Atty. Gen. Jim Ryan demanded Wednesday that outgoing Gov. George Ryan justify an 11th hour multimillion-dollar spending spree for the purchase of several office buildings in Springfield and a Kendall County house designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
In a letter sent to the governor’s chief legal counsel, the Republican attorney general vowed to conduct a comprehensive review of all late-term property purchases of more than $1 million ordered by George Ryan. Such a move could effectively block deals that would benefit the governor’s friends or slow them down until George Ryan leaves office in January.
The outgoing Republican governor’s administration is moving forward on the purchase of at least four properties at a cost to taxpayers of more than $50 million.
Among the properties is the aging Lincoln Tower office and apartment complex across from the state Capitol, which a friend of the governor’s has tried to broker to the state for a quarter century. The administration plans to buy the property for $21 million, nearly double what the local assessor’s office lists as its fair market value, even though real estate experts say the building is laden with environmental and structural problems that will cost millions of dollars to fix.
More than just impeding the governor’s plans to reward his loyal allies with end-of-term wheeling and dealing, the attorney general’s move represents a subtle form of political payback. Jim Ryan has blamed his defeat in the recent race for governor on the scandal-clouded administration of George Ryan. Seeking to disassociate himself with the incumbent of the same name and party, Jim Ryan repeatedly attacked George Ryan throughout the campaign.
Under Illinois law, the attorney general’s office must approve major state property purchases. On Wednesday, it informed the governor’s office that it will conduct an extensive review of appraisals, titles and other documentation before giving the go-ahead.
“The attorney general has no intention of lowering his standards in the waning days of his administration,” said Jim Ryan’s spokesman, Dan Curry. “It would appear to be on the surface to be a little unusual to have multiple . . . major purchases by the state in the closing days of the administration.
“Jim Ryan will continue to do everything in his power to protect the public interest. If these purchases are proper and a good deal for taxpayers, then the people who are bringing them forward should be able to come up with the justification without any problem.”
Curry said the attorney general could go to court to block any purchase it found objectionable. “If something was out of whack with the public’s interest, the attorney general would file a lawsuit,” Curry said.
The maneuver comes at a time of a mounting fiscal crisis, with some financial experts predicting the state will have to close a $2.8 billion revenue gap by the time the next fiscal year begins in July.
The attorney general’s letter, written by a senior aide, said that given “the budgetary constraints with which the state is currently grappling, it is in the best interests of the . . . attorney general to examine such purchases fully” before they take place.
The governor’s plans to buy Lincoln Tower and move forward on the Mies-designed Farnsworth House in Plano triggered the attorney general’s actions, Curry said.
As far back as 1976, former state Sen. Arthur “Ron” Swanson, a longtime member of George Ryan’s inner circle, has sought unsuccessfully to broker the sale of the Lincoln Tower property to the state.
On Wednesday, officials in the Capital Township assessor’s office in Springfield pegged the fair market value of the complex at $11.2 million, but state officials insisted its real value was higher.
Judy Pardonnet, spokeswoman for the Department of Central Management Services, said the state would not pay more for the property than its appraised value.
Even so, one real estate expert familiar with state procurement estimated structural repairs to the building could total $40 million to $50 million to bring the building up to code, deal with asbestos remediation and replace its worn out heating and cooling system.
As late as August, masonry contractors were re-laying brick on its south face after the bricks began pulling away. In addition, some former residents have questioned the safety of balconies on the structure. They say the balconies have pulled away from the building, exposing steel retaining bars.
State officials refused to provide any appraisals or inspections of Lincoln Tower and Pardonnet would not address specific problems with the property other than to say any pending issues would be addressed.
Plans to buy the Farnsworth House were first revealed after the spring 2001 budget session and followed a lobbying push by a number of civic leaders, including former Gov. Jim Thompson and Sara Lee Corp. Chairman John Bryan. One of the goals would be to make the building a public museum owned and operated by the state.
At the time, George Ryan’s administration had planned to reserve up to $7 million for the property and the furniture to fill it. But the purchase began to run into trouble as the state’s once-flush treasury began rapidly shrinking.
The state is reviewing appraisals on the Farnsworth House. Pardonnet said there is a wide disparity depending on whether the property is viewed as a regular piece of real estate or an “architectural marvel.”
The attorney general’s office also would review at least two other proposals: an $18 million purchase of another office complex near the Statehouse and a $5.6 million expenditure for the building that is leased by the state for its lottery headquarters.
The lottery building is owned by Nick Cagnoni, the son-in-law of the late Springfield developer and political insider Frank Mason. Cagnoni, his wife, Marilyn, and his firm, Cagnoni Development LLC, have contributed more than $67,500 to candidates and political organizations in the last eight years, including more than $35,000 to George Ryan during that time period, State Board of Elections records show.
State officials have said politics played no role in the decisions to buy the buildings. They said the money for the purchase of the Springfield buildings was approved by the legislature last spring.
