Tristano's Promise

There is so little in the plea agreement of Michael Tristano.

Tristano’s 13-page plea agreement reveals almost nothing, except the promise of things to come. Tristano agreed to cooperate fully with federal authorities.

What doors will Tristano unlock? What does he know? Could he lead the authorities all the way to Speaker Michael Madigan?

As the former chief of staff for long-time House Republican leader and one-time Speaker Lee Daniels, most expect it is the retiring state representative who has the most to fear.

In the summer of 2002, attorney Richard Means turned over evidence to Attorney General Jim Ryan--then the GOP gubernatorial candidate--that Daniels’ House staff had been for campaign work in the 2000 election cycle.

Ryan passed the package onto U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

After than, Daniels’ political world came tumbling down.

First, he resigned under pressure from the State Republican Party Chairmanship, a post he had long sought in order to “be like Mike” Madigan. (State parties get the cheapest postage rates. Madigan is chairman of the Democratic Party.)

Then, he “decided” not to run for re-election as House Republican leader. Tom Cross, Daniels’s former jogging “buddy” led the overthrowing of his long-time leader.

With Tristano pleading guilty, it is reasonable to think that the U.S. Attorney’s Office is still looking for Daniels’ scalp.

Now, federal authorities have not only the man Tristano described as “Lee’s filing cabinet,” that is, former State Rep. and direct mail expert Roger Stanley (now out of prison), but also the man who decided what was sent to that “filing cabinet.”

And, indeed, Roger Stanley’s name figures prominently in the plea agreement. Tristano stipulated to helping a Willow Springs real estate development firm, in which Stanley was a partner, obtain $1.3 million in public improvement money for Willow Springs from state government. In return, Stanley’s firm gave a Southern Illinois GOP challenger a little-work job.

While Tristano does not plead guilty to this, he did stipulate to it for purposes of sentencing.

Tristano also admitted to dummying a expense voucher for which a check was mailed “on or about June 8, 2000.” Subsidies to House Republican campaigns through this and similar activity amounted to a somewhere between $120,000 and $200,000.

The assistance included “preparation of campaign strategy documents, weekly reports summarizing campaign activity, management of campaigns, design of campaign literature, solicitation of voters, and analysis of polling data,” according to the plea agreement, which was “supervised” by the defendant. The activity took place between 1998 and 2001.

“Defendant knew and it was reasonably foreseeable to him that the State was paying employees to do campaign work. Defendant also knew and it was reasonably foreseeable to him that State facilities, such as the Minority Leader’s Offices in Springfield and Chicago, were used to store campaign documents and that State property including computers were used to conduct campaign work.”

Sentencing is set for June 14th.

There is so much more to this story, but this is what the plea agreement adds. In future days, perhaps McHenry County Blog will add some details.