Jim Dey: Some are raking it in, while others must pay it out

Sep. 23—Big bucks

Crain's Chicago Business reported this week that former Big 10 commissioners Jim Delany and Kevin Warren are still raking cash in from their tenures.

The story concerned the surging pay of "Chicago's nonprofit leaders."

"Despite retiring from the Big Ten Conference in 2020, James Delany still managed to earn nearly $5.9 million in 2022, according to the organization's most recent 990 tax filing. The former commissioner holds the No. 1 spot on Crain's list of the highest-paid nonprofit executives in the Chicago area.

Crain's said the "vast majority of Delany's pay came from deferred compensation and a bonus that will be paid out through 2027. His successor, Kevin Warren (who left the Big Ten in 2023) ranks No. 2 with $3.7 million."

No bite to Mizzou's bark

There were obvious hard feelings at the University of Missouri in Columbia earlier this year when Tigers athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois decamped for the University of Arizona.

She was angry because, according to news accounts, university officials and trustees were intruding on her authority in the athletic department. Mizzou honchos were angry ... well, just because.

A top Mizzou official made that point clear when he said the university expected to receive the full $3 million contract payout to which it was entitled after Reed-Francois bailed out on her long-term deal.

That's a lot of money. Arizona offered to pay up to $1.5 million on her behalf. But the balance — $1.5 million — remains a big chunk of change.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported this week that the warring parties have settled the payout issue, and Reed-Francois came out a big winner.

An agreement reached between the parties calls for her to pay $2 million at most. But that's misleading.

The $2 million includes Arizona's $1.5 million — leaving a $500,000 balance. But if Reed-Francois pays back $250,000 by March 31, 2028, Mizzou will write off the remainder.

Reed-Francois signed a new contract in March 2023 that called her for her to stay at Mizzou through the 2027-28 academic year. News accounts state her five-year deal at Arizona starts at $1 million and goes up from there. She also receives an additional $250,000 from the University of Arizona Foundation.

Courthouse re-run

The never-ending case of marginal actor Jussie Smollett is back in the news, this time before the Illinois Supreme Court.

This controversy goes back to 2019, when the bit player on the TV show "Empire" filed what turned out to be a false police report claiming he'd been attacked by racist, homophobic Donald Trump supporters. He claimed to have fought them off with one hand, his other hand holding a sandwich.

The story attracted, as Smollett hoped, national news. But the massive police investigation showed Smollett made the whole thing up for reasons that never have been clear.

He was charged by the Cook County State's Attorney's office with multiple counts of disorderly conduct. But Cook County State's Attorney Kim Fox later dropped the charges. Smollett voluntarily forfeited his $10,000 bond and did some community service work.

But the way the case was handled caused such a stink that a special prosecutor, Dan Webb, was subsequently appointed. He re-charged Smollet and won a conviction.

The issue before the Supreme Court is whether Webb was barred from pursuing his case because Smollett had resolved the matter with Foxx's office.

Prosecutors say there's no documentation showing "finality," so Webb was entitled to proceed. A state appeals court upheld that position by a 2-1 vote.

Smollett's lawyers argued he had a deal with Foxx's office that precluded the re-charging and conviction.

If Smollett's conviction is upheld, he faces a short jail sentence, a $25,000 fine and $120,000 in restitution to cover the city's investigative costs.

Electric growth

The future of Rivian, the McLean County electric vehicle manufacturer, is now.

Despite doubts about the market demand for electric vehicles, company officials are moving ahead at warp speed.

News reports indicate that Rivian is laying the groundwork for expansion on a nearly 400-acre plot across from its Normal manufacturing plant.

The company already employs more than 8,000 workers there. It is estimated that the planned expansion would create nearly 700 more jobs.

Normal's city council recently approved plans to subdivide the property that Rivian purchased in 2021 for nearly $7 million.

The Bloomington Pantagraph reports that work already is underway to enlarge the existing Normal plant by 1.3 million square feet. That space apparently will be devoted to manufacturing the company's newest model, the R2 crossover.

Rivian's plans are partially driven by a $5 billion investment by Volkswagen.

The company is using the old Diamond Star manufacturing plant. It was basically empty before Rivian moved in and set a fire under the local economy.

Political future for felon?

Last week's "Bits" column included a item about former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. angling to win a presidential pardon before President Joe Biden leaves office in January.

Jackson resigned his Chicago House seat in 2012, was convicted of misappropriating $700,000 in campaign funds and was sentenced to prison.

Why, other than for ego reasons, does he want a pardon? Further, why would he be entitled to one other than because he's politically connected?

Chicago Tribune columnist Laura Washington, who has covered Jackson Jr. for years, suggests he's planning a "second act" in Chicago and Illinois politics.

"Jackson has the juice for a political comeback. He could upset the pecking order of Chicago's Black political establishment," she writes.

That's true. It's not like voters expect their elected officials to be honest, so Jackson could roil the political waters. Washington writes that "Black folk are big believers in second chances and redemption."

But, she writes, Black elected officials who have their own ambitions might not be so welcoming to a potential rival.

For now, Jackson Jr. is organizing his pardon effort and filling in as a talk-show host on a local radio station. He was coy when asked about his intentions, saying only that he's focused on his work at the radio station.

He was a star

Decades ago, Tyrone Fahner was — briefly — a national figure, Illinois' leading spokesman concerning the 1982 investigation of the shocking Tylenol murder case that made national news.

But all glory is fleeting. Then Illinois' attorney general, Fahner's star faded as the investigation faltered. The case was never officially solved and Fahner lost the election to keep his state post, so he transitioned to a successful private life.

For those who don't recall, the Tylenol murders shocked the nation. It turned out that someone in the Chicago replaced Tylenol sold in Chicago-area drug stores with cyanide. Seven people died.

Fahner, who was 81, died last week in Chicago. The son of an auto worker and a telephone operator, he studied law at Wayne State and, more importantly, Northwestern, where he met future Gov. James Thompson.

He later went to work for Thompson in the Chicago U.S. Attorney's office and, when Thompson became governor, the boss of the state's Department of Law Enforcement.

Thompson appointed Fahner as attorney general when William Scott vacated the office following his conviction on tax evasion charges.

Following his defeat in the 1982 election, Fahner led an exemplary life as a lawyer and mentor for young lawyers and civic leader.

Doing nothing with style

Last week's AT&T corruption trial was serious business. But there were some comedic moments.

Prosecutors alleged that AT&T hired an associate of then-House Speaker Michael Madigan to win Madigan's support for AT&T-favored legislation.

It's basically the same allegation made in the Commonwealth Edison bribery conspiracy case for which Madigan will go to trial next month.

The government alleged Madigan, acting through his main man Michael McClain, asked AT&T to put former state Rep. Eddie Acevedo on its payroll.

AT&T wanted nothing to do with Acevedo. But it eventually offered him $2,500 a month to do nothing.

Acevedo was outraged, saying he was worth far more than $2,500 a month to do nothing. He demanded $5,000 a month to do nothing but apparently with the kind of style that was worth double what AT&T was willing to throw out the window.

McClain subsequently told Acevedo to take the $2,500 a month, and Acevedo reluctantly agreed to do so. But he failed to pay the federal income tax owed on the money and later served a brief prison sentence for income tax evasion.