Worth Township trustee hit with federal tax charge

Lewandowski printed political material for many top Democrats, including Speaker Madigan

A Worth Township trustee who has printed political mailers for many top Democrats — including some under federal investigation — was hit with a federal tax charge Monday.

Richard Lewandowski, of Palos Heights, was charged in a criminal information with one misdemeanor count of failing to file an income tax return in 2018. The charge carries up to a year in prison.

Defendants who are charged via an information, instead of a grand jury indictment, typically intend to plead guilty. No court date had been scheduled for Lewandowski, and his lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Lewandowski, who has served as a trustee in Worth Township since 2013, was closely allied with John O’Sullivan. He’s a former state representative and ally of House Speaker Michael Madigan who resigned as Worth Township supervisor last year amid the investigation involving red-light camera company SafeSpeed.

O’Sullivan was subpoenaed by federal prosecutors about the SafeSpeed probe in 2019, shortly after agents raided the offices of then-Democratic state Sen. Martin Sandoval and a host of suburban mayors as part of a sprawling probe. O’Sullivan has not been charged with wrongdoing.

Lewandowski, 61, also is the president of Breaker Press, a Pilsenbased printing company that has received millions of dollars for printing services from politicians dating to at least 2011. That includes more than $100,000 from Friends of Michael J. Madigan for the speaker himself and dozens of candidates, ranging from rank-and-file House Democrats to his handpicked 13th Ward alderman, Marty Quinn.

The Madigan campaign committee also paid several thousand dollars to Breaker Press on behalf of Sandoval since 2012. Sandoval had represented part of Madigan’s House district since then. Sandoval, who pleaded guilty to corruption and was cooperating with investigators in the sweeping federal case, died last month from COVID-19 complications.

It was unclear what, if any, connection the tax charge filed against Lewandowski has to ongoing federal political corruption investigations. But the prosecutor who filed it, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu, has headed up the ongoing probe into Madigan’s operation that so far has led to criminal charges against one of the speaker’s top confidants, the former CEO of Commonwealth Edison and two former ComEd lobbyists.

Bhachu is also the lead prosecutor in the pending racketeering case against 14th Ward Ald. Edward Burke.

The ComEd-centered case was brought as Madigan, a Southwest Side Democrat, faces the most serious threat to his run as the nation’s longest-serving House speaker. He has held the post since 1983 with the exception of two years in the mid-1990s when Republicans gained control.

So far, 19 House Democrats have publicly stated they will not support Madigan for another term as speaker when the next General Assembly is inaugurated on Jan. 13.

With 73 House Democrats expected to be seated in the new legislature, the 19 dissidents leave Madigan at least six votes shy of the 60 members needed to be elected speaker for another term. Groups representing Black and Latino House members are backing the speaker.

Madigan has not been charged with wrongdoing and has staunchly defended his record in recent public statements.

Lewandowski, meanwhile, was at the center of another political controversy two years ago after allegedly defamatory flyers printed by Breaker Press were released attacking McHenry County Clerk Joe Tirio during the March 2018 primary.

The flyers, one with a digitally altered image of Tirio wearing a burglar’s mask, were circulated to thousands of McHenry County addresses. The attack ads called Tirio, who ultimately won the election, a “crook” and accused him of stealing from a private slush fund, hiring “cronies” and acquainting himself with an alleged child predator and racists. Each referred to Tirio as “Crooked Joe.”

Tirio later sued. In December 2018, after a judge held him in contempt of court and was prepared to jail him, Lewandowski named Chicago Democratic political operatives Michael Noonan and Sean Tenner as those behind the mailings.

Noonan is a former aide to Madigan and a onetime campaign manager for then-Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the speaker’s daughter. Tenner also worked on campaigns for Lisa Madigan.