Politically connected family fighting ban on getting work from Chicago City Hall
By TIM NOVAK AND CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporters tnovak@suntimes.com May 10, 2012 10:50PM
Harold Davis (pictured in 2007) is questioning the state’s attorney’s investigation. | Sun-Times library
Updated: June 12, 2012 8:10AM
Four members of the politically connected McMahon family are fighting City Hall’s proposal to permanently ban them from getting city contracts, denying allegations they got millions of dollars in work by operating phony women- and minority-owned companies.
John McMahon, his brother Anthony McMahon — who’s a top precinct captain for Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) — and their wives filed a 19-page appeal on April 23 with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s chief procurement officer, Jamie Rhee.
It’s up to Rhee to decide whether to ban the McMahons and their Windy City Electric Co. or hold a hearing on the allegations made by city Inspector General Joseph Ferguson.
According to Ferguson, Windy City Electric won millions of dollars in city contracts seven years ago because sisters-in-law Kathleen and Nancy McMahon falsely claimed they owned and operated the company. Their husbands are accused of running a now-defunct company that Ferguson says got city work by claiming it was owned and operated by a Hispanic man.
