What is O’Hare expansion really about?

In a blockbuster story in Sunday’s Chicago Sun-Times, Robert C. Herguth begins:

Ald. Patrick Levar asks for and accepts political contributions from businesses that want approval from the City Council committee he chairs. He does the same with municipal workers whose livelihoods depend on him.

By Chicago standards, that’s not uncommon.

But the old-school Northwest Side Democrat (45th) works a more unusual fund-raising angle, too: He pursues and takes donations from O’Hare Airport contractors who, while not directly involved with his panel, are overseen by his brother Michael Levar, a $93,500-a-year supervisor with Mayor Daley’s patronage-heavy Aviation Department.

Pat Levar and his ward organization have received $50,000 from folks who had contracts up for bid before brother Mike. How cozy!

It just so happened that half of the contractors with business before Mike gave money to Pat in the last three years. How does it go down?

One concrete engineer, Takao Nagai, told Herguth:

I don’t talk to Mike directly on a daily basis, but I talk to a couple of his guys who are in charge of us. They mention a fund-raising dinner is coming up and you should probably attend. I said, “OK, what’s the minimum?” … It was very casually brought up when we were taking care of other business at O’Hare.

He didn’t feel pressured, though:

There was a time when I was interested in getting involved a little more in the political scene to find out what it was like … I’m sure that was my intention.

I’m sure it was. “What’s the minimum?” is often a question asked by those merely interested in learning more about political affairs.

Meanwhile, Greg Hinz reports for Crain’s Chicago Business that all the construction management teams bidding for the contract to oversee O’Hare expansion have ties to Da Mare.

I am shocked — shocked! — that there is cronyism going on in this town.

The prize? Sixty million dollars over the next 15 years. And how much of that will wind up back in the pockets of Da Mare and people like Pat Levar. One only knows.

Just don’t let those Bensenville cemeteries get in the way of all the fun, boys! That’s what we’ve got eminent domain for, isn’t it?