Candidate: I got job offer to exit

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Montes

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Updated: February 5, 2012 8:19AM

State Sen. Steve Landek, who doubles as the mayor of Bridgeview, held a private meeting last week in a Toyota Park skybox suite with the man who is running to replace him, self-styled community activist Raul Montes Jr.

What Landek didn’t know, Montes says, is that he had brought along an FBI eavesdropping device, disguised as a fob on his key ring, to record what turned out to be their 2½-hour conversation.

The purpose of that Thursday afternoon conversation is not in dispute: Landek wanted to convince Montes to drop his Senate candidacy, leaving him unopposed for re-election in the upcoming Democratic primary.

What is a matter of contention is whether Landek did anything improper in his efforts to persuade Montes to withdraw from the race.

Montes told me Landek offered him $3,000 cash, a paid position with his election campaign and a job later on his Senate staff. He calls that bribery.

Landek wouldn’t comment, but his lawyer, Burt Odelson, laughed off the episode, questioning whether the FBI didn’t have better uses for its investigative manpower.

Odelson confirmed Montes’ statement that Landek called Odelson during their meeting to ask for advice on what offers he could legally make to Montes to induce his withdrawal.

Montes said Landek left the skybox, which is owned by the village of Bridgeview, during his phone chat with Odelson.

Odelson told me he advised Landek, a longtime personal friend as well as client, that he couldn’t offer Montes a job other than on his campaign or one that is under his personal control, in other words, no job with an agency like the Illinois Department of Transportation. Odelson argued Landek would have been within his legal rights to offer Montes a job on his Senate staff, but said even that was conditional.

“Steve told him: ‘We’ll see how you work out on our campaign staff’,” Odelson said.

But Montes said Landek assured him the job was his, and urged him to accompany him back to his Senate office to sign the withdrawal papers immediately to seal the deal.

Based on the FBI’s prior instructions, Montes said he tried to draw out Landek on whether he was being offered a no-show job, but Montes said he only received assurances that he wouldn’t have to go to Springfield.

As you would expect, the FBI is not confirming or denying any involvement with Montes. They don’t discuss investigations unless they reach the courts, and even then, usually leave most of the talking to the U.S. attorney.

But Montes provided me with enough detail that I have no doubt about the FBI wiring him up for the meeting.

He said he met two female FBI agents, one of whom was pregnant, at a Dunkin Donuts on Harlem Avenue for instructions before the 2 p.m. meeting with Landek, then followed them to a residential neighborhood near the stadium where they put the recording device on his keychain.

He showed me the text message the agents sent him at 4:17 p.m. when he still hadn’t returned.

“Everything OK?” they asked.

When he did return to their car shortly afterward, Montes learned there was an additional reason for their anxiety: their engine had died, and they were sitting in the cold car behind frosty windows waiting for a tow.

He said he has been given no indication whether his undercover work proved fruitful and that he went public to the news media — without consulting the FBI — out of frustration he may be removed from the ballot because of a legal challenge to his nominating petitions.

Montes, 36, who lives with his parents in Little Village and says he works as a substitute teacher, also played me a phone message Landek left for him Dec. 24 that he contends set in motion their meeting.

On the message, Landek asks Montes to call him, but is vague about his purpose. He also leaves the impression he is the one initiating the contact.

This would be at least the second time Landek found himself on the receiving end of an FBI wiretap. The Sun-Times reported in 2006 that Landek was secretly recorded by a businessman who said he was being harassed to sell a real estate parcel that Bridgeview needed to build Toyota Park for use by the Chicago Fire.

Nothing came of that. We’ll have to wait and see on this one.