, well before the testimony was given. The Mikva Challenge? Try and make your point.
The Tribune also attempts to toss the George Ryan Card freely at several investors as well as Al Capone. Gee why not link them to Moe Annenberg - too close to Billy Ayers I imagine. Thus!
In 2005, the Illinois Gaming Board revoked the license, citing a report by retired federal Judge Abner Mikva concluding that the owners had been deceptive and that the effort was tainted by mob influence. The Flynns have denied the charges.
Kevin Flynn, who runs an investment firm and is chairman of Renovo Services LLC, which repossesses cars and other assets, was unavailable for comment. Tyree said he knows Flynn through Mesirow's insurance arm.
Two other Sun-Times investors, William and Robert Parrillo, have deep business experience and come from a family with a long history in Chicago.
William founded Safeway Insurance Co, an auto insurer based in Westmont; his brother Robert is managing partner of Parrillo Weiss & O'Halloran, a Chicago law firm specializing in personal injury and insurance cases.
Their father did legal work for gangsters, including Al Capone. Their brother, Donald, a former 1st Ward alderman, once recounted that he was recruited to run for the post by then-Outfit chief Sam "Momo" Giancana.
Another brother, Richard, is a close friend of jailed former Republican Gov. George Ryan and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund Ryan's failed defense against corruption charges. He also has been a close associate and supporter of former 10th Ward Ald. Edward Vrdolyak.
William and Robert Parrillo weren't available for comment Friday, but a source close to them said they have worked over the years to distance themselves financially from their brothers.
Another Tyree investor, Edward Heil, made his fortune running a garbage business and a construction company that thrived on state contracts. He battled with DuPage County for years before selling a disputed landfill to Waste Management for $62.5 million in 1986.
More recently, Heil has invested in American Ecology Corp., which has a low-level nuclear waste site in Washington state.
Heil, 65, was one of Ryan's biggest financial supporters and a major donor to Gov. Jim Edgar. In 1993, Edgar canceled a potential $10 million state contract in which Heil had invested, saying he wanted to avoid the appearance that insiders might have gotten favored treatment.
Yep, the Tribune Editorial Board Mensa Chapter is sprinting to the same cliff that James Tyree stopped the Sun Times from trying out!
'Hi, I'm Col. Bob McCormick and this is my wife Joe Medill-McCormick! Welcome to the neighborhood! The wife, kids and I set your garage on fire! Here's a cold week old eggplant casserole with cauliflower sauce - we want the dish back tonight!'
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/01/AR2007080102601.html
Pat,
ReplyDeleteThat is not much of a story in the Trib. I read it this morning and said to myself "wow, that is not much of a story".
In my tautological bearings as a should-be press baron in Chicago, I mostly reject these types of stories.
The Tribune's tripe is one of them. "Who knows?" is what we already knew before anyone typed the wild "Who knows?"
JBP