Posted: 3:27 p.m. May 9, 2010
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100509/SPORTS02/100509022/42-years-later-Jose-Feliciano-to-sing-anthem&template=fullarticle
42 years later, Jose Feliciano to sing anthem
BY GENE MYERS
FREE PRESS SPORTS EDITOR
Before Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye, Whitney Houston and even Roseanne Barr, there were Ernie Harwell and Jose Feliciano.
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And how during the 1968 World Series a 50-year-old sweet-voiced southern broadcaster and a 23-year-old blind Puerto Rican musician changed American sports forever will be one of the storylines when the Tigers honor Harwell on Monday night at Comerica Park.
As a tribute to their legendary broadcaster, who died last Tuesday at 92, the Tigers have an elaborate pregame ceremony planned at 6:45 p.m. before playing the Yankees.
They will raise a white flag in centerfield with Harwell's initials. Former radio partners will handle the ceremonial first pitch -- Ray Lane delivering the ball, Paul Carey throwing it. And Feliciano will sign the national anthem, something he hasn't done in Detroit in 42 years.
On Oct. 7, 1968, before Game 5 against the Cardinals at Tiger Stadium, using only his voice and an acoustic guitar, Feliciano delivered a soulful rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner. No one had strayed from a straight-laced anthem interpretation, let alone on national television.
An uproar ensued across the country. Harwell, who had selected Feliciano for the assignment, had to defend his singer and his patriotism. He feared for his job. As a result, Harwell and Feliciano became lifelong friends.
A few years later, Harwell introduced Feliciano to Susan Omillian, a Detroiter, who, as a 14-year-old at the time, was angered by Feliciano's treatment. They later married and had three children.
In a 2003 interview with the Free Press, Harwell said: “People called me all sorts of names, saying I was a Communist.” And Feliciano said: “Some people wanted me deported -- as if you can be deported to Puerto Rico.”
Last fall, after Harwell revealed he had terminal cancer, he talked about the events before and after the anthem that changed all anthems in a lengthy interview with the Free Press, to be his last extensive session with local media. The highlights:
“I got into a little controversy because (general manager) Jim Campbell knew I was a tyro songwriter and he appointed me to select the singers for the national anthem for the three games in Detroit.
“The first game I picked Margaret Whiting, whose uncle and dad were great songwriters and they were from Michigan and she had kinfolks in Birmingham. She was a great nightclub singer and recording artist. She did a fine job.
“And then the second person I picked was Marvin Gaye of Motown. And strangely enough, the Tigers asked me to talk to Marvin and say, 'Marvin, we'd appreciate it if you would sing it as straight as you can and not have too much Motown influence in your rendition.' So he sang it straight.
“And then the third fellow that I picked was Jose Feliciano, a young Puerto Rican who had been coming up. He'd had one hit on the charts; he'd covered Morrison's 'Light My Fire.' It was a very popular song and I had a friend in the record business in Hollywood that said, 'I saw this guy at the Greek Theater in Hollywood and he did a sensational national anthem. He should be the guy you pick.'
“Well, we tried a couple of guys -- Eddie Arnold and a few people like that. They couldn't make it. Jose accepted and he was doing a show every night in Las Vegas. He took the red eye, came into Detroit, sang the national anthem.
“He did a sort of soulful rendition; it would be very mild if you heard it now. But at that point people thought it was a sacrilege to the flag and to the country and everything else. The American Legion rose up in arms and passed all kinds of resolutions and everybody got mad. The front page of the New York Times had a picture of him, which was very unusual at that point. There were all kinds of protests.
“A lot of people, including me, thought I might lose my job because of that. There was so much anger about it.
“Sure enough, everything worked out, and Jose and I are still big buddies and I introduced him to his new wife, Miss Omillian. They're still married and they've got kids and they're very happy.”
Harwell then added a postscript:
“When I got sick, I got a beautiful bouquet from Susan and Jose and the kids. I really appreciated that, too. We keep up with them. They send us a Christmas card every year. We're good friends.”
And they will be linked again Monday night, at twilight's last gleaming.
Contact GENE MYERS: 313-222-6736 or gmyers@freepress.com.
martes, 11 de mayo de 2010
Decades after uproar, Jose Feliciano beloved
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100511&content_id=9959998&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Decades after uproar, Feliciano beloved
Controversial performance in past, singer honors Harwell
By Jason Beck / MLB.com
DETROIT -- Jose Feliciano's last performance at a Tigers game almost got Ernie Harwell fired. His return on Monday, in a way, memorialized Harwell.
"Ernie would've loved it," former broadcaster Paul Carey said.
In the end, Feliciano loved it, too.
"This night was very special to me," Feliciano said.
Considering Harwell's legendary broadcasting career and the affection Detroit had for him, it's almost inconceivable that something like a national anthem performance nearly cost him all of that. But it says plenty to the time and the state of the nation when Feliciano took the field on that October afternoon.
Complete coverage >>
Harwell liked the idea enough that one of his last wishes was for Feliciano come back to perform, 42 years after Harwell asked him to perform at Tiger Stadium. It was Harwell's choice for the 1968 World Series, since the Tigers put the broadcaster -- an accomplished songwriter back then -- in charge of the anthem singers for the games in Detroit.
Harwell booked popular performers Margaret Whiting and Marvin Gaye for Games 3 and 4 and went with an up-and-coming young artist for Game 5 in Feliciano, a Puerto Rico-born guitarist who first hit the charts that year with a laid-back version of The Doors' "Light My Fire."
It was a big deal to Feliciano, not just for the exposure, but for the meaning for someone who came to New York as a young child with his parents.
Harwell once recalled that the Tigers had asked him to ask Marvin Gaye to perform the anthem straight. They didn't do so with Feliciano, who was lesser-known at the time. Nobody knew the version he had in mind when he took the field with his guitar and his guide dog prior to Game 5.
"I was just interpreting the national anthem and doing it in a way that would bring it to people's attention," Feliciano said. "I got kind of tired of seeing people eating their popcorn at a ballgame, and as soon as the anthem came on, they were so in a hurry for the anthem to get over with so they could get on to the game, and I thought that was very disrespectful."
As it turned out, Feliciano's guitar-based, bluesy interpretation of the national anthem was believed to be one of the first times anybody deviated from the standard version at a public event. Suffice to say, it was not immediately appreciated as he intended, prompting a mixed reaction that Feliciano immediately sensed as he left the field.
"It was between a boo and a yea," Feliciano said. "If you ever get to hear the performance, you can hear the combination of boos and yeas. When I left the field, I said, 'What happened? What did I do?'"
The reaction at the stadium was mixed, but the feedback from television viewers calling into NBC was strongly negative. Feliciano didn't sense how strongly until he had returned to Las Vegas to rejoin his show.
"It didn't hit me until it was all over the news and all over the papers," Feliciano said.
Once it hit Feliciano, it was overwhelming. He was a 23-year-old musician with a budding career, and overnight, radio stations were taking his records off the air. He estimates his career was stunted for two or three years.
The music industry turned on Feliciano, but Harwell never did. He steadfastly defended the artist and his performance, saying he enjoyed it. Years later, Harwell collaborated with Feliciano on a song titled "They Ain't Heard Me Yet."
For that matter, some Tigers players didn't mind it. As Al Kaline pointed out, it became a rallying cry of sorts for the team, which overcame a 3-1 World Series deficit from there.
"When I met Ernie," Feliciano recalled, "it was a relationship that lasted for many, many years."
When he heard about Harwell's illness last year, Feliciano said he wished he could do something to help. He couldn't cure cancer, but as it turned out, he could honor one of his friend's last requests.
"It didn't take much coaxing," Feliciano said. "I wanted to be around for Ernie. I would have felt left out if I hadn't been asked. I was very glad that they asked me. Ernie was my friend. Anything I can do for the Harwells, I will do."
Feliciano hasn't performed the national anthem often in the decades since, but he has stayed true to his original version. He had no plans to change on Monday, either, when he took the field in front of the 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment Honor Guard from the United States Marine Corps.
Other than the pace, which seemed a little faster than in 1968, the interpretation was the same. Feliciano joked that he might have played faster because it was cold.
The reaction from the crowd was much different. It was a rousing ovation at Comerica Park -- partly to remember Harwell, no doubt, but also for Feliciano, now 65.
"I thought the fans were wonderful," Feliciano said. "Truthfully, I didn't know how they were going to react to me coming back. This was different. It was like saying, 'Hey, some of us are sorry for what happened then. We knew that what you did was a good thing.' And they let me know it tonight."
In a way, it's what Harwell would've wanted. Even in death, Harwell impacted some lives, including one talented performer.
"I'll always miss Ernie," Feliciano said. "I don't think someone who's been a big part of your life like that, you ever stop missing them. I will always miss him. He will always be a part of me, and not a day won't go by where I won't think of Ernie Harwell."
Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Decades after uproar, Feliciano beloved
Controversial performance in past, singer honors Harwell
By Jason Beck / MLB.com
DETROIT -- Jose Feliciano's last performance at a Tigers game almost got Ernie Harwell fired. His return on Monday, in a way, memorialized Harwell.
"Ernie would've loved it," former broadcaster Paul Carey said.
In the end, Feliciano loved it, too.
"This night was very special to me," Feliciano said.
Considering Harwell's legendary broadcasting career and the affection Detroit had for him, it's almost inconceivable that something like a national anthem performance nearly cost him all of that. But it says plenty to the time and the state of the nation when Feliciano took the field on that October afternoon.
Complete coverage >>
Harwell liked the idea enough that one of his last wishes was for Feliciano come back to perform, 42 years after Harwell asked him to perform at Tiger Stadium. It was Harwell's choice for the 1968 World Series, since the Tigers put the broadcaster -- an accomplished songwriter back then -- in charge of the anthem singers for the games in Detroit.
Harwell booked popular performers Margaret Whiting and Marvin Gaye for Games 3 and 4 and went with an up-and-coming young artist for Game 5 in Feliciano, a Puerto Rico-born guitarist who first hit the charts that year with a laid-back version of The Doors' "Light My Fire."
It was a big deal to Feliciano, not just for the exposure, but for the meaning for someone who came to New York as a young child with his parents.
Harwell once recalled that the Tigers had asked him to ask Marvin Gaye to perform the anthem straight. They didn't do so with Feliciano, who was lesser-known at the time. Nobody knew the version he had in mind when he took the field with his guitar and his guide dog prior to Game 5.
"I was just interpreting the national anthem and doing it in a way that would bring it to people's attention," Feliciano said. "I got kind of tired of seeing people eating their popcorn at a ballgame, and as soon as the anthem came on, they were so in a hurry for the anthem to get over with so they could get on to the game, and I thought that was very disrespectful."
As it turned out, Feliciano's guitar-based, bluesy interpretation of the national anthem was believed to be one of the first times anybody deviated from the standard version at a public event. Suffice to say, it was not immediately appreciated as he intended, prompting a mixed reaction that Feliciano immediately sensed as he left the field.
"It was between a boo and a yea," Feliciano said. "If you ever get to hear the performance, you can hear the combination of boos and yeas. When I left the field, I said, 'What happened? What did I do?'"
The reaction at the stadium was mixed, but the feedback from television viewers calling into NBC was strongly negative. Feliciano didn't sense how strongly until he had returned to Las Vegas to rejoin his show.
"It didn't hit me until it was all over the news and all over the papers," Feliciano said.
Once it hit Feliciano, it was overwhelming. He was a 23-year-old musician with a budding career, and overnight, radio stations were taking his records off the air. He estimates his career was stunted for two or three years.
The music industry turned on Feliciano, but Harwell never did. He steadfastly defended the artist and his performance, saying he enjoyed it. Years later, Harwell collaborated with Feliciano on a song titled "They Ain't Heard Me Yet."
For that matter, some Tigers players didn't mind it. As Al Kaline pointed out, it became a rallying cry of sorts for the team, which overcame a 3-1 World Series deficit from there.
"When I met Ernie," Feliciano recalled, "it was a relationship that lasted for many, many years."
When he heard about Harwell's illness last year, Feliciano said he wished he could do something to help. He couldn't cure cancer, but as it turned out, he could honor one of his friend's last requests.
"It didn't take much coaxing," Feliciano said. "I wanted to be around for Ernie. I would have felt left out if I hadn't been asked. I was very glad that they asked me. Ernie was my friend. Anything I can do for the Harwells, I will do."
Feliciano hasn't performed the national anthem often in the decades since, but he has stayed true to his original version. He had no plans to change on Monday, either, when he took the field in front of the 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment Honor Guard from the United States Marine Corps.
Other than the pace, which seemed a little faster than in 1968, the interpretation was the same. Feliciano joked that he might have played faster because it was cold.
The reaction from the crowd was much different. It was a rousing ovation at Comerica Park -- partly to remember Harwell, no doubt, but also for Feliciano, now 65.
"I thought the fans were wonderful," Feliciano said. "Truthfully, I didn't know how they were going to react to me coming back. This was different. It was like saying, 'Hey, some of us are sorry for what happened then. We knew that what you did was a good thing.' And they let me know it tonight."
In a way, it's what Harwell would've wanted. Even in death, Harwell impacted some lives, including one talented performer.
"I'll always miss Ernie," Feliciano said. "I don't think someone who's been a big part of your life like that, you ever stop missing them. I will always miss him. He will always be a part of me, and not a day won't go by where I won't think of Ernie Harwell."
Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
jueves, 6 de mayo de 2010
Gutierrez should live in district he reps
Gutierrez should live in district he reps
But congressman says new home is for wife, daughter
Comments
May 4, 2010
BY MARK BROWN Chicago Sun-Times Columnist
Congressman Luis Gutierrez was calm and composed when he returned my call Monday, which is not what I would have once expected on a day the Sun-Times carried a story zinging him over a real estate deal involving his daughter.
Gutierrez didn't think it should have been a story, didn't want to see his daughter put through the news media grinder.
But when an alderman who happens to be the congressman's political protege free-lances his own off-the-books affordable housing program and one of the reduced-cost units winds up in the hands of the congressman's daughter, who flips it a year later for a nice profit, well, that's a story.
Still, it wasn't the story that prompted my call to Gutierrez.
What I wanted to learn more about was the little story off to the side, the one that said the congressman no longer lives in his own 4th Congressional District.
Now, it is not uncommon for someone to run for Congress from a district in which they do not live, and it is sometimes the case that an incumbent member of Congress will be displaced by redistricting. The only legal requirement is that they live in the state they represent, not the district.
Even those elected from homes outside their district usually move into it later, although I've been reminded that Rep. Melissa Bean never has gotten around to doing so, and Rod Blagojevich survived a couple congressional elections before he saw fit to move into his district.
Just the same, you do not often see a congressman move out of his district, or at least not do so openly. It's considered an insult to the voters who elected them.
It's the sort of thing that a politician only does when they're feeling awfully smug about their re-election prospects -- or when they're not planning to run again.
It was the latter reasoning that Gutierrez said was actually on his mind when he first moved out of his district two years ago to a condo at 3963 W. Belmont. At the time, he had announced his plans to retire, and even at that, the condo was just barely outside the district by less than a block. Then Gutierrez had a change of heart and won re-election in 2008 from that address.
Now he's running yet one more time, and in the process moved just a few months ago even farther from his district to another home in the 5300 block of West Cullom near Portage Park -- which puts him about two miles from his closest constituent.
Don't forget that Gutierrez does not represent just any old congressional district.
The 4th District is one of the most bizarrely gerrymandered pieces of political real estate in the nation -- a C-shaped creation that cobbles together the Hispanic populations on the Northwest and Southwest sides by using the Tri-State Tollway and forest preserve property as the linkage.
All of this was done for the purpose of devising a super-majority Latino district that would allow that under-represented population to send one of its own to Washington.
Now the individual who first won that seat upon its creation in 1992 no longer feels an obligation to live among the people who elect him.
I don't like that, and I called Gutierrez to tell him so. "I've never hidden where I've lived," said Gutierrez, who to my knowledge is correct on that count, although heaven knows it has been hard to keep track of him through the years as he has bounced from place to place. Gutierrez has made a practice of rehabbing homes and flipping them, taking advantage of one of the few legal means for a congressman to earn outside income.
Even with this latest move, Gutierrez has yet to change his voter registration to reflect the Cullom address, which might have caused somebody to take notice.
Gutierrez said the move to Portage Park was prompted by his wife and daughter, who he said picked it out.
He said he felt they deserved their choice after years of living in homes based on his political needs. He said he travels a lot, even when not in Washington, because of his responsibilities as a national leader on immigration reform -- an issue on which we're on the same side, by the way.
"I wanted them to be safe. They felt safer together," he said. "This is a safe place. It's a very humble place. It's not an ostentatious place. It's a home, not an investment."
Gutierrez said he didn't mean to suggest that he couldn't find a safe place to live in his district, which is good, because some 650,000 people live there.
I've known Gutierrez since 1986, when Hispanics were given their first real voice in city politics with the creation of three new seats in the City Council, including his.
Around that time I wrote a story headlined something like, "Stemberk Found Living in Riverside," the typeface so large that you would have thought I'd discovered a Nazi war criminal instead of a white Chicago alderman who had grown tired of living among his Hispanic constituents. The story helped his Hispanic opponent, Jesus Garcia, go on to win.
If it was wrong for Stemberk, it's wrong for Gutierrez.
But congressman says new home is for wife, daughter
Comments
May 4, 2010
BY MARK BROWN Chicago Sun-Times Columnist
Congressman Luis Gutierrez was calm and composed when he returned my call Monday, which is not what I would have once expected on a day the Sun-Times carried a story zinging him over a real estate deal involving his daughter.
Gutierrez didn't think it should have been a story, didn't want to see his daughter put through the news media grinder.
But when an alderman who happens to be the congressman's political protege free-lances his own off-the-books affordable housing program and one of the reduced-cost units winds up in the hands of the congressman's daughter, who flips it a year later for a nice profit, well, that's a story.
Still, it wasn't the story that prompted my call to Gutierrez.
What I wanted to learn more about was the little story off to the side, the one that said the congressman no longer lives in his own 4th Congressional District.
Now, it is not uncommon for someone to run for Congress from a district in which they do not live, and it is sometimes the case that an incumbent member of Congress will be displaced by redistricting. The only legal requirement is that they live in the state they represent, not the district.
Even those elected from homes outside their district usually move into it later, although I've been reminded that Rep. Melissa Bean never has gotten around to doing so, and Rod Blagojevich survived a couple congressional elections before he saw fit to move into his district.
Just the same, you do not often see a congressman move out of his district, or at least not do so openly. It's considered an insult to the voters who elected them.
It's the sort of thing that a politician only does when they're feeling awfully smug about their re-election prospects -- or when they're not planning to run again.
It was the latter reasoning that Gutierrez said was actually on his mind when he first moved out of his district two years ago to a condo at 3963 W. Belmont. At the time, he had announced his plans to retire, and even at that, the condo was just barely outside the district by less than a block. Then Gutierrez had a change of heart and won re-election in 2008 from that address.
Now he's running yet one more time, and in the process moved just a few months ago even farther from his district to another home in the 5300 block of West Cullom near Portage Park -- which puts him about two miles from his closest constituent.
Don't forget that Gutierrez does not represent just any old congressional district.
The 4th District is one of the most bizarrely gerrymandered pieces of political real estate in the nation -- a C-shaped creation that cobbles together the Hispanic populations on the Northwest and Southwest sides by using the Tri-State Tollway and forest preserve property as the linkage.
All of this was done for the purpose of devising a super-majority Latino district that would allow that under-represented population to send one of its own to Washington.
Now the individual who first won that seat upon its creation in 1992 no longer feels an obligation to live among the people who elect him.
I don't like that, and I called Gutierrez to tell him so. "I've never hidden where I've lived," said Gutierrez, who to my knowledge is correct on that count, although heaven knows it has been hard to keep track of him through the years as he has bounced from place to place. Gutierrez has made a practice of rehabbing homes and flipping them, taking advantage of one of the few legal means for a congressman to earn outside income.
Even with this latest move, Gutierrez has yet to change his voter registration to reflect the Cullom address, which might have caused somebody to take notice.
Gutierrez said the move to Portage Park was prompted by his wife and daughter, who he said picked it out.
He said he felt they deserved their choice after years of living in homes based on his political needs. He said he travels a lot, even when not in Washington, because of his responsibilities as a national leader on immigration reform -- an issue on which we're on the same side, by the way.
"I wanted them to be safe. They felt safer together," he said. "This is a safe place. It's a very humble place. It's not an ostentatious place. It's a home, not an investment."
Gutierrez said he didn't mean to suggest that he couldn't find a safe place to live in his district, which is good, because some 650,000 people live there.
I've known Gutierrez since 1986, when Hispanics were given their first real voice in city politics with the creation of three new seats in the City Council, including his.
Around that time I wrote a story headlined something like, "Stemberk Found Living in Riverside," the typeface so large that you would have thought I'd discovered a Nazi war criminal instead of a white Chicago alderman who had grown tired of living among his Hispanic constituents. The story helped his Hispanic opponent, Jesus Garcia, go on to win.
If it was wrong for Stemberk, it's wrong for Gutierrez.
Gutierrez put daughter up for her state job
Records: Congressman put daughter up for her state job
CLOUT LIST | Gutierrez denies going to Blago as hiring sponsor
Comments
May 3, 2010
BY CHRIS FUSCO AND TIM NOVAK Staff Reporters Chicago Sun Times
Before he lent her $140,000 to buy an "affordable home," U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez helped his daughter get a government job, according to records kept by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration.
Omaira Figueroa became a consumer counselor for the Illinois Commerce Commission in June 2004, after Blagojevich aides included her in the then-secret hiring database under a spreadsheet labeled "Gutierrez, Luis (CONG-D-4th Dist.)"
RELATED STORIES
Congressman's daughter's sweet housing deal
"There should be no issues. She should get a letter offering the position in about 2 weeks," according to a note placed in the database the month before the ICC hired her.
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling bans politics from factoring in to most state hiring, including the job held by Gutierrez's daughter. But that didn't keep the since-indicted Blagojevich from tracking 386 clout-heavy people who sponsored 5,700 candidates for state jobs, transfers or promotions, according to the records, which list Gutierrez as sponsoring 36 people.
His spokesman, Douglas Rivlin, denied that Gutierrez helped Figueroa get her state job with the Blagojevich administration.
"His daughter had a relationship directly with Gov. Blagojevich, who among other things attended her wedding,'' Rivlin said. "She has previously worked for the governor's father-in-law [Ald. Richard Mell]. The congressman told me he did not write a recommendation or suggest to the governor that his daughter be hired at the Commerce Commission job but recalls recommending her to Mell for her job with him originally."
Figueroa, 30, worked part-time for then-26th Ward Ald. Billy Ocasio about 10 years ago, before she became a legislative aide to Mell and then an assistant sergeant-at-arms for the City Council -- a job she held before joining the ICC, where she makes $59,016 a year.
At the time she bought her affordable home, in 2008, she was making $55,620.
Her husband, Ecliserio Figueroa, got a city job in July 2003 -- about two months after she gave birth to their son. He makes $42,456 a year as a clerk for the Aviation Department. In 2008, he made $38,208.
CLOUT LIST | Gutierrez denies going to Blago as hiring sponsor
Comments
May 3, 2010
BY CHRIS FUSCO AND TIM NOVAK Staff Reporters Chicago Sun Times
Before he lent her $140,000 to buy an "affordable home," U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez helped his daughter get a government job, according to records kept by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration.
Omaira Figueroa became a consumer counselor for the Illinois Commerce Commission in June 2004, after Blagojevich aides included her in the then-secret hiring database under a spreadsheet labeled "Gutierrez, Luis (CONG-D-4th Dist.)"
RELATED STORIES
Congressman's daughter's sweet housing deal
"There should be no issues. She should get a letter offering the position in about 2 weeks," according to a note placed in the database the month before the ICC hired her.
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling bans politics from factoring in to most state hiring, including the job held by Gutierrez's daughter. But that didn't keep the since-indicted Blagojevich from tracking 386 clout-heavy people who sponsored 5,700 candidates for state jobs, transfers or promotions, according to the records, which list Gutierrez as sponsoring 36 people.
His spokesman, Douglas Rivlin, denied that Gutierrez helped Figueroa get her state job with the Blagojevich administration.
"His daughter had a relationship directly with Gov. Blagojevich, who among other things attended her wedding,'' Rivlin said. "She has previously worked for the governor's father-in-law [Ald. Richard Mell]. The congressman told me he did not write a recommendation or suggest to the governor that his daughter be hired at the Commerce Commission job but recalls recommending her to Mell for her job with him originally."
Figueroa, 30, worked part-time for then-26th Ward Ald. Billy Ocasio about 10 years ago, before she became a legislative aide to Mell and then an assistant sergeant-at-arms for the City Council -- a job she held before joining the ICC, where she makes $59,016 a year.
At the time she bought her affordable home, in 2008, she was making $55,620.
Her husband, Ecliserio Figueroa, got a city job in July 2003 -- about two months after she gave birth to their son. He makes $42,456 a year as a clerk for the Aviation Department. In 2008, he made $38,208.
Luis Gutierrez-Sweet deal
Congressman's daughter's sweet housing deal
Comments
May 3, 2010
BY CHRIS FUSCO AND TIM NOVAK Staff Reporters Chicago Sun Times
Every time developers asked to build condominiums in his gentrifying 26th Ward, then-Ald. Billy Ocasio had the same answer:
Your project won't be approved unless it includes at least one "affordable home."
» Click to enlarge image
U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez hugs his daughter, Omaira, in 2006 after announcing he won't run for mayor of Chicago.
(Rich Hein/Sun-Times)
RELATED STORIES
Records: Rep. put daughter up for state job Gutierrez no longer lives in his district
RELATED PDF
The building on Kedzie
COMING TUESDAY
U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez's daughter's affordable condo wasn't the only project approved by the 26th Ward Affordable Housing Committee. A look at other developments -- and why City Hall isn't happy about them.
One person who benefitted from Ocasio's directive: Omaira Figueroa, the daughter of U.S. Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, Ocasio's political mentor.
With a $140,000 loan from her parents, Figueroa bought her new two-bedroom, two-bathroom affordable condo in Humboldt Park in June 2008 for $155,000, property records show.
Little more than a year later, she sold it for $239,900 -- $84,900, or 55 percent, more than she'd paid.
Had Figueroa's condo been part of a typical affordable-housing program, that wouldn't have been possible. City of Chicago rules, for instance, now bar affordable-housing buyers from turning big profits when they resell. The rules also require that affordable homes remain affordable -- they can be sold only to buyers who meet income-eligibility guidelines.
Figueroa, though, bought her home through a 26th Ward "community" initiative that "wasn't an official government program," according to Ocasio, who resigned his aldermanic seat last year to take a $125,000-a-year post as a senior adviser to Gov. Quinn.
Ocasio estimated that about 180 affordable condos were supposed to have been created under that program. But it's unclear how many ended up being built and how many have been resold, in part because the program is defunct.
Figueroa, her husband, their son and her husband's two other children now live on the Northwest Side in a two-flat they share with the congressman and his wife -- a building that is outside the borders of Gutierrez's 4th Congressional District (see related story). Figueroa and her husband own 55 percent of the two-flat, according to Gutierrez, who said he and his wife own the rest and live upstairs.
'My father knows all about that'
Figueroa, 30, referred questions about the condo at 1834 N. Kedzie to her father, the congressman. "My father knows all about that," she said.
Gutierrez and Ocasio said neither they nor Figueroa did anything wrong. Nor, they said, did their close relationship give Figueroa an edge to get the home.
"Never," Gutierrez said. "Never. Absolutely not. Never. Never."
Ocasio and Gutierrez also said that campaign contributions they took from Roman Popovych, who built 1834 N. Kedzie, played no role in Figueroa's deal. Gutierrez's congressional fund got $1,000 from Popovych six months before Figueroa bought the condo. The developer and an affiliated company gave Ocasio's aldermanic fund a total of $13,500 between 2004 and 2009.
"I've known Omaira since she was 6 years old," said Ocasio, who hired her to work part-time in his aldermanic office about 10 years ago. "She got no preferential treatment."
Gutierrez said his daughter "participated in a program where the rules were identical for her as they were for dozens of other people." He said he lent her $140,000 because she couldn't qualify for a mortgage from a bank "for a number of reasons," including "probably" her husband's poor credit history.
"That's all I was: I was her dad," the congressman said. "We didn't hide anything. That's why you see a mortgage of $140,000.
"We charged her four-and-three-quarters percent interest because the CPA who does my taxes said that that was an interest rate that was high enough so that the IRS wouldn't say it was a gift."
For years, Gutierrez -- one of the country's most-prominent immigration reform advocates -- has been investing in real estate, making hundreds of thousands of dollars buying and selling homes in Chicago.
Two of his deals involved developers who have since been convicted of crimes: Tony Rezko and Calvin Boender. Gutierrez was never accused of any wrongdoing in their cases. He bought a condo from Rezko and flipped it for a profit. He also bought property from Boender, selling it at a loss.
$93,828 a year
When Figueroa bought her condo on June 9, 2008, she and her husband were making $93,828 a year -- $55,620 from her state-government job with the Illinois Commerce Commission and $38,208 from her husband's job with the city Aviation Department.
The 1,221-square-foot duplex is on the first floor, facing the alley. She paid 41 percent less per square foot than the next-cheapest unit, one that's 1,773 square feet and sold for $385,000 (see graphic).
How the home became affordable housing dates to January 2006, when Ocasio backed a zoning change allowing Popovych to build four condominiums on what had been a single-family lot.
Popovych was among a group of developers who'd found it hard to build affordable homes through programs under the city Housing Department's control. The city "required developers meet all sorts of bureaucratic criteria that was time-consuming and added a financial burden" to their projects, according to Ocasio.
So, about six years ago, Ocasio and community leaders came up with an alternative: Developers would get Ocasio's OK to rezone lots for condos only if they first won approval from a group called the 26th Ward Affordable Housing Committee.
If Ocasio agreed, he would get the City Council to approve the zoning change subject to a "declaration of restrictive covenant." That would give Ocasio oversight of the project and spell out how many affordable units would be required.
Then, not-for-profit housing groups would advertise the homes, set income guidelines for buyers and work to pair them with lenders.
By late 2005, Figueroa and her husband had submitted tax returns and pay stubs as part of a first-time home-buyer counseling workshop run by the Latin United Community Housing Association. Ocasio used to work for the group, which gets about $500,000 a year in government funding.
Gutierrez said his daughter's certificate from the home-buyer workshop was all she needed to qualify to buy a home through the 26th Ward Affordable Housing Committee program.
Under city rules, Figueroa would have had six months to buy an affordable home after proving she met income guidelines.
Under the 26th Ward program's rules, though, there was no time limit. So she was able to buy affordable housing 2½ years later -- when her income had risen sharply.
Is that how affordable housing should work?
"I'm not gonna have a conversation about affordable housing in the context of a real estate transaction in which my daughter did absolutely nothing wrong -- unless you could show me she violated some rule, that she got some kind of special treatment," Gutierrez said. "It's just not there."
Figueroa sold the condo last August for $239,900 -- $84,900 over what she'd paid for it.
Gutierrez said she cleared only about $53,000, though, taking into account closing costs and money she spent on home improvements.
By the time Figueroa bought her condo, the other three units at 1834 N. Kedzie had been sold for between $385,000 and $395,000 each.
All three have been rented out and are now facing foreclosure.
The men who bought those condos -- Volodymyr Kuchmiyov and Yaroslav Dzis -- appear to have ties to Popovych, according to court documents. A tenant in one of Kuchmiyov's two units said she'd been paying rent to an office at the same address as a Popovych company, V.P. Interlink Development. A tenant in Dzis' unit said he paid rent to a real estate company called V.P. Interlink at the same address and had never heard of Dzis.
Attempts to reach Popovych, Kuchmiyov and Dzis were unsuccessful.
Ocasio: program a success
Ocasio said he doesn't know exactly how many affordable homes were created under the 26th Ward program, in part because his staff destroyed many of its records when he shut down his aldermanic office.
When he was asked about the program, Ocasio tracked down some documents. But those records don't show who bought those homes or how many have been resold.
Ocasio said that when the housing market collapsed in 2008, he let developers sell some of the affordable units to anyone, regardless of income. "Developers said, 'Look, I can't sell these units. We can't find people to buy them,' " Ocasio said. "And so, at some point ... we said, 'Go ahead. You guys need to get rid of it? Get rid of it.' "
The struggling economy also kept developers from even breaking ground on some projects, Ocasio said. Still, he considers the program to have been a success.
"I think there's worse things that an alderman can do with the power of zoning than to build affordable housing," Ocasio said. "In hindsight, there's always improvements you can make. I think, if we had the money, if we had more support from the city, we would have done all the things that everybody else did. ... We didn't have those resources."
Comments
May 3, 2010
BY CHRIS FUSCO AND TIM NOVAK Staff Reporters Chicago Sun Times
Every time developers asked to build condominiums in his gentrifying 26th Ward, then-Ald. Billy Ocasio had the same answer:
Your project won't be approved unless it includes at least one "affordable home."
» Click to enlarge image
U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez hugs his daughter, Omaira, in 2006 after announcing he won't run for mayor of Chicago.
(Rich Hein/Sun-Times)
RELATED STORIES
Records: Rep. put daughter up for state job Gutierrez no longer lives in his district
RELATED PDF
The building on Kedzie
COMING TUESDAY
U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez's daughter's affordable condo wasn't the only project approved by the 26th Ward Affordable Housing Committee. A look at other developments -- and why City Hall isn't happy about them.
One person who benefitted from Ocasio's directive: Omaira Figueroa, the daughter of U.S. Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, Ocasio's political mentor.
With a $140,000 loan from her parents, Figueroa bought her new two-bedroom, two-bathroom affordable condo in Humboldt Park in June 2008 for $155,000, property records show.
Little more than a year later, she sold it for $239,900 -- $84,900, or 55 percent, more than she'd paid.
Had Figueroa's condo been part of a typical affordable-housing program, that wouldn't have been possible. City of Chicago rules, for instance, now bar affordable-housing buyers from turning big profits when they resell. The rules also require that affordable homes remain affordable -- they can be sold only to buyers who meet income-eligibility guidelines.
Figueroa, though, bought her home through a 26th Ward "community" initiative that "wasn't an official government program," according to Ocasio, who resigned his aldermanic seat last year to take a $125,000-a-year post as a senior adviser to Gov. Quinn.
Ocasio estimated that about 180 affordable condos were supposed to have been created under that program. But it's unclear how many ended up being built and how many have been resold, in part because the program is defunct.
Figueroa, her husband, their son and her husband's two other children now live on the Northwest Side in a two-flat they share with the congressman and his wife -- a building that is outside the borders of Gutierrez's 4th Congressional District (see related story). Figueroa and her husband own 55 percent of the two-flat, according to Gutierrez, who said he and his wife own the rest and live upstairs.
'My father knows all about that'
Figueroa, 30, referred questions about the condo at 1834 N. Kedzie to her father, the congressman. "My father knows all about that," she said.
Gutierrez and Ocasio said neither they nor Figueroa did anything wrong. Nor, they said, did their close relationship give Figueroa an edge to get the home.
"Never," Gutierrez said. "Never. Absolutely not. Never. Never."
Ocasio and Gutierrez also said that campaign contributions they took from Roman Popovych, who built 1834 N. Kedzie, played no role in Figueroa's deal. Gutierrez's congressional fund got $1,000 from Popovych six months before Figueroa bought the condo. The developer and an affiliated company gave Ocasio's aldermanic fund a total of $13,500 between 2004 and 2009.
"I've known Omaira since she was 6 years old," said Ocasio, who hired her to work part-time in his aldermanic office about 10 years ago. "She got no preferential treatment."
Gutierrez said his daughter "participated in a program where the rules were identical for her as they were for dozens of other people." He said he lent her $140,000 because she couldn't qualify for a mortgage from a bank "for a number of reasons," including "probably" her husband's poor credit history.
"That's all I was: I was her dad," the congressman said. "We didn't hide anything. That's why you see a mortgage of $140,000.
"We charged her four-and-three-quarters percent interest because the CPA who does my taxes said that that was an interest rate that was high enough so that the IRS wouldn't say it was a gift."
For years, Gutierrez -- one of the country's most-prominent immigration reform advocates -- has been investing in real estate, making hundreds of thousands of dollars buying and selling homes in Chicago.
Two of his deals involved developers who have since been convicted of crimes: Tony Rezko and Calvin Boender. Gutierrez was never accused of any wrongdoing in their cases. He bought a condo from Rezko and flipped it for a profit. He also bought property from Boender, selling it at a loss.
$93,828 a year
When Figueroa bought her condo on June 9, 2008, she and her husband were making $93,828 a year -- $55,620 from her state-government job with the Illinois Commerce Commission and $38,208 from her husband's job with the city Aviation Department.
The 1,221-square-foot duplex is on the first floor, facing the alley. She paid 41 percent less per square foot than the next-cheapest unit, one that's 1,773 square feet and sold for $385,000 (see graphic).
How the home became affordable housing dates to January 2006, when Ocasio backed a zoning change allowing Popovych to build four condominiums on what had been a single-family lot.
Popovych was among a group of developers who'd found it hard to build affordable homes through programs under the city Housing Department's control. The city "required developers meet all sorts of bureaucratic criteria that was time-consuming and added a financial burden" to their projects, according to Ocasio.
So, about six years ago, Ocasio and community leaders came up with an alternative: Developers would get Ocasio's OK to rezone lots for condos only if they first won approval from a group called the 26th Ward Affordable Housing Committee.
If Ocasio agreed, he would get the City Council to approve the zoning change subject to a "declaration of restrictive covenant." That would give Ocasio oversight of the project and spell out how many affordable units would be required.
Then, not-for-profit housing groups would advertise the homes, set income guidelines for buyers and work to pair them with lenders.
By late 2005, Figueroa and her husband had submitted tax returns and pay stubs as part of a first-time home-buyer counseling workshop run by the Latin United Community Housing Association. Ocasio used to work for the group, which gets about $500,000 a year in government funding.
Gutierrez said his daughter's certificate from the home-buyer workshop was all she needed to qualify to buy a home through the 26th Ward Affordable Housing Committee program.
Under city rules, Figueroa would have had six months to buy an affordable home after proving she met income guidelines.
Under the 26th Ward program's rules, though, there was no time limit. So she was able to buy affordable housing 2½ years later -- when her income had risen sharply.
Is that how affordable housing should work?
"I'm not gonna have a conversation about affordable housing in the context of a real estate transaction in which my daughter did absolutely nothing wrong -- unless you could show me she violated some rule, that she got some kind of special treatment," Gutierrez said. "It's just not there."
Figueroa sold the condo last August for $239,900 -- $84,900 over what she'd paid for it.
Gutierrez said she cleared only about $53,000, though, taking into account closing costs and money she spent on home improvements.
By the time Figueroa bought her condo, the other three units at 1834 N. Kedzie had been sold for between $385,000 and $395,000 each.
All three have been rented out and are now facing foreclosure.
The men who bought those condos -- Volodymyr Kuchmiyov and Yaroslav Dzis -- appear to have ties to Popovych, according to court documents. A tenant in one of Kuchmiyov's two units said she'd been paying rent to an office at the same address as a Popovych company, V.P. Interlink Development. A tenant in Dzis' unit said he paid rent to a real estate company called V.P. Interlink at the same address and had never heard of Dzis.
Attempts to reach Popovych, Kuchmiyov and Dzis were unsuccessful.
Ocasio: program a success
Ocasio said he doesn't know exactly how many affordable homes were created under the 26th Ward program, in part because his staff destroyed many of its records when he shut down his aldermanic office.
When he was asked about the program, Ocasio tracked down some documents. But those records don't show who bought those homes or how many have been resold.
Ocasio said that when the housing market collapsed in 2008, he let developers sell some of the affordable units to anyone, regardless of income. "Developers said, 'Look, I can't sell these units. We can't find people to buy them,' " Ocasio said. "And so, at some point ... we said, 'Go ahead. You guys need to get rid of it? Get rid of it.' "
The struggling economy also kept developers from even breaking ground on some projects, Ocasio said. Still, he considers the program to have been a success.
"I think there's worse things that an alderman can do with the power of zoning than to build affordable housing," Ocasio said. "In hindsight, there's always improvements you can make. I think, if we had the money, if we had more support from the city, we would have done all the things that everybody else did. ... We didn't have those resources."
Sweet House Deal for Rep. Gutierrez's Daughter
Sweet House Deal for Rep. Gutierrez's Daughter
Submitted by Alana Goodman on Wed, 05/05/2010 - 16:16
Email to friendEmail to friendPrinter-friendlyPrinter-friendly
Gutierrez photoRep. Luis V. Gutierrez’s (D-IL) multitude of legal and ethical problems were compounded on Monday, when it was reported by the Chicago Sun-Times that his daughter may have gotten a sweetheart deal on her home in Chicago.
Gutierrez was the mentor of former Chicago ward-26 alderman Billy Ocasio, who initiated specialized affordable-housing programs in his district. Gutierrez’s daughter, Omaira Figueroa, benefited from the program, buying an affordable condo for a discounted $155,000 in June, 2008, and selling it for $239,900 just over a year later.
While city of Chicago rules prevent affordable-housing owners from re-selling their homes for a major profit, the housing initiative put into place by Ocasio wasn’t subject to these regulations. Figueroa, who originally purchased the condo with a $140,000 loan from her congressman father, was able to the sell the condo at a 55 percent profit.
At the time that she purchased the affordable-housing condo, Figueroa and her husband were making a combined salary of $93,828 a year, noted the Chicago Sun-Times.
Gutierrez and Ocasio denied that any unethical activity was involved, and said that no special treatment was given to Figueroa.
Gutierrez has been involved in real estate deals with Chicago restaurateur Tony Rezko, who was convicted of fraud and bribery in 2008, and developer Calvin Boender, who was convicted of bribery and obstruction of justice in March.
The congressman himself was arrested last Saturday for defying police orders during a protest against immigration enforcement outside of the White House.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reportedly begun investigating Gutierrez’s ties to disgraced developer Boender, who has long been a political supporter of the Illinois congressman. The FBI is apparently probing Gutierrez’s assistance in getting Boender a lucrative zoning approval for a Chicago development.
Phone requests for comment from Gutierrez’s office have not yet been returned.
Alana Goodman is NLPC's Capitol Hill Reporter
Submitted by Alana Goodman on Wed, 05/05/2010 - 16:16
Email to friendEmail to friendPrinter-friendlyPrinter-friendly
Gutierrez photoRep. Luis V. Gutierrez’s (D-IL) multitude of legal and ethical problems were compounded on Monday, when it was reported by the Chicago Sun-Times that his daughter may have gotten a sweetheart deal on her home in Chicago.
Gutierrez was the mentor of former Chicago ward-26 alderman Billy Ocasio, who initiated specialized affordable-housing programs in his district. Gutierrez’s daughter, Omaira Figueroa, benefited from the program, buying an affordable condo for a discounted $155,000 in June, 2008, and selling it for $239,900 just over a year later.
While city of Chicago rules prevent affordable-housing owners from re-selling their homes for a major profit, the housing initiative put into place by Ocasio wasn’t subject to these regulations. Figueroa, who originally purchased the condo with a $140,000 loan from her congressman father, was able to the sell the condo at a 55 percent profit.
At the time that she purchased the affordable-housing condo, Figueroa and her husband were making a combined salary of $93,828 a year, noted the Chicago Sun-Times.
Gutierrez and Ocasio denied that any unethical activity was involved, and said that no special treatment was given to Figueroa.
Gutierrez has been involved in real estate deals with Chicago restaurateur Tony Rezko, who was convicted of fraud and bribery in 2008, and developer Calvin Boender, who was convicted of bribery and obstruction of justice in March.
The congressman himself was arrested last Saturday for defying police orders during a protest against immigration enforcement outside of the White House.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reportedly begun investigating Gutierrez’s ties to disgraced developer Boender, who has long been a political supporter of the Illinois congressman. The FBI is apparently probing Gutierrez’s assistance in getting Boender a lucrative zoning approval for a Chicago development.
Phone requests for comment from Gutierrez’s office have not yet been returned.
Alana Goodman is NLPC's Capitol Hill Reporter
Luis Gutierrez should not represent inmigrants
Puertorriquenos de Chicago se merecen algo mejor
05 de mayo 2010
Qué ironía: Luis Gutiérrez, un puertorriqueño, defiende los inmigrantes ilegales y su derecho a ser "americanos" con todos los beneficios y vivir el sueño americano, pero se niega y no hace nada por el pueblo de Puerto Rico, que han sido ciudadanos de los EE.UU. desde 1917.
Este hombre tuvo la osadía de describir a la gente de Puerto Rico como una especie de alienígenas del espacio exterior, que son tan diferentes de cualquier otro pueblo que nuestra cultura no se puede compartir ni ser aceptada por ninguno de los 50 estados. Esto es lo que se llama un americano feo “ugly american” que niega su propia cultura. Hablando de los “ugly americans” ¿qué hay de Nydia Velázquez? Esta senora tiene una actitud de superioridad. Ella cree que está por encima de los demás y también se olvida de sus raíces.
Habiendo nacido en Caguas de padres puertorriqueños y que actualmente viven en esta hermosa isla, se me ha despojado de mis derechos civiles jurídica como ciudadano estadounidense y “disenfranchised” por el Gobierno de los EE.UU. No puedo votar por el Presidente los Estados Unidos y no tengo representación en el Congreso, sin embargo, estos dos individuos prefieren defender a los inmigrantes ilegales en lugar de ayudar al pueblo de esta isla lograr la igualdad como ciudadanos americanos. ¡Qué desgracia para ellos.
Espero sinceramente que el pueblo de Puerto Rico que viven en Chicago y en Nueva York, donde residen no les dé su voto nunca más. La gente en estas áreas merecen algo mejor.
05 de mayo 2010
Qué ironía: Luis Gutiérrez, un puertorriqueño, defiende los inmigrantes ilegales y su derecho a ser "americanos" con todos los beneficios y vivir el sueño americano, pero se niega y no hace nada por el pueblo de Puerto Rico, que han sido ciudadanos de los EE.UU. desde 1917.
Este hombre tuvo la osadía de describir a la gente de Puerto Rico como una especie de alienígenas del espacio exterior, que son tan diferentes de cualquier otro pueblo que nuestra cultura no se puede compartir ni ser aceptada por ninguno de los 50 estados. Esto es lo que se llama un americano feo “ugly american” que niega su propia cultura. Hablando de los “ugly americans” ¿qué hay de Nydia Velázquez? Esta senora tiene una actitud de superioridad. Ella cree que está por encima de los demás y también se olvida de sus raíces.
Habiendo nacido en Caguas de padres puertorriqueños y que actualmente viven en esta hermosa isla, se me ha despojado de mis derechos civiles jurídica como ciudadano estadounidense y “disenfranchised” por el Gobierno de los EE.UU. No puedo votar por el Presidente los Estados Unidos y no tengo representación en el Congreso, sin embargo, estos dos individuos prefieren defender a los inmigrantes ilegales en lugar de ayudar al pueblo de esta isla lograr la igualdad como ciudadanos americanos. ¡Qué desgracia para ellos.
Espero sinceramente que el pueblo de Puerto Rico que viven en Chicago y en Nueva York, donde residen no les dé su voto nunca más. La gente en estas áreas merecen algo mejor.
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