A firm owned by a politically connected consultant who has been implicated in a sweeping investigation of Gov. George Ryan’s campaign operations was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars more than Metra has previously acknowledged, records show.
The disclosures suggest that firms affiliated with Roger Stanley, a former legislator whose business dealings with the commuter rail agency are under scrutiny by a federal grand jury, received far more than the $2.9 million that Metra previously said it paid the consultant.
Metra is now acknowledging that Stanley was a subcontractor and was paid at least $450,000 to design, print and mail Metra information packets to relocated homeowners from 1993 to 1997.
But Metra said it can’t find dozens of records reflecting monthly payments to Stanley’s direct-mail firm Unistat, also known as Universal Statistical Inc. How much more the firm was paid remains unclear.
Last month, Stanley’s political mentor, Donald Udstuen, resigned from the Metra board and retired from his job as a top official of the state’s physician lobby group shortly after federal authorities subpoenaed Metra records.
Stanley’s attorney could not be reached for comment.
Metra officials said this week that they had complied with a federal grand jury subpoena and turned over the records involving the subcontract to the U.S. attorney’s office.
“We are supplying what we have,” spokesman Frank Malone said.
The newly released records also raise new questions about how Unistat won the contract when Metra selected it in 1997 to continue printing and mailing the Metra packets to relocating homeowners.
Unistat first won the business to design the mailings over two competitors, including a firm whose owner said she bid thousands of dollars less than Stanley’s firm.
“I kind of felt it was probably a political thing. They already knew who they wanted,” said Christine Kohut, the bidder who quoted thousands of dollars less for a portion of the contract.
About 10 days later, Unistat won the printing portion of the contract after Unistat informed the agency that it would charge the same printing cost that it charged under the 1993 subcontract. With the printing costs, the contract was worth $375,000 a year.
Metra officials defended the contract and subcontract awarded to Unistat.
“As with many publicly bid contracts, some may question the process as flawed. However, one cannot refute the fact that the prices were firm through the term of the contract, the product is acceptable and timely, and it followed Metra’s . . . criteria, ” the agency said in a written statement.
Stanley has not been charged with any wrongdoing in the federal investigation. But in last month’s indictment of Ryan’s political committee on racketeering charges, a firm identified only as Company B–which sources said is Unistat–is alleged to have paid state employees to do campaign work. In addition, the firm allegedly provided free vacations and prostitutes to Scott Fawell, Ryan’s one-time top campaign aide.
Metra officials noted that the contract awarded to Stanley was exempt from public bidding under current state law. State Rep. Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) and state Sen. Barack Obama (D-Chicago) are sponsoring a bill to require the commuter agency to comply with the state’s purchasing act. If approved, Metra would have to provide a detailed explanation anytime it selected a bidder who did not submit the lowest bid.
“There’s a loophole, and we are going to remedy that by this legislation,” Garrett said.
