Saturday, April 6, 2013
Trustee Tom Phelan responds to Mayor Dave Heilmann's accusations in mayor's campaign for re-election.
- ELECTIONS
-
Saturday, April 6
By TOM PHELAN A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.-- Winston Churchill I am taking this opportunity to respond to the litany of LIES that Oak Lawn Mayor Dave Heilmann has been putting forth in his campaign for re-election, the latest being his April 5th Oak Lawn Patch editorial, but in actuality going back to July of 2009 when my fellow Trustees and I discovered a massive fraud and cover-up perpetrated by Dave Heilmann related to the legal representation of his lawyer friends. To address ALL of Heilmann’s LIES would require the entire editorial section of the Oak Lawn Patch, and probably every other community Patch from here to the Wisconsin border. So for purposes of this response I am …
Monday, October 1, 2012
Mayor offers "observations" as defense against legal report that casts him in unflattering light.
In response to the Godfrey and Kahn probe into the former village attorney now known as Tressler LLP, Mayor Dave Heilmann offered his own 46-page document of "observations" responding to some of legal report's findings. Subscribe to the Oak Lawn Patch newsletter and breaking news alerts. Last week, Heilmann blasted Godfrey and Kahn attorney Eric Wilson for leaving out a federal grand jury subpeona served on the village last year requesting all documents and records pertaining to the hiriing of Querrey and Harrow. The firm replaced Tressler after some board members raised concerns over the village’s tripling legal fees, leaving some question of whether village had allegedly been double-billed by its village counsel. The village settled …
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Read all five installments of the Godfrey and Kahn legal investigation into the former village attorneys, paid for by the Oak Lawn taxpayers.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Read part 4 of the legal report into the former village attorney paid for by the taxpayers of Oak Lawn.
The Oak Lawn Village Board released a second investigative report into the former village attorney now known as Tressler LLP after questions arose about the firm's billings and handling of litigation. Godfrey and Kahn was hired by the village in May 2011 to conduct a second investigation into the former village attorney. The village board voted unanimously last April to accept a $500,000 from the firm. The settlement also carried an agreement to keep the final report confidential. Part 4 is the last installment of the Godfrey and Kahn Report. It is 504 pages long. The report was obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request filed with the Village. Read Part 1 of the Godfrey and Kahn Report. Read Part 2 of the Godfrey and Kahn Report. …
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Read "Part 3B" of the legal report into the former village attorney paid for by the taxpayers of Oak Lawn.
The Oak Lawn Village Board released a second investigative report into the former village attorney now known as Tressler LLP after questions arose about the firm's billings and handling of litigation. Sign up for the Oak Lawn Patch newsletter and breaking news alerts. Godfrey and Kahn was hired by the village in May 2011 to conduct a second investigation into the former village attorney. The village board voted unanimously last April to accept a $500,000 from the firm. The settlement also carried an agreement to keep the final report confidential. The saga continues with Part 3B of the Godfrey and Kahn report. The 206-page document includes: And this is just a sampling. Warning: Documents contain some graphic language. The report was …
Monday, September 17, 2012
Read part 3A of the legal report into the former village attorney paid for by the taxpayers of Oak Lawn.
The Oak Lawn Village Board released a second investigative report into the former village attorney now known as Tressler LLP after questions arose about the firm's billings and handling of litigation. Godfrey and Kahn was hired by the village in May 2011 to conduct a second investigation into the former village attorney. The village board voted unanimously last April to accept a $500,000 from the firm. The settlement also carried an agreement to keep the final report confidential. Part 3A of the Godfrey and Kahn report includes a letter from the firm to Village Manager Larry Deetjen outlining its terms to the village and $375-per-hour fee and an analysis of the "Odelson Report," the first legal audit of Tressler LLP during its employ by …
Friday, September 14, 2012
Read part two of the legal report into the former village attorney paid for by the taxpayers of Oak Lawn.
The Oak Lawn Village Board voted Tuesday evening to release Godfrey and Kahn's report of its investigation into the former village attorney Tressler LLP. Godfrey and Kahn was hired by the village in May 2011 to conduct a second investigation into the former village attorney after it was alleged that the firm over billed the village, as well as mishandled some cases. Sign up for the Oak Lawn Patch newsletter and breaking news alerts. Part II of the Godrey and Kahn report is 168 pages and includes an appendix of witnesses inteviewed for the report, including the mayor and Oak Lawn trustees, transcripts of executive sessions, and spreadsheets of legal fees billed to the village between October 2005 to September 2009. The report was obtained …
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Read part one of the legal report into the former village attorney paid for by the taxpayers of Oak Lawn.
The Oak Lawn Village Board voted Tuesday evening to release Godfrey and Kahn's report of its investigation into the former village attorney Tressler LLP. Godfrey and Kahn was hired by the village in May 2011 to conduct a second investigation of the former village attorney after it was alleged that the firm over billed the village, as well as mishandled some cases. Sign up for the Oak Lawn Patch newsletter and breaking news alerts. Some village board members also accused the mayor of blocking efforts to fire the law firm when it became apparent that the village's legal fees had tripled because he had friends at the firm. The village settled for $500,000 with the law firm that served as Oak Lawn's legal counsel between 2005 and 2009. Tied to…
Friday, August 31, 2012
Oak Lawn officials that former village attorney would not fight appeal to Illinois Attorney General for release of confidential report as part of legal settlement with village. Village board has until Sept. 5 to defend or release it.
The former village attorney won’t fight the release of an investigative report that it had allegedly overbilled Oak Lawn millions of dollars in legal fees between 2005 and 2009. Subcribe to the Oak Lawn Patch newsletter and breaking news alerts. Tressler, Soderstrom, Maloney and Preiss—now known as Tressler LLP—settled with the village for $500,000 in April after a lengthy investigation into its legal billings by a Wisconsin-based firm specializing in white collar defense and investigation. The Oak Lawn Village Board unanimously approved to accept the settlement which came with a confidentiality agreement that the village would be fined $50,000 should the report become public. Patch received a copy of a confidential email late Thursday …
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Residents may never get to see Godfrey and Kahn's final investigative report into legal billings by former village attorneys even though they paid for it.
Editor's Note: The headline of this story was changed to more accurately reflect the mayor's response to receiving the final legal investigative report into the former village attorneys. The rest of the story remains the same. Oak Lawn residents may never get the chance to see an investigative report into the legal billings by the former village attorneys because of a confidentiality agreement tied to a legal settlement. The Oak Lawn Village Board agreed to table penciling in a date to receive special counsel’s final report in alleged overbillings and malpractice by the law firm Tressler, Soderstrom, Maloney & Priess—now known as Tressler LLP—that served as the village attorney between October 2005 and September 2009. Following a report by…
41.720505
-87.752695
Village of Oak Lawn
9446 Raymond Ave, Oak Lawn, IL
/articles/mayor-tables-reading-of-final-legal-investigative-report
327793
/locations/7084573
joseph levitch
10:48 pm on Tuesday, April 9, 2013
tom is right, heilman and his band of merry men have cost this village in lawsuits that the courts already have ruled on. yet he wasted 2 million in our tax dollars over the fire department labor issues. the man should be in jail. good thing he was voted out! well said tom! more ›