I'm happier to see this in the hands of the feds than in the hands of another law firm hired because they have friends on the Board. But my question is why do the residents of Oak Lawn have to wait two months to find out the Village was served with a Federal grand jury subpoena? The subpoena was served June 24th.

I doubt this is news that anyone on the board would voluntarily share with the public.
Lorraine, I'm curious as to how the feds would get involved. I'm sure that one side or the other on the Board would feel they were brought in as part of some politically motivated initiative. Maybe they just smelled a rat. I have my feelings on this subject, but I just hope that the lid is taken off this whole mess and that the truth prevails. Doesn't matter to me which side is guilty of wrong-doing, as long as it gets out in the open.

Well said, OLG.

Jerry Hurckes brought in the Feds via US Cong Liponski. Think about it: his resignation was strategically planned right before he leaked this story to the press. This story is confusing as it leads readers to believe Q&H's hiring is being looked @ while its really the hiring and overnbilling of the Mayor's atty buddies @ ?. Which firm is it?

One, that's one possible scenario. I was a little confused too. It appears they want the tapes from those closed meetings that several trustees do not want released, as well as documents relating to the hiring of QH. Which, I hope, leads to more requests for information so we can all see what the heck has been going on for the past few years with the legal help Oak Lawn has hired.

The tapes and meeting minutes would relate to Tressler's handling of the firefighter's lawsuit. There were allegations that an offer had been approved at that meeting but Tressler never extended the offer to the firefighter's lawyer. The resulting settlement was higher than the approve offer. But the mayor said the tape showed the entire board had been presented with Tressler's strategy. After that the board fired Tressler and hired Q&H. The suggestion was that the Q&H hiring was a political favor but I forget the details. Madigan related maybe?

Jerry is a real possibility on the person who involved the feds. Another possibility is Tressler if they're convinced they were wrongfully terminated. There's an issue of reputation for them too, Another possible area of inquiry might be the hiring of Q&H. When Feds get involved they often cast a wide net. I agree that this will really help to arrive at the truth.

Why is Carol Q a trustee. She can't even say a word in the meeting and can only doing this for health benefits.

Let's just hope they get to the truth quickly and it doesn't cost us huge amounts of tax dollars for no gain to the taxpayer...........

Ladies and Gentlemen:
A subpoena does not mean there was any wrong doing by anyone, all it means is "lets take a look see at the records," "How much did you pay the XYZ Company, and how much did they report you paid" So anyone with any law enforcement experience would have to assume, that since the Fed requested records that pertain to a Law Firm named Querrey & Harrow, they are following the money, which is Standard Operating Procedures. To take it one (1) step further an INDICTMENT is not a CONVICTION. It never ceases to amaze me, if someone likes a politician and a story like this breaks, the alleged voters either spew accolade's upon the person/people they feel were wronged, or they spew slurs and diatribes that have zero findings or fact. If they had an iota of an education, they would wait for all of the facts to be presented, after a complete and unbiased investigation and then post a comment or two. Just because some one's name or political party was mentioned they do one of two things, they defend and/or malign the accused. I would strongly suggest everyone would follow the advice of Abraham Lincoln, since we are referred to as the LAND of Lincoln and remember "IT IS BETTER TO REMAIN SILENT AND THOUGHT A FOOL, THEN TO SPEAK UP AND REMOVE ALL DOUBT"

In a democracy I'd prefer to be able to debate an issue or event at any stage in the process and not have an allotted slot of 2 questions at some arbitrary point in time. I also think this subpoena is starting with Tressler and not Q&H. Although where it will end remains to be seen. I'm happy the Feds are involved.

Oak Lawn Guy, I don't necessarily disagree with you, but a lot of Criminal Files get open for a lot of reasons, mainly it is because someone has/had an agenda that just didn't materialize, and instead of admitting they were wrong about whatever it was, then they resort by saying something like, if he/she really did not do, they are doing something. I am not a Psych Major, I don't know if that is driven by jealousy, or hate, just like a reply by someone named Jon, he poses the question why someone is a Trustee, the answer plain and simple is, the people in her district done one of 2 things, (A) They Voted for her because they approved of her being a candidate and/or (B) They voted against her opponent (if she had one) I don't even know what district she represents, but the blurb just seems to be more on a personal level, then an assessment of the Trustees as a whole. Ergo what about the people that voted for her, and the people that voted against her opponent if she had one, is this person saying that they the voters are deficient or something.
I exchanged some ideas with Lorraine Swanson, this column was supposed to be like a Heads up of what is going on in the Village at a glance, and it is turning out to be a personality contest, if the poster likes the person it is accolades or excuses about why something happened, or if they dislike the blurb, or the individual who did the posting other people start piling on and talking about the persons wife/husband, or the kids.

It doesn't appear that anyone is blaming anyone politically or otherwise thus far. But it's kind of hard to argue that the Feds are just probing for the hell of it, unless you are a friend or family of these parties. I'm sure all records will be scutinized & all involved interview. If any crooked deals were made, for instance the hiring of a spouse in a quid pro quo deal, that employer will have to tesitify under oath in front of a grand jury. People tend to tell the truth in that situation, luckily.

Three highly publicized cases come to mind right off the top of my head, O J Simpson, Strauss-Kahn and Caylee Marie Anthony, 2 out of the 3 were tried by a jury and exonerated, but a lot of people said they both where "guilty as sin", the "fix was in" you name it and it was said. The very truth of the matter was all three are commonly referred to as "HEATER CASES" and the Prosecutors, Police, Elected Officials bow to public sentiment and visualize their careers going down a toilet, So they feel it to be important for the public to know the right people are on the job, so they arrest innocent people or are proven to be innocent at trial, and then the taxpayers end up paying millions of dollars for their errors. If the State, the Counties and Cities are as broke as they claim, how do these elected officials wind up in these offices for 20, 25 & 30 years. The answer is simply this, people have been bad mouthing politicans since the Garden of Eden was proclaimed the best orchard in the world, and since people are not able to elect their candidate, they gossip they talk trash, they create such a bad environment, nothing gets done the Tax Payers keep paying, and the voters lose. I also told Lorraine Swanson I am a firm believer on the FIRST AMENDMENT, however I truly believe all have the right to stand on a corner spew all the hate they want, because that is their Constitutional Right to do that, but I don't think any publicition should provide them a platform just to vent.

I saw some reference to District 218 and some political favors being swapped for jobs. How will putting facts on the table bring light to the real dealings on this issue?

Nothing we say here will impact a federal investigation. The good thing about the feds is they will conduct an exhaustive investigation.

I really need to vent for a moment if I may, The entire system is actually designed to be corrupt, I am not quite sure about at the Village Level, but I seen and read some posts that indicated people spent a lot of money to get elected, because if you don't spend a lot of money, you aren't able to get elected. So depending on the Office one is seeking, it would depend on how much one needs to raise. I just heard the other day, President Obama plans on raising a Billion Dollars to get re-elected as President, without being verbally abusive, personally speaking I don't think his end results as accomplished warrant being re-elected. But a Billion Dollars buy a lot of Television Time, so if they convince a lot of people, that all of this misery is still belongs to George Bush, or the Republican Party is splintered because they refuse to UNITE behind one candidate, or the Democratic Party also fields an Independent Candidate to split the Republican vote, he could actually get Re-Elected. If that is the will of the people so be it, that is what a democracy is all about. But no one gives any one a BILLION DOLLARS because they believe in good Government. So how can anyone have all of the best intentions, but as soon as they see an Elected Official in the presence of a political benefactor, someone from the opposition starts yelling corruption, payoff, fix, you name it and someone stands ready to make an accusation. Does anyone really know how to get elected without making someone mad

I know exactly what you are talking about, but here is the rub. Lets say a person is running for Trustee here in the Village. If all or most of his funding comes from say Banks or Investment Company's from Downtown Chicago, His or Her opposition say they want to change the Banking Structure here in Oak Lawn. Most likely these are friends or acquaintances that is why they contributed in the first place. Now the person gets elected, and they find out that the fees and costs of doing business with the Oak Lawn XXXX Savings and Loan Association are rather high, and he discusses the rates with people he considers experts in the field, and discovers he could save the Village 40% of the cost, by changing banks. Forget about the cost savings that are involved, because someone is going to get his/her undies in a bunch for some other reasons, maybe their spouse works at the bank. Maybe someones family is a stock holder of the bank, The 40% savings now becomes rumor, innuendo and political fodder, the new elected Trustee is repaying his/her friends for their political contributions, and the Village of Oak Lawn gets nothing out of the new deal. No matter what anyone tries to do for the betterment of the people they serve is nobel in some peoples eyes, and is is a gimmick or a political ploy or angle to others. So whoever said "You can please some of the people, some of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time" sure knew what he wwas talking about.

Well, the news of a subpoena certainly gives a new perspective to the decision to table the renewal of Q&H's contract. (Story appeared Aug. 15, nearly two months after the subpoena.)

http://oaklawn.patch.com/articles/village-board-tables-renewing-querrey-harrows-annual-contract

“I’d like to make a motion to table because I’ve had many concerns brought to our village manager’s attention and I’m waiting for replies on that,” Trustee Alex Olejniczak (Dist. 2) said. “Until I get the replies, I’d like to table that.”
Trustee Carol Quinlan (Dist. 5) who voted against the hiring of Querrey & Harrow, said she was “a big believer in receiving proposals from different firms.”

“I think it’s worthwhile if we’re going to take a breather for a month,” Quinlan said. “Our legal bills are high. It never hurts.”

Olejniczak said Quinlan wasn’t being fair.

“I don’t think it’s fair because the information I’ve been provided is that our legal bills have actually decreased,” Olejniczak said.

ALEX YOUR A JOKE.

But Alex O is funny! Actually so is carol. While the firm that shall not be named was tripling the billing, Carol never asked to go out for proposals. Why not?