McHenry County Blog

The annual Pro-Life Pig Roast was held at Irene Napier’s Valley View Road farm northeast of Crystal Lake Sunday and there were candidates galore.

With Governor Pat Quinn’s having just signed the Democrats’ reapportionment bill for for congressional districts, the two incumbents living in the new 14th District showed up.

Joe Walsh, who lives between McHenry and Johnsburg, arrived first.

He worked the crowd, then spoke to it.

He and other elected officials were drafted to auction off donated items.

Randy Hultgren, from the DuPage County end of the new 14th District came with his family.

After speaking to those gathered, Hultgren also became a celebrity auctioneer.

State Senators Dan Duffy and Chris Lauzen told what was happening in Springfield.

Then, they were also impressed to be auctioneers.

Two people whose names have been mentioned as potential candidates for the Republican nomination for State Representative in the new 64th district, which is divided about 50-50 between McHenry County and Lake County were sighted.

Retiring McHenry County Board member Barb Wheeler was in attendance, as was McHenry Grade School and Library Board member John O’Neill.

Democrat State Rep. Jack Franks flattered O’Neill by removing the Spring Grove precincts where O’Neil beat him last year from the boundaries of his newly-drawn 63rd District.

Both are possibilities, as is attorney Joe Gottemoller.  Wheeler and Gottemoller have Crystal Lake addresses.  O’Neill lives in McHenry.

A potential candidate for the 8th congressional district is Rich Evans.

A CPA, Evans has contacts in the 8th District, although he now lives in Crystal Lake.

Incumbent 8th District Congressman Joe Walsh is not expected to run for re-election in the new district.

In addition to Barb Wheeler, three McHenry County Board
members were in attendance:

• John Hammerand of Woodstock,
• John Jung of Bull Valley and
• Nick Provenzano of McHenry

A potential candidate for District 6, former Huntley School Board President Shawn Green, attended with his toddler and pregnant wife Angela.

Other elected officials were also chowing down.

Included were

• McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi,
• Wonder Lake Fire Protection District Trustee Cheryl Hammerand, and
• Johnsburg School District Board member Steve Rooney.

Judge Michael Chmiel was there with his wife, Marie, a former McHenry County Board member.

Patriots United announced that Maria Rodriguez has been hired as Executive Director.

Out of the ordinary was the appearance of two guys not seeking office,

• physician Arie Friedman and
• former State Rep. candidate Dan Sugrue.

After his run against an incumbent Democrat in Lake County last year, Mike Madigan put the woman who beat him in a district with incumbent Republican Sid Mathias.  Any chance that Sugrue could win in the Green Oaks district where he lives is minimal.  He was elected the the village board his past spring, however.

Friedman ran in the 10th congressional district Republican primary against Robert Dold.  He has often spoken in public forms against Obamacare.

 

I am delighted to report that Senator Matt Murphy and State Rep. Sid Mathias have sponsored a bill that will crack down on what I have called pop-up committees.

These tax hike committees announce their presence as late as possible.

Sometimes, as in this situation, the political action committees announce their appearance AFTER the election.

Under the bill just passed, the pop-up PACS “created within 30 days before an election must file its (State Board of Election) statement of organization within two days (now, within 5 business days) after its creation and must file the statement via facsimile transmission or electronic mail.”

Most recently, the Grafton Township Republican incumbents used a pop-up committee called “Citizens to Reelect Quality Leaders.”

Barrington area resident Kamleshwar Gupta and his firm, Kam Engineering (KEI) of Elgin, has been indicted by United State’s Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald for overcharging the Illinois Department of Transportation by over $1 million from 1994 through 2003.

The State Board of Elections reveals campaign contributions to Rod Blagojevich, George Ryan, Jim Edgar, Judy Baar Topinka, Sid Mathias, and Jim Schmidt.

Blagojevich received $15,000 from 2002-2004.

Ryan got $6,200.

Mathias – $3,500 from 1999-2006.

Edgar got $5,500.

Schmidt – $500.

Judy Baar Topinka – $1,200, all in the 1990′s.

A bookkeeper has apparently agreed to testify against Gupta.

This is the first indictment after Federal Appellate Court Judge Ann Williams’ scathing and crystal clear opinion upholding the convictions of Mayor Richard Daley’s patronage men.

If you were the U.S. Attorney’s Office would you be interested in knowing how Gupta got convinced to contribute $3,000 on April 8, 2004, and, then, another $5,000 on the same day? And, five weeks later still another $5,000?

The press release, which follows, says Gupta faces 80 years in prison. He is 63.

Think it is “let’s make a deal” time?

The U.S. Attorney’s pres release follows:

ELGIN ENGINEERING FIRM AND ITS OWNER INDICTED FOR ALLEGEDLY
OVERCHARGING IDOT MORE THAN $1 MILLION DURING NINE-YEAR SPAN

CHICAGO – An engineering consulting firm in Elgin and its owner were indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly overcharging the Illinois Department of Transportation more than $1 million while performing various jobs for the state agency between 1994 and 2003, federal law enforcement officials announced today. The defendants, Kamleshwar Gupta, and the engineering firm he founded and owns, KAM Engineering, Inc. (KEI), allegedly submitted false invoices and financial information regarding overhead expenses and the number of hours worked by KEI employees on contracts for IDOT.

Gupta, 63, of Barrington, and KAM Engineering, of Elgin, which has approximately 30 employees, were each charged with four counts of mail fraud in an indictment returned on April 17 by a federal grand jury in Chicago. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of more than $1 million in proceeds of the alleged fraud scheme. The charges were announced today by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Michelle McVicker, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General in Chicago; and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Gupta and KEI are scheduled to be arraigned on April 30 in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

According to the indictment, during a span of nine years, GUPTA and KEI fraudulently altered KEI’s timekeeping records by moving hours among different KEI jobs and contracts. The altered hours reported to IDOT fraudulently increased the amount of money that KEI billed to and collected from IDOT. Contrary to regulations applicable to IDOT contracts, Gupta and KEI caused employees to keep timesheets in pencil, rather than in ink, to facilitate fraudulent alterations of the employees’ timesheets.

The indictment alleges that Gupta directed Individual A, a bookkeeper, to falsely alter original employee timesheets. As a result, Gupta and KEI manipulated labor and overhead to increase the amounts that would be paid to KEI by IDOT, including by inflating the hours for which KEI could bill under contracts that paid KEI based on the hours worked, and by inflating KEI’s overhead costs. Gupta allegedly signed that fraudulent invoices that he directed Individual A to create.

The alleged scheme resulted in KEI overcharging IDOT a total of $1,069,293.44, according to the indictment. IDOT officials provided extensive assistance in the investigation after uncovering the alleged fraud scheme. IDOT’s responsibilities include administering federal and state highway funds in Illinois, including substantial funds from the Federal Highway Administration.

The Government is being represented in court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina Egan.

If convicted, each count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The Court, however, would determine the appropriate sentence to be imposed under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Barrington area resident Kamleshwar Gupta and his firm, Kam Engineering (KEI) of Elgin, has been indicted by United State’s Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald for overcharging the Illinois Department of Transportation by over $1 million from 1994 through 2003.

The State Board of Elections reveals campaign contributions to Rod Blagojevich, George Ryan, Jim Edgar, Judy Baar Topinka, Sid Mathias, and Jim Schmidt.

Blagojevich received $15,000 from 2002-2004.

Ryan got $6,200.

Mathias – $3,500 from 1999-2006.

Edgar got $5,500.

Schmidt – $500.

Judy Baar Topinka – $1,200, all in the 1990′s.

A bookkeeper has apparently agreed to testify against Gupta.

This is the first indictment after Federal Appellate Court Judge Ann Williams’ scathing and crystal clear opinion upholding the convictions of Mayor Richard Daley’s patronage men.

If you were the U.S. Attorney’s Office would you be interested in knowing how Gupta got convinced to contribute $3,000 on April 8, 2004, and, then, another $5,000 on the same day? And, five weeks later still another $5,000?

The press release, which follows, says Gupta faces 80 years in prison. He is 63.

Think it is “let’s make a deal” time?

The U.S. Attorney’s pres release follows:

ELGIN ENGINEERING FIRM AND ITS OWNER INDICTED FOR ALLEGEDLY
OVERCHARGING IDOT MORE THAN $1 MILLION DURING NINE-YEAR SPAN

CHICAGO – An engineering consulting firm in Elgin and its owner were indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly overcharging the Illinois Department of Transportation more than $1 million while performing various jobs for the state agency between 1994 and 2003, federal law enforcement officials announced today. The defendants, Kamleshwar Gupta, and the engineering firm he founded and owns, KAM Engineering, Inc. (KEI), allegedly submitted false invoices and financial information regarding overhead expenses and the number of hours worked by KEI employees on contracts for IDOT.

Gupta, 63, of Barrington, and KAM Engineering, of Elgin, which has approximately 30 employees, were each charged with four counts of mail fraud in an indictment returned on April 17 by a federal grand jury in Chicago. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of more than $1 million in proceeds of the alleged fraud scheme. The charges were announced today by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Michelle McVicker, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General in Chicago; and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Gupta and KEI are scheduled to be arraigned on April 30 in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

According to the indictment, during a span of nine years, GUPTA and KEI fraudulently altered KEI’s timekeeping records by moving hours among different KEI jobs and contracts. The altered hours reported to IDOT fraudulently increased the amount of money that KEI billed to and collected from IDOT. Contrary to regulations applicable to IDOT contracts, Gupta and KEI caused employees to keep timesheets in pencil, rather than in ink, to facilitate fraudulent alterations of the employees’ timesheets.

The indictment alleges that Gupta directed Individual A, a bookkeeper, to falsely alter original employee timesheets. As a result, Gupta and KEI manipulated labor and overhead to increase the amounts that would be paid to KEI by IDOT, including by inflating the hours for which KEI could bill under contracts that paid KEI based on the hours worked, and by inflating KEI’s overhead costs. Gupta allegedly signed that fraudulent invoices that he directed Individual A to create.

The alleged scheme resulted in KEI overcharging IDOT a total of $1,069,293.44, according to the indictment. IDOT officials provided extensive assistance in the investigation after uncovering the alleged fraud scheme. IDOT’s responsibilities include administering federal and state highway funds in Illinois, including substantial funds from the Federal Highway Administration.

The Government is being represented in court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina Egan.

If convicted, each count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The Court, however, would determine the appropriate sentence to be imposed under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.