If you’ve read the criminal complaint against County Board President Todd Stroger’s former deputy chief of staff Carla Oglesby, you’ll see a confusing hodgepodge of letters identifying various individuals. Public official B, Individual C, so on and so forth.
Through public records and news reports, we can identify or at least have an intelligent guess about who most of these people are. Can you help fill in the blanks?
Already we know that Oglesby, arrested Monday afternoon for various corruption charges, is the owner of CGC Communications, a small PR firm that helped with Stroger’s campaign’s publicity efforts during the primary campaign.
So, let’s go through the proffer and have a go at it. Characters are listed in order of appearance.
“Individual A,” identified later as the agent who was tapped to run CGC in Oglesby’s absence, as well as the affairs of Arrei Management, an alleged shell company. Without having the Arrei contract, it’s not totally clear who this person is.
“Public Official B” is described as the executive director of the county’s Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM), who signed a vendor justification letter on CGC’s behalf on Feb. 24, 2010. That’s David Ramos, whose department had federal grant money to help with flood relief.
“Public Official C,” described as strongly suggesting other public officials sign off on various contracts steered by Oglesby. The proffer describes this person at a Stroger “media representative.” It’s pretty clear this is Gene Mullins, who was identified this summer as directing contracts towards his cousin. Fox Chicago News also identified Mullins as “C” today.
“Communications Contractor A.” This is a tough one, which I don’t have pinned down yet. This contractor was supposed to do outreach for DSHEM with regards to flood relief.
“Individual C,” who was issued sequential checks in March, April and May from a CGC account worth $3,020, $1,060 and $530. Unknown.
“Individual B” and “Individual D.” They are CGC employees, who received funds from an account investigators ID’d as CGC payroll. “B” earned bi-weekly checks of $1,090, and “D” earned bi-weekly checks of $700. “B” is possibly Tesa Anewishki, CGC’s director of strategy, and the woman who offered a proposal for Arrei as it sought the county contract, according to news reports, or Jenni Johnson, an account executive whose signature is on a PowerPoint presentation given to to county offiicals. She left the firm in the spring as more shady contracts were revealed. The other is clearly a CGC employee, but I’m not certain who exactly it is. I have an inkling, but not enough proof to publish the name.
“Public Official D,” described as a Stroger PR staff member reporting to Mullins. This is Chris Geovanis, who complained to investigators of CGC taking credit for work she did publicizing flood relief. ABC7 had an interesting report featuring her comments, and called her a “whistleblower.” She told reporters Tuesday she’d been served with a subpoena and was looking forward to cooperating.
“Public Official G,” described as executive director of the Department of Environmental Control. This is Kevin Givens. He signed a justification letter for Arrei Management, a company previously owned by Oglesby, which prosecutors allege she set up as a front to launder money.
“Public Official H,” who signed a purchase order requesting county comptroller Constance Kravitz issue Arrei a check. It’s unclear who this is.
“Communications Contractor B,” with whom Mullins pressured Givens to contract. It’s unclear to me which company this is. Both “B” and Arrei were paid on March 26, the same day Mullins asked Givens to contract with them.
“Individual E,” identified as the agent who incorporated Arrei Events Planners – evidently the same company as Arrei Management – for Oglesby. Public records show this to a Tyrone Blackshear.
“Individual F,” identified by prosecutors as the manager of Arrei, who didn’t know much about the company or its operations. Public records and news reports show this is Mark Carter, the pro-Stroger activist who passed out the notoriously offensive fliers reaming Ald. Toni Preckwinkle, Mayor Richard M. Daley and more during the primary campaign.
Strangely the proffer includes nothing for Public Officials A, E or F.
The criminal complaint centers on CGC and Arrei, and doesn’t even touch the numerous 24/9 contracts issued in April to about 10 other companies, including both members of the rap duo Dude ‘n’ Em, best known for their owe to transfats, the ballad, “McDonald’s.”
We’ll see what happens in the next few days. I expect more people to get caught up in this. If you can fill in the blanks, leave a comment. They’re moderated, and all comments are considered confidential.
