Daniels aide cooperating
Indicted ex-official negotiating on plea
By Michael Higgins
Tribune staff reporter
Published December 20, 2005

A former top aide to one-time Republican House leader Lee Daniels of Elmhurst is cooperating with federal investigators while negotiating a possible plea agreement on corruption charges, federal prosecutors said Monday.

Prosecutors and a defense lawyer for Michael Tristano, who was Daniels' chief of staff, acknowledged in October that they were negotiating a possible plea. But at the time, neither side would discuss whether Tristano was providing information to investigators.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Manish Shah raised the issue Monday at a hearing in federal court in Chicago. "Mr. Tristano is cooperating with the government and as a result, the investigation is ongoing," said Shah, when apprising U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle of the status of the case.

Shah said he and Tristano's attorney, Jeffrey Steinback, were still working toward a deal and needed more time to negotiate. Norgle set Feb. 15 for a status hearing in the case.

Steinback was not in court and could not be reached Monday for comment.

Tristano was indicted in May on charges that he directed state employees to work on political campaigns and steered $1.3 million in state money to the village of Willow Springs to help developers who put a Republican House candidate on their payroll.

Tristano was Daniels' top political and legislative strategist. Daniels has not been charged and has denied that he has done anything wrong.

Daniels' attorney, Thomas Breen, said Monday that he did not believe Tristano's cooperation would create problems for his client. "If his cooperation consists of telling the truth, we would feel comfortable" with it, Breen said.

Breen also noted that the business deals at issue in the Tristano case involved many players. "If in fact there's some cooperation, that might not affect my client," Breen said. "It might have something to do with a completely different investigation."

Federal authorities have been investigating for two years how millions of dollars in so-called pork barrel projects tied to Daniels were spent. The grants, awarded for special projects deemed priorities by lawmakers for their legislative districts, were handed out during the administrations of former Gov. Jim Edgar and former Gov. George Ryan.

In an August 2003 subpoena, investigators sought records on grants sought by Daniels from Jan. 1, 1998, through Sept. 1, 2002.

Prosecutors charged Tristano with steering $1.3 million in such state money to Willow Springs to help developers building a $40 million downtown project. They allege that Tristano forced the developers to put a Downstate GOP House candidate on their payroll even though the candidate was busy campaigning in southern Illinois.