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Aldermen: "What The ... ?"

Councilmen want to know why city spent money on nephew's deal

Wednesday, Jun 17, 2009 | Updated 6:00 AM CDT

Richard A. Chapman/Sun-Times

A year after Mayor Daley's nephew and his business partner lent $7.9 million in city pension funds to developers, the value of the targeted property has plummeted.

There's egg all over the Daley administration's face thanks to the mayor's nephew Robert Vanecko and his partners.

Chicago aldermen on Tuesday demanded to know why the city has paid nearly $500,000 to lease space at a South Side industrial site co-owned by Mayor Daley's nephew without City Council approval required for city leases, the Sun-Times reported Wednesday.

Apparently, a Daley administration's decision to make the lease month-to-month -- and continue that temporary arrangement since November, 2007 -- denied Ald. Ray Suarez' Committee on Housing and Real Estate and the full City Council the right to approve the deal.

"Things have to be done the right way. Right is right. Wrong is wrong. You can't skirt" the rules, the paper quotes Suarez as saying.