From the Chicago SunTimes

Fawell traded Pier goodie for satellite dish
October 4, 2004
BY STEVE WARMBIR AND TIM NOVAK Staff Reporter
The crooked deal looked sweet.
Top Republican political operative Scott Fawell, the head of the agency that runs Navy Pier, gets a free satellite dish at his home from a Stickney bar owner, who happens to be running for the state House.
In return, Fawell puts the bar owner at the head of the line for people seeking a coveted vendor's cart at Navy Pier, the state's No. 1 tourist attraction.
Bar owner Dan Krcmar wasn't selling sweat shirts or hot dogs from his prime cart location.
He opted for cheap children's toys.
Whoopee cushions, vampire teeth, rabbit's feet key chains.
But the kids weren't buying.
Krcmar closed his cart after 18 days in June 2000.
The deal came to light after Fawell, a onetime top aide to former Gov. George Ryan, pleaded guilty last month to fixing a $11.5million contract and admitting to other bad conduct, including the Krcmar cart.
Identity confirmed Krcmar, 51, of La Grange Highlands, has not been charged with any wrongdoing. He did not return several phone messages last week. He is referred to in Fawell's plea agreement as Vendor 1, but sources confirmed that Krcmar was the vendor.
Krcmar is a minor yet interesting character in the corruption scandal that engulfed Ryan.
Krcmar's name first came to light early last year when the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Republican businessman Roger "The Hog" Stanley had planned to use a photograph of Krcmar with a Costa Rican prostitute to force Krcmar to run against state Rep. Anne Zickus, a Palos Hill Republican, in 2000.
Krcmar reportedly had gone on one of Stanley's now-infamous trips to Costa Rica for fishing and cavorting with young prostitutes.
Stanley never had to use the photograph because Krcmar volunteered to make the run. Stanley wanted Zickus to have some political competition, so she would use Stanley's political direct mail services.
Krcmar was running as a Democrat in the race when he got the rigged cart deal from Fawell at Navy Pier.
After failing to make enough money, Krcmar asked Fawell to get out of the contract.
Fawell agreed, telling pier employees to end the deal without penalizing Krcmar, according to Fawell's plea agreement.
A month after he abandoned his cart, Krcmar got some more bad news. Cook County sheriff's police raided Krcmar's bar, Waldo Peepers, for video gambling, seizing four machines.
Krcmar was charged with illegal gambling and keeping a gambling place. He was found not guilty of the charges, which have been expunged from the court record, and got the machines back, his lawyer said.
Krcmar lost the race against Zickus and has sold the bar.