December, 2008
Editor's note: The article below was sent to both The Daily Journal and the Bourbonnais Herald as a "Letter To The Editor". The Bourbonnais Herald printed it without any problem. Phil Angelo, at The Daily Journal, was ordered not to print it by The Daily Journal General Manager Ken Munjoy. It seems that Mr. Munjoy feels his readers should be kept in the dark about this aspect of the proposed dump. For more information on what else Phil Novak has done go to http://www.sj-r.com/opinions/x244770279/Bernard-Schoenburg-Ex-state-rep-fined-in-ethics-panel-s-1st-completed-case. The Daily Journal has also failed to report this.
December 14, 2008
Did former State Rep. Phil Novak sell out the area’s clean water source to boost his salary and pension by participating in Governor Blagojevich’s “Pay To Play”?
In the summer of 2002, Fred Barbara and Tom Volini submitted their first application for a 236 acre Chicago regional garbage dump to the City of Kankakee through their company Town & Country Utilities. The site they chose is a very flood prone area next to Minnie Creek which drains directly into the river two miles away, up stream from the Aqua Illinois water intake pipe. The city council held a hearing and gave their OK to the proposal after being promised millions in garbage host fees.
From there the application went to the Illinois Pollution Control Board. The IPCB had a different opinion; they turned it down on the grounds the proposal failed to prove protection of the health and safety of the community. Barbara and Volini responded by appealing the decision all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court where they lost. While the appeal was going on, they filed a second dump application with the city of Kankakee in the summer of 2003 for the same 236 acre location. This was during the first year of the first term of the newly elected governor, Rod Blagojevich. The city council once again approved the dump proposal.
Coincidentally local State Representative Phil Novak resigned his state rep seat and the newly elected governor appointed him to the IPCB as chairman, effective December 1 of that year. According to an April 27, 2008 Chicago Tribune front page story, titled "The governor's $25,000 club", Phil Novak threw a fund raiser for Blagojevich in July, 2002 which raised $19,000. It also stated that on July 9, 2002, he personally donated $25,000 to Blagojevich campaign fund bringing his total donations to $26,000 and was appointed to the Illinois Pollution Control Board as chairman on December 1, 2003 at a salary of $102,800. The Tribune article says this was a substantial boost in salary for Mr. Novak and a substantial boost to his state pension, when he retired in 2005 to become a lobbyist. It is very unusual for a new person on the IPCB to be appointed chairman.
When the second Barbara and Volini dump application was sent to the IPCB under Phil Novak, it was approved even though the previous IPCB had ruled the opposite and was backed up by the Illinois Supreme Court.
It appears Phil Novak got a significant boost to his salary and his pension for a short term appointment to the IPCB in exchange for campaign donations and the promise to approve a dump for friends of the governor and Mayor Daley.
Update:
The Kankakee County board voted 23 to 2 to appeal the Phil Novak Pollution Control Board decision in favor of the dump to the Illinois Supreme Court. This vote took place at the January 13, 2009 county board meeting and resulted in a Appellate Court victory December, 2009 because the Illinois Supreme Court issued a "Supervisory Order" to the Appellate Court to do their job properly or the case would be given to three other Appellate Court judges who would. The Illinois Supreme Court declined to take an appeal from the dump developers in 2010.
A second legal case also won. This legal case was brought by local attorney Ed Vogt on behalf of Byron Sandberg with support from POWER a Kankakee County based environmental group.