2 Investigators: O'Hare Cleaning Firm Violated City Contract, Watchdog Says
(CBS) -- Keeping O'Hare International Airport clean has gotten a little messier.
Chicago's Office of the Inspector General, or OIG, now says the contractor to which the city has paid more than $100 million violated the contract.
2 Investigator Brad Edwards has been on the case.
The OIG's first quarter report says an employee of the clout-heavy contractor reserved jobs for political favor.
CBS 2 previously reported on the ballooning costs of this particular contract and the fact the company was even sued and settled with O'Hare janitors for wages that were due.
"A City contractor reserved jobs for individuals based on political considerations, in violation of City rules and the terms of its multimillion dollar contract with the City," the report says.
"The Contractor also failed to fully cooperate with OIG's investigation of the misconduct."
Sources have confirmed that contractor is United Maintenance.
Its president is Rick Simon, a clout-heavy pal of former Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy. The two were recently subpoenaed in Jesse Jackson Jr.'s divorce case.
When United Maintenance won the O'Hare cleaning contract, the contractor said it could do the work $99.4 million.
The cost has since ballooned to $109.6 million, more than $10 million in cost overruns.
Back to the allegation: In 2014, an employee for 12th Ward Ald. George Cardenas received an email with the promise of 25 jobs.
"When my staff member got the [jobs] offer, we didn't know how to interpret it, but knew it was inappropriate. We immediately handed it over the emails to the Board of Ethics," Cardenas tells CBS 2.
Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd) says the United Maintenance contract should be investigated.
"The city needs to take a very close look at it and see if this contract needs to be negated," he says.
The OIG report says the united maintenance did not cooperate with the investigation.
A spokesperson for the company did not comment Friday.
