The Tribune has done what I think is an internet first in publishing a column by John Kass which did not end up in print.

At least in my edition.

And the Tribune web site has two columns by Kass (actually what I think is an internet exclusive seems to be listed twice).

Friday, after Ed Vrdolyak’s indictment Kass wrote this column.

Some of it might be of interest to Crystal Lakers, because it mentions two of the three principals who won City Council approval to develop the Vulcan Lakes/Route 14 Tax Increment Financing District.

Kass is suggesting to the U.S. Attorney’s Office that it might want to talk to former reform Chicago Alderman Bill Singer, who apparently had business dealings with Ed Vrdolyak after Singer and, I presume, Vrdolyak left office.

Here’s the relevant part:

(Vrdolyak)’s reportedly been caught on tape talking to government informant and flipper Stuart Levine, a Republican, on a real estate deal involving Vrdolyak’s old City Council enemy turned friend, former liberal Democratic Ald. William Singer (43rd).

Singer is important here too. He bitterly complained, to me and at a CTA meeting, about another real estate deal gone bad (for him), in which he offered to pay $6 million more than another guy for prime CTA property on Clark Street.

The other guy, the one who got the property while Singer screamed in the background, is Michael Marchese, the developer and confidant of Mayor Richard M. Daley. If I were the FBI, I’d talk to Singer about whether he talked to other aldermen about the Marchese deal. (Singer has not been charged with any wrongdoing.)

Another player in “Operation Board Games” is William Cellini, the Republican boss of Springfield, not indicted or charged, but identified by the Tribune as being “Individual A” in court documents of the case.

Cellini and Marchese have connections and have done deals together and have not been accused formally of any wrongdoing, but with Vrdolyak going down, you wonder if their armpits are more moist than usual.

You may remember that the Friday after the Crystal Lake City Council selected Cellini’s development group, Cellini was the unnamed “Individual A,” according to multiple newspaper sources, in the plea agreement of Stuart Levine (of the Mercy Hospital and Downstate Teachers Retirement System scandals).

You may also remember that Mayor Aaron Shepley announced to the Northwest Herald that Cellini’s personal role in the Vulcan Lakes TIF development was no more.

Now, Kass–not, remember, the U.S. Attorney in even an unnamed reference to someone not yet charged, but worth referring to in a plea agreement–is mentioning another of three principals who successfully pitched the city council for the right to do the $120 million or so Vulcan Lakes TIF project.

The person named by Kass was Michael Marchese.

You can see him in this 2 minute, plus, YouTube posting discussing condemnation in the Cub Food/Walmart shopping center, which is next to, but not in, the Vulcan Lakes TIF project

I would stress that neither Cellini nor Marchese have been accused of no crime in Crystal Lake or elsewhere, as far as I know.

But it is an interesting web being woven, isn’t it?