McHenry County Blog

Anyone who thought the Vulcan Lakes Tax Increment Financing district wasn’t going to be very political ought to be able to figure out differently from the Northwest Herald’s front page today.

I knew there was a reason I should have attended that Crystal Lake City Council TIF meeting when the developers made their pitches. But family came first.

On the front page of the NW Herald is a picture of Bill Cellini, whom I worked as front man campaign manager for Springfield mayoral candidate Denny Kelley in 1971.

Under the head shot appears, “William F. Cellini – CEO has not been charged.”

The headline and subheads are

CEO out of Vulcan Lakes

Project Exec said he’d step aside after
alleged links to separate kickback plot.

CL Mayor satisfied with letter saying
Cellini would not have a personal role.

Cellini, according to Springfield’s State Journal-Register (link no longer available or I would insert it), is the Springfield insider mentioned as “Individual A” in Stuart Levine’s plea agreement in the Downstate Teachers Retirement System scandal. Levine, of course, was the one involved in the Mercy Hospital kickback scheme. No one has linked Cellini in any way to that scandal.

One of Cellini’s companies is New Frontier. It has long built and operated subsidized senior citizen housing. One replaced one of Springfield’s red light districts across from the St. Nicholas Hotel of Paul Powell shoebox fame.

The NW Herald reports that Cellini was at the October 10th Crystal Lake to make a pitch for his team, which included New Frontier, Meisrow Financial Real Estate and Harlem Irving Company.

I ran this article about Cellini on October 14th, when he was identified as “Individual A.”

Subsequent to Cellini’s name popping up in the media in connection with Stuart Levine, Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley apparently got concerned about Celinni's involvement in a cornerstone aspect of his upcoming re-election campaign.

By October 31st, the Cellini impediment had been removed from the proposal. (No, the NW Herald did not use the word “impediment.”)

The selection of Cellini’s team was made on November 7th—election night when most political folks were watching TV.

Shepley’s remarks to the council were

The involvement or lack thereof of Mr. Cellini in the project on behalf of any developer that sat at our table is a moot point, because it is not the case any longer.

The mayor told reporter Karen Long:

It made it a lot easier. I think it would have been very difficult to move forward, not because we believe he’s Individual A or not, but with a project of this magnitude, we wouldn’t want to take the chance.

And

Our mission, our goal was to make sure that no matter who we ended up picking in this whole affair, we want to make sure the process with respect to Mr. Cellini was absolutely transparent.

And.

If he’s not in trouble, then you feel bad because you cut him out of the picture. If it turns out any allegations are true, it doesn’t impact us one bit.

It should be noted, but is not by the Northwest Herald, that Cellini has long known former McHenry County Republican Chairman Al Jourdan. When Cellini was Secretary of Transportation under Governor Richard B. Ogilvie, Jourdan was Don Udstuen’s top assistant in Ogilvie’s patronage operation. IDOT had many, many patronage workers.

Jourdan is a strong supporter of Crystal Lake’s Mayor Shepley, an attorney who serves as secretary of the McHenry County Republican Party and chairman of State Senator Pam Althoff’s political action committee, as well as on the PACE Board. His day job is with Centegra, the McHenry-Woodstock hospital corporation who fought allowing Mercy to build a hospital in Crystal Lake.

One final thought:

Now I know why city hall refused to provide me with the packet about Vulcan Lakes that went to the city council members. I didn’t even get a phone call back saying it would not be provided.

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Photograph of Mayor Aaron Shepley from when he spoke to Crystal Lake Kiwanis, filling in for State Senator Pam Althoff.

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Labels: Aaron Shepley, Al Jourdan, Bill Cellini, Crystal Lake, Don Udstuen, New Frontier, Route 14, TIF, Vulcan Lakes