He did his time. But will critics “let it go” with regards to Vanecko’s offense?

VANECKO: Debt paid to society?

Time passes. Eventually, it will quit snowing.

Although evidence that all things come to an end may well be Richard Vanecko, the nephew and grandson of Chicago mayors who earlier this year pleaded guilty to criminal charges that said he was involved in a drunken brawl that left another man dead.

VANECKO GOT A 60-day jail sentence, and even was able to make arrangements so that he didn’t have to do his time in Cook County Jail (where he would have had the perpetual bulls-eye on his back). Earlier this week, that sentence ran its course.

Vanecko is a free man. He still has a period of home confinement to complete – he’ll be wearing one of those ankle bracelets – along with a couple of years of probation.

He’s still going to have the eyes of law enforcement and the court system on him for a bit. But the hard part is over – in one sense.

But just like the snowfall that doesn’t seem to want to stop even though the calendar says winter ended several weeks ago, there’s no way that some people will let things go with regard to this case.

THIS IS ONE that Vanecko truly is going to have to live down for the rest of his life, and that some people are going to forevermore be convinced that he got off lightly. They’re the ones who are going to want to believe that we should find ways to hound the man for years to come.

Which means we have to figure out for ourselves when to let things go. How long should we continue to be obsessed with Vanecko himself? When do those of us who are upset need to just get over it?

Now before you accuse me of being a Daley family apologist (although I’m sure some of you are going to do so regardless), I’ll be the first to admit I’m disgusted by the fact that Chicago police and the state’s attorney’s office in this case seemed little interested in figuring out early on (when a prosecution might have actually meant something) what actually happened in the April 25, 2004 incident on Division Street that resulted in the death of David Koschman.
 

Will it ever all melt away? Photograph by Gregory Tejeda

I sympathize with Koschman’s mother, who had to endure several years of knowing the system cared less about her son – and considered “justice” to be the protection of Vanecko.

BUT SHE HAS a personal stake in this case. It is the other people – the ones who are looking to score political points for their own ideological beliefs – who have the potential to bother me in coming years.

Because they’re going to obsess over every minute detail to the point where we all get sick of hearing of this case. They have the potential to turn this into something that we shouldn’t have to ever hear.

I’ll be the first to say that getting a 60-day jail sentence for an incident where a man was killed does sound a bit light. Perhaps if this had been prosecuted in a timely manner, a more legitimate penalty could have been reached.

But it wasn’t. What we got was ultimately the ruling of the legal system we have – which despite its flaws at least has the potential to correct itself. A truly unjust system would have prosecuted Koschman’s mother for not letting the issue go all those years ago.

WHICH IS WHY I’m inclined to accept that Vanecko has done his time. Or at least as much time as the system will ever ask of him.

What was that old cliché – he paid his debt to society? He has a clean slate with “the state.”

Those people who are going to continue to rage about this case come across as the equivalent of the collection agency whose computer has made a glitch and is trying to overcharge someone. They need to let it go, already.

 

Maybe then, it will finally stop snowing for this winter season.

 

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What attorney who’s worth anything doesn’t have a conflict of interest?

As I write this, I can hear the moans and groans of those individuals who as recently as a few days ago were convinced that they finally had that crook, otherwise known as “Mr. Speaker,” just where they wanted him.

MADIGAN: Breathing easier

Seriously, I came across several comments on the Internet (all anonymous) Thursday and Friday that had as their theme the idea that former federal prosecutor Patrick Collins was going to be the guy who – after all these decades – would catch Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, D-Chicago, in some sort of act that would send him off to a federal prison.

NOT THAT ANY of these people had a clue what this illegal act would turn out to be. In fact, I sense for them what ought to be “illegal” about Madigan is that he has the “D” after his name, instead of an “R.”

But they want him, by any means necessary. And Collins is the guy who gets credit for putting former Gov. George Ryan in prison for all those years.

So how disappointed the ideologues likely are because Collins on Monday said he’s not available to do any investigation of Metra and its former CEO – who allegedly engaged in assorted political hiring and other inappropriate behavior; some of which was supposedly done at the request of Madigan.

I will be the first to admit that I don’t know anything specifically about this particular investigation – other than that Collins was supposedly going to be involved.

BUT COLLINS’ LAW firm, Perkins Coie, let it be known Sunday that it has a “potential conflict” in being involved with this case, and that Collins himself is not available to be involved in this matter.

The Chicago Tribune reported Monday that an initial check on Collins showed no problems, but that the law firm later learned of “additional conflict issues.” Which is purposefully vague.

COLLINS: Stepping aside voluntarily

The fact that Collins won’t be involved in the case, after all, means he will be able to get away without telling us what the potential problem was.

But it does mean that the “investigation” into Metra and former CEO Alex Clifford is going to have to wait until an attorney can be found who is capable of conducting an investigation without there being some perception that he (or she) is biased in favor of Madigan or Metra.

WHICH COULD TURN out to be difficult.

One of the issues involved is that Madigan has been involved in the Springfield political and Chicago legal communities for so long that it is hard to envision anybody who would be absolutely neutral whenever his name comes up. The idea of a completely-nonpartisan investigator may not be possible.

Take into account the case involving Richard “R.J.” Vanecko; the nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley and also of Democratic gubernatorial hopeful William Daley.

Remember how his criminal case was originally assigned to Judge Arthur Hill – who voluntarily backed away because he admitted his legal career owed significant ties to Richard M. back when he was the Cook County state’s attorney?

OFFICIALS SOUGHT OUT a judge from outside of Cook County, and Maureen McIntyre of McHenry County ultimately got assigned to the case. She remains on it, even though the Chicago Sun-Times came up with a batch of allegations concerning she and her ex-husband that makes her appear to be less-than-ideal.

If anything, we tend to have a legal system that gives us “justice” despite the characteristics of the individuals who work in the system.

Which is why Madigan may be able to breathe a bit easier these days concerning this Metra stuff. It may well turn out that any future attorney who gets dragged into conducting this investigation is going to be scrutinized so intensely (that’s “scrootened,” in former Mayor Daley speak) that they may decide the duties aren’t worth the hassle.

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As close to ‘goo-goo style’ government as we’re ever likely to get in Chicago?

The Criminal Courts building -- nine decades and counting of giving us criminal justice, Chicago-style

Call it a plus, if you will. Because I’m actually encouraged with the legal process thus far for Richard Vanecko – the Mayor Daley nephew (and grandson) who now faces criminal charges in the 2004 death of another man.

By the legal process, I’m talking about since the point when Vanecko was actually arrested and has to face the process by which alleged criminal acts are adjudicated.

FOR VANECKO THIS week faced arraignment. That’s the part of the legal process in which a defendant is asked by a judge, “How do you plead?”

And he responds, “Not guilty, your honor.” Then, he gets assigned to a trial judge who will be the one who has to oversee his case for the next year or two (or however long it takes the attorneys for both sides to prepare for this trial).

Note he pleads “not guilty.” At this stage, he has no alternative. If at some point in the future, he wishes to change that to a “guilty” plea, he can do so. But what happened this week was about assigning Vanecko’s case to a judge for eventual trial.

And that is where I see the plus in this case.

FOR THE VANECKO case was assigned to Associate Judge Arthur Hill, Jr. – who has been a judge for nearly a decade following a career in the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Which is a typical career path for the men and women who wear those black robes and preside over cases at the Criminal Courts Building.

But what makes this case unique, and encouraging, is the fact that when Hill presided over his first hearing in the Vanecko case, he felt compelled to recite his professional record in law enforcement.

Which involved being hired as an assistant state’s attorney back in the days of Richard M. Daley as head prosecutor for Cook County.

AND WHEN DALEY eventually became mayor, Hill got one of his few non-criminal law positions in his career – he served a stint on the Chicago Transit Authority board. He was a Daley appointee.

And Hill definitely didn’t have any objections from Daley when he became a judge in 2003.

In short, Judge Hill is a Rich Daley ally.

To the point where he said publicly in his courtroom, “if the lawyers want me to step aside, I will.” Even though he also said he thinks he can be “fair and impartial” in deciding whether or not Vanecko’s behavior in the death of David Koschman rises to the level of a criminal conviction.

IN THE OLD days, it likely wouldn’t have been brought up. It would have just been presumed that a mayoral family member in trouble would get a break from the judge.

For Richard J. Daley was of the belief that judges were political positions just as much as any other. The idea that a judge should think himself above politics would have been absurd to him. He always made it clear he didn’t think much of reform efforts that thought judges should be appointed based on some high-minded appeal to legal ideals.

Let the people decide! So long as they pick the “right” candidates like they do for every other office.

The idea that Hill would acknowledge that there might be reason for him to step aside shows we have advanced in a certain sense.

NOT THAT IT’S a guarantee that Hill will be forced off of this case. For there’s no guarantee that any other judge would be more impartial.

Call it the drawback of having Richard M. Daley serve just over three decades as state’s attorney and mayor – he has a lot of contacts. There’s hardly anyone who can’t be perceived as having a Daley bias.

And as for those who believe that we ought to pick a judge from outside the area to come into this case (just as a special prosecutor – former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb – has already been named), I’d wonder if it might bring in some bias against the city.

Some rural judge thinking he can appeal to his people back home by “putting away” the mayoral nephew – regardless of the legal merits of the case.

BACK IN THE days of Operation Greylord (a federal investigation of judicial corruption), some Southern Illinois judges were brought in to oversee the criminal cases. But the partisanship based on regionalism has become all the more intense in recent years.

That is why I’m wondering if a judge willing to admit his potential for bias IS the best we’re going to get in this particular case – which is going to linger with us for so long that we’re likely to be sick of it by the time it actually makes it to trial.

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