State funding for Marion ballpark to be investigated by prosecutor

MARION, Ill. -- Williamson County's prosecutor said Monday he will honor an Illinois Republican Party request and review whether a state grant of $3 million to a minor-league baseball project headed by a Democratic donor violates state ethics laws.

In pressing for the investigation, state GOP chairman Andy McKenna questioned the appropriateness of state financing for what he argued should be a privately funded ballpark planned in this southern Illinois community.

The state's $3 million contribution, included in this year's budget, was endorsed by Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who last month attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the project led by attorney John Simmons.

The state GOP said Simmons or his East Alton law firm -- SimmonsCooper LLC -- has contributed nearly $1 million over the past two years to Illinois Democrats, including almost $28,000 to Blagojevich.

Messages were left Monday with Simmons on his cell phone and at his office. A Chicago-based consultant to Simmons' baseball group, Michael Thiessen, on Monday said "we're clearly not worried about the investigation."

"The last time we looked nothing related to economic development was partisan," Thiessen said. "To say there's some kind of political patronage or payback is almost irresponsible."

Blagojevich spokesman Andrew Ross called the allegations "laughable and ridiculous," pointing to McKenna's father's minority stake in the NFL's Chicago Bears. The Bears' home is Soldier Field, which in 2003 completed a $606 million makeover with most of the money coming from Chicago's hotel-motel tax. The Bears paid for less than a third of the project.

"McKenna and his family are part of the old, corporate downtown Chicago power structure," Ross said.

Andy McKenna countered that "they're attacking my family to deflect from the issue." He said the use of public money in the Soldier Field project was appropriate because that property is public.

Comparisons of the two stadiums, McKenna said, "shows they don't understand the issue."

Williamson County State's Attorney Charles Garnati, a Democrat, said he expected his investigation to take a couple of weeks, during which time he would talk with McKenna and study applicable state statutes.

"I take all complaints seriously. I'll take Mr. McKenna's complaint seriously," Garnati said, calling the investigation a "high priority" in light of Simmons' earlier claims that failing to get the $3 million in state funding could have doomed the project.

"This kind of allegation hanging over the construction project could jeopardize the concept of minor-league baseball in southern Illinois," Garnati said.

Last week, Simmons' group entered into a definitive purchase and sale agreement for the South Bend, Ind., Silver Hawks, the Arizona Diamondbacks' Class A affiliate.

Neither side has publicly discussed whether Simmons would move the team to Marion. Thiessen declined to clarify that matter Monday, saying, "We've got to fill out a multitude of paperwork before we own that club."

Simmons has secured a loan covering most of the ballpark's expected $16 million price tag. The city also agreed to raise its sales tax on most items by one-quarter of 1 percent, with half of that increase earmarked to help repay the loan.

Thiessen said Simmons' group hopes to have the ballpark built and a team in place by the start of the 2007 season.