Republican Lt. Gov. George Ryan called state Treasurer Jerry Cosentino, his Democratic opponent for Illinois secretary of state, ”fast Jerry in a fast-food deal” Sunday.
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In a hastily called news conference, Ryan waved a copy of the Sunday edition of the Springfield State Journal-Register, which said two Springfield developers offered Cosentino an investment opportunity involving a chain of fast-food restaurants while at the same time leasing space in their Springfield office building to Cosentino`s agency.
The State Journal-Register account went on to detail the terms of the building lease, which amounts to $900,000 over a four-year period, as well as political contributions to Cosentino from the men totaling $50,000 since 1986. The newspaper said there did not appear to be anything illegal.
In an interview Sunday, Dennis Polk, one of the two men who offered the business venture to Cosentino, said Cosentino never made an investment in the project.
”We talked about it. He thought about it, but he never invested a penny,” Polk said. ”I called Jerry because he is my friend, and I told him we were putting together this deal, but he never invested.”
The deal involved investing in stock in a firm called Drive-Thru Food Inc., which operates restaurants in Kansas City, Kan., he said.
Another investor in Drive-Thru Food Inc. was Charles Robbins, who, along with Polk, owned a building in which the treasurer`s office leases space. That lease was signed at about the same time as the investment offer was made to Cosentino, Polk said.
”But we began our negotiatons on that space not with Cosentino, but with his predecessor, James Donnewald,” Polk said. ”The treasurer`s office is paying $2 per square foot less than other state agencies in the same building. They got a good deal.”
Polk acknowledged the contributions to Cosentino.
”I am in business in the capital city. You do what you have to do, and you have to buy those tickets,” Polk said, referring to tickets for various political fundraisers. ”Over the years, I have probably contributed twice as much to the governor (Republican James Thompson) as I have to Cosentino.”
Polk and Robbins have served as co-chairmen of ”at least two” Cosentino fundraising efforts, Polk said.
Cosentino`s campaign spokesman, Steve Brown, responded that Ryan`s comments were made in desperation. ”When someone is 15 points down in the polls, you expect these kinds of bogus charges,” he said.
”The facts are that there was no investment made. The rental of the property is lower than other state agencies are paying in the same building and the negotiations began under a prior administration,” Brown said.
Cosentino has been hit by a series of reports in recent months:
– Last week the Indiana attorney general said it was looking into why a trucking firm operated by Cosentino and his wife with the address of an Indiana motel room had not complied with a registration requirement for out-of-state businesses.
”That story was generated after an inquiry from a Tribune reporter,”
Brown said, adding that the registration fee was $90, if indeed it is required.
– Cosentino`s trucking firm, Fast Motor Service, received $400,000 in loans from the Cosmopolitan National Bank in Chicago shortly after it received its first-ever deposits of state funds from the treasurer`s office.
Cosentino, who was not available Sunday, has continually denied any link between the deposit and the loans.
”When a person assumes public office they make a solemn commitment to the voters and taxpayers to put personal interests aside in favor of the public trust,” Ryan said. ”The day they taught that in civics class Mr. Cosentino must have been out on the playground.
”Once again Jerry Cosentino has to answer for his behavior and his record.”
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