From the SJ-R:

Group questions bid for Executive Mansion’s driveway

By JEREMY PELZER
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU

Published Friday, March 02, 2007

A government watchdog group suggested Thursday that Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration chose a Springfield construction company in 2005 to build a $720,000 heated driveway up to the Executive Mansion in return for a construction trade group’s support of a workers compensation reform package.

The $720,000 paid to install the driveway was part of a $938,000 contract to renovate the Executive Mansion grounds that was awarded to the R.D. Lawrence construction company by the Capital Development Board in late June 2005.

A press release by the Illinois chapter of Americans for Prosperity stated R.D. Lawrence won the contract just weeks after the Illinois Construction Industry Committee, a group headed by R.D. Lawrence CEO John Goetz, was invited to a special meeting with Blagojevich to discuss a proposal to overhaul state workers comp laws.

After R.D. Lawrence won the contract, the ICIC “switched positions” to support the proposed reforms, Americans for Prosperity charged. Blagojevich subsequently signed the legislation.

The timing of the two events was “suspicious to say the least,” the release said.

Goetz denied any quid pro quo occurred and said R.D. Lawrence won the contract in a fair and open bidding process.

Goetz, who said he’s never met Blagojevich, added that the ICIC’s decision to support the worker’s comp reforms “was not a drastic change.”

“We’ve already been in favor of workman’s comp reform, and we’re going to continue for workman’s comp reform,” he said.

“There’s no fact, there’s no truth to anything they’ve said there,” Goetz said. “And for people to think that they can take certain facts and try to twist it to create stories that might benefit their position, that is just truly libelous, and that’s going to be turned over to my private attorney for further consideration.”

CDB spokesman David Blanchette said three companies bid on the work, and R.D. Lawrence’s bid was nearly $100,000 less than the next highest offer.

“We don’t have a clue what these people are talking about,” Blanchette said. “It’s a cut-and-dried case of taking the successful low bidder - period.”

Joe Calomino, president of Americans for Prosperity-Illinois, said the release was prepared by staff members in the group’s national office in Washington, D.C., but was “well-referenced.”

He was joined at a news conference Thursday by representatives of the national office; state Rep. Michael Tryon, R-Crystal Lake; Greg Baise, president and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers Association; former Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Gidwitz; and others.

The driveway contract was one of several projects the group cited as examples of wasteful spending by state officials.

The release referred to an online news article by WBBM-TV in Chicago from 2005, in which a Chicago-area contractor said the heated driveway could have been installed for $30,000 instead of $720,000.

Goetz said anyone who made such a claim was ill-informed.

“All I can suggest is that those contractors ought to take a look at the construction documents,” Goetz said.

“You couldn’t even buy the concrete for $30,000, I’ll tell you that right now.”

Calomino said the Illinois chapter of Americans for Prosperity, which formed last August, will continue to investigate the matter as well as other reports of alleged government waste.