There are different kinds of politics, the kind that resides in the ivorytower and the kind that thrives in the real world.
In the ivory tower, you’ll find distinguished and respected federal appealscourt judges wondering, dryly, if Americans have the right to expect honestservice from public officials, even in corrupt towns such as Chicago.
But here’s what you won’t find in the ivory tower: a dead body in a drybathtub, hair soaked with blood from a small gash, the death ruled anaccidental drowning. And no charges filed by Chicago City Hall’s favoriteRepublican prosecutor, then-Will County State’s Atty. Jeff Tomczak, who wasbeing groomed for a nomination down the road as United States attorney.
If you’re a true crime aficionado interested in one of America’s mostsensational murder cases, you know the identity of the body in
the bathtub: Kathleen Savio, the third wife of former Bolingbrook policesergeant and “Good Morning America” darling Drew Peterson. He is a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy.
Perhaps you read the riveting story by savvy Tribune reporter MatthewWalberg, about Savio and the politics of murder in Will County.
If you’re a political junkie, you know that Tomczak was elected in 2000 asa Republican by a gigantic Democratic patronage army sent to Will County fromMayor Richard Daley’s City Hall. That army was commanded in part by hisfather, corrupt and now-imprisoned city water department chief Don Tomczak,who took bribes in the Hired Truck program.
The construction of the illegal political army was overseen by the mayor’spatronage boss, Robert Sorich. The loyal 11th Warder, mute as a stone, iscurrently appealing his 2006 conviction on federal mail-fraud charges beforethe 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Jeff Tomczak, though a politicalbeneficiary of City Hall-style politics, was not charged in the Sorich case.
Back in 2004, Savio was dead in her bathtub, and her family knew she hadpreviously and repeatedly complained about abuse by Peterson. They had hermedical records, police reports and other documents and wanted to bring theseto authorities. They also knew that Savio had been charged twice by Tomczak’soffice with battery and domestic battery against the big, tough cop.
Both Tomczak-approved cases against Savio went to trial, and she was foundnot guilty in each.
Yet Savio was nobody and Peterson was a somebody. Tomczak believedPeterson. And he had a heavy boss, Republican bigwig Bolingbrook Mayor RogerClaar, who supported Daley’s favorite prosecutor, Tomczak.
Claar once smoothly joined with a Chicago insurance executive and RushStreet fixture, the cowboy-booted Dickie Parrillo, and the late RosemontMayor Donald Stephens, and former Emerald Casino investors, to create a fundfor the now-imprisoned Gov. George Ryan.
Claar told us he never used clout to help Peterson and that his PoliceDepartment turned over the case to state police. When Savio’s body was found,her family tried to bring evidence to Tomczak.
“I kept calling the state’s attorney and the police with all that stuff,”her sister, Anna Doman, told Walberg. “At first, they just said, ‘Well, we’reinvestigating. And if we need it [evidence of abuse], we’ll call you.’ Thenafter it went to the coroner’s office, they said, ‘Sorry, it’s an accident –case closed.’”
Tomczak is still feuding with the man who defeated him in 2004, State’sAtty. James Glasgow, a Democrat. A Glasgow spokesman earlier said that statepolice had presented evidence about Savio to Tomczak’s office, but thatTomczak filed no charges in her death.
We called Tomczak for comment, about the Savio evidence, Tomczak’srelationships with Peterson and Claar and other matters.
“Maybe I’ll send my statement over, and if you don’t print the whole thingand say you did print the whole thing, I’ll call a press conference and tellthe other reporters what you did not print,” he said.
Well, three days after his latest threat, still no statement. Too bad. TheSavio case he wouldn’t charge has since been ruled a homicide. Glasgow callsit a murder investigation. A special grand jury is investigating that andStacy Peterson’s disappearance.
Yet none of these – the Tomczak tough-guy pose, the brushoff to Savio’sfamily, the blood on the back of her head in the dry bathtub – is before the7th Circuit Court of Appeals in the Sorich case.
But if federal heat had not been on Sorich and the Hired Truck scandal,Chicago’s City Hall might have muscled Tomczak back into office during theStacy Peterson investigation. And the gossips would be floating him as futureU.S. attorney, in charge of prosecuting political corruption in Illinois.
In the ivory towers, there is no blood, no cops to drop cases, no politicalprosecutors to shrug things off.
That’s where the rest of us live.
In that real world, expecting honest service from our government.