A lobbyist for Waste Management Inc. helped an FBI undercover informant offer payments and favors to Chicago aldermen in a federal investigation of suspected government corruption, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.
Raymond Akers, who lobbied the Chicago City Council for the Illinois subsidiary of the nation`s largest waste-disposal company, used his connections with aldermen to arrange meetings between them and Michael Raymond, an FBI informant for 18 months, the sources said.
In the final months of the FBI investigation, Akers moved through Chicago political circles, identifying Raymond as his ”uncle,” bringing aldermen to Raymond`s apartment and attending meetings and dinners with politicians as the FBI informant passed out money and offered favors, the sources said.
After he was confronted with FBI videotapes of his involvement, Akers agreed to cooperate with federal authorities, according to one source. Repeated attempts to interview Akers, including a visit to his office by reporters, were unsuccessful. His lawyer, David Schippers, did not return repeated telephone calls.
Responding Tuesday to questions by The Tribune, Donald Reddicliffe, director of corporate affairs for Waste Management, said, ”The only information we have has come to us from the press, and until we have any specific allegations presented to us from some official source, we have no basis on which to comment.”
Waste Management, based in Oak Brook, has millions of dollars in city contracts and operates the largest landfill in Chicago at 138th Street and the Calumet Expressway.
The disclosures of the involvement of Akers, who has lobbied aldermen for the last two years on behalf of Waste Management, added insight into the federal government`s investigation, which began in July, 1984. The undercover phase of the inquiry lasted until last month.
Federal subpoenas recently have been issued in connection with the investigation. One recipient was a former adviser to Mayor Harold Washington, Clarence McClain, who reportedly took $40,000 from Raymond.
McClain`s lawyer, Julius Lucius Echeles, said he told prosecutors that McClain will invoke his 5th Amendment right not to testify if called before a grand jury. Echeles said prosecutors agreed to drop their request for an appearance by McClain.
Three separate sources close to the investigation provided information about Akers` role on the condition that their names not be used. U.S. Atty. Anton Valukas said his office would not comment on the investigation.
According to the sources, Akers, 31, played a role in facilitating deals between Raymond and at least two aldermen: Perry Hutchinson (9th) and Wallace Davis (27th).
Sources said other aldermen may have been brought into the FBI`s investigation between September and December of last year by Akers, who has a reputation as a friendly, easygoing lobbyist in the corridors of the city council. He drives a late-model car with a license plate ”LNDFLL.”
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Last fall, Akers introduced Raymond to aldermen and attended sessions with them in Raymond`s luxury apartment at Lake Point Tower and at
restaurants, according to two sources close to the investigation.
One of the sources said Akers arranged meetings with Raymond by telling aldermen, ”My Uncle Mike would like to see you.”
Another source said of Akers: ”He was the hook-up for a lot of aldermen with Raymond. Akers knew the aldermen and he knew what they wanted.”
According to one of the sources, Akers joined Raymond in offering favors and free trips to aldermen, including a trip to the Dec. 14 Chicago Bears-New York Jets football game in New York and junkets to Las Vegas. It could not be determined whether any aldermen took the trips.
Starting in January, 1984, Raymond worked for Systematic Recovery Service Inc., a New York bill-collection company trying to win city contracts. He became an undercover operative for the FBI in July, 1984.
One of the favors offered by Raymond and Akers involved arranging for Systematic Recovery to pay the salary of an administrative assistant to Hutchinson, one of the sources said.
Hutchinson`s ward on the Far South Side contains the city`s largest landfill, operated by Waste Management.
The salary deal was about to be completed when federal authorities began to interview some targets of their investigation in late December, the source said.
Akers and Hutchinson were among those questioned in late December by federal prosecutors and the FBI, sources said. Akers decided to cooperate with prosecutors after being shown clips from videotapes taken in Raymond`s apartment, one source said.
Hutchinson also was shown excerpts from several videotapes taken in Raymond`s apartment, including at least one tape of a meeting with Raymond and Akers, sources have said. Hutchinson rejected an offer of a plea bargain, according to his attorney, and he has declined to comment on the allegations. In a new disclosure, a source close to Hutchinson said FBI videotapes depict Hutchinson claiming that corruption is widespread in the Washington administration and that bribes are necessary to obtain contracts.
Hutchinson frequently has been at odds with the administration, and he is not considered a Washington loyalist.
The source said Hutchinson, Akers and Raymond also discussed a ”wish list” drawn up by Hutchinson that included requests for jobs for his constituents and money to hire an administrative assistant to help him in the city council.
Akers set up a Dec. 13 dinner at a chic Italian restaurant off Michigan Avenue, where Davis met Raymond for the first time, one of the sources said. Ald. Clifford Kelley (20th) also was at the dinner, the source said.
Akers also was present at a later meeting in Raymond`s apartment at which Raymond gave Davis $1,500, the source said. The alderman has described the money as a campaign contribution.
Kelley received a $1,000 campaign contribution from Waste Management last May 21, and his ward organization received $2,500 from three Waste Management subsidiaries, according to campaign records and interviews.
Last fall, Kelley fought unsuccessfully against a proposal by the city to award a contract for a new garbage dump on the South Side to compete with Waste Management.
Systematic Recovery employees said Akers was a frequent companion of Raymond in the company`s area office and even carried a company beeper.
”Ray Akers, that`s the guy who was always with him (Raymond),” said one employee, who asked that his name not be used.
Akers is the second Chicago figure described as a link between Raymond and city politicians. Sources have said that Michael Lambesis, chief corruption investigator for Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Morgan Finley, introduced Raymond to Kelley and to Finley.
Kelley has acknowledged receiving money from Raymond, but he said it was for campaign and charitable contributions. Sources have said that Raymond directed $25,000 to Finley during the investigation, but Finley has denied receiving any ”payoffs.”
Three city bureaucrats, including the second-ranking official in the revenue department, have been fired in connection with publicity about the investigation, and several aldermen have acknowledged receiving money from Raymond.
According to some of the sources, Kelley was involved with Raymond for several months before Akers introduced Hutchinson, Davis, Ald. Eugene Sawyer
(6th) and possibly others to Raymond, beginning last fall.
As a liaison with the city council on behalf of Waste Management, Akers had a good relationship with many aldermen, according to several sources. He ensured that Waste Management and its subsidiaries performed well on their private contracts to pick up waste and did other favors, according to the sources.
Waste Management has many private contracts to remove waste from commercial firms and multiple-family dwellings in Chicago. The firm also contracts with the city to handle waste picked up by city garbage crews at transfer stations and at Waste Management`s landfill sites on the Southeast Side.
In addition to investigating Akers, the FBI has questioned a Waste Management operations manager about possible political contributions to elected officials in the suburbs, according to court documents.
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John E. Horak of Spring Grove, operations manager of H.O.D. Disposal, a subsidiary of Illinois Waste Management Inc., was indicted by a federal grand jury last June on charges of paying $12,000 in bribes to former Fox Lake Mayor Richard Hamm and Richard Gerretsen, a village trustee, to obtain the village garbage disposal contract.
Hamm and Gerretsen previously were indicted and pleaded guilty to their roles in a bribery scheme involving the Fox Lake cable television franchise.
In an interview with two FBI agents last May, Horak said he paid the bribes from his salary and bonuses, according to court documents.
But other documents filed by federal prosecutors Joseph Duffy and Ira Raphaelson state that Hamm secretly recorded a conversation with Horak in which Horak said he skimmed the bribe money from customer accounts.
During the FBI interview, Horak was questioned extensively about payoffs to officials in other villages to obtain garbage contracts. He denied making payoffs but acknowledged making campaign contributions to some officials in Lake County.