Court records show two Springfield insiders profited from a controversial state government program

Two longtime Springfield political insiders — a retired Democratic lawmaker and a Republican lobbyist — were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars each through an Illinois government program, according to court records in a civil case.

Ex-Illinois state Sen. James DeLeo, D-Chicago, and prominent Republican lobbyist Nancy Kimme each got 1% of the profits from a clout-heavy company called Vendor Assistance Program LLC, but that lucrative arrangement wasn't publicly known until a week ago, the court documents and other records show.

VAP is led by politically connected lawyer Brian Hynes, who has thrived for more than a decade in a state program that allows a small group of companies to buy government debt. Under the program, VAP and the other companies front unpaid state contractors most of what Springfield owes them, and VAP and other “qualified purchasers” go on to pocket the late-payment penalties from the state.

For VAP, that business has proved to be wildly successful, especially at a time the state owed heavily to many vendors. Disclosures the company is required to file with the state show that, through July, VAP had collected nearly $396 million in late-payment penalties from Illinois taxpayers over more than a decade.

A long list of political insiders has worked with VAP over the years, but the profit-sharing arrangements with DeLeo and Kimme surfaced only last week in a court filing from a civil case that says VAP created out-of-state shell entities to “avoid paying Illinois income taxes.”

Those accusations were made in a suit first filed in 2021 in Cook County court by Michael Forde, a Chicago lawyer who was former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s personal attorney. Forde’s firm is seeking to collect 30% of whatever his suit manages to recover from VAP, with 70% going to the state.

VAP officials have denied any wrongdoing and countered with a pending defamation case in federal court against Forde and one of his attorneys.

The Cook County judge in Forde’s case against VAP recently dismissed the suit but gave him an opportunity to file a revised complaint.

A spokesperson for VAP said the company would prevail in court, that VAP wasn't required to list its deals with DeLeo and Kimme in public financial disclosures it filed with the state and that DeLeo and Kimme no longer work for VAP.

“The plaintiffs were given multiple opportunities by the courts to make their case, which has been dismissed outright by the judge on multiple fronts,” VAP said. “They continue to peddle false accusations, in spite of the court’s ruling and Illinois law that prove we have met all state requirements. We look forward to next steps that will help repair the damage committed by the plaintiffs to our reputation.”

In his amended suit, Forde leveled the new accusations that VAP failed to tell state officials about the deals the company had worked out with DeLeo and Kimme.

“VAP granted profit participation rights to individuals never disclosed to the State,” according to the amended complaint.

According to Forde’s lawsuit, VAP and affiliated companies “paid DeLeo hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits” between 2018 and 2022. Kimme also was said to have received hundreds of thousands of dollars between 2020 and 2022, according to the suit.

In a court filing last week, Forde said VAP broke Illinois law “by failing to disclose to the state that certain former public officials and lobbyists held financial interests” in the company.

The Illinois Department of Central Management Services oversees the vendor-payment program that VAP operates in, and the comptroller collects and posts economic disclosure statements listing who has an indirect or direct financial interest in companies that participate in the program.

The spokesperson for state Comptroller Susana Mendoza said she “passed the Lender Transparency Act to bring sunshine to who profited from the state's late payments under CMS' Vendor Payment Program but…has not weighed in on the merits of this lawsuit to which it is not a party.”

A CMS spokesperson declined to comment, citing the pending litigation involving VAP.

A registered state lobbyist since 2011, DeLeo was a Democratic representative in the Illinois House from 1985 to 1993 and a state senator from 1993 to 2010.

In the late 1980s, DeLeo was the first Illinois lawmaker charged in the federal Operation Greylord investigation into widespread bribery within the Cook County judiciary. DeLeo wound up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge that spared him from prison and allowed him to continue representing the Northwest Side in Springfield.

Kimme, another familiar statehouse fixture, has displayed skill playing both sides of the political spectrum in Springfield.

She was former Republican state Treasurer and Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka’s chief of staff and later an adviser to former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. In 2015, Kimme began her lobbying career.

Her name surfaced during last spring’s federal trial of former Commonwealth Edison executives and lobbyists accused of bribing indicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago. Kimme appeared on a handwritten compendium of preferred lobbyists maintained by Madigan adviser Michael McClain, who characterized the directory as the “magic lobbyist list.” Kimme was not accused of any wrongdoing.

DeLeo and Kimme did not return messages seeking comment.

Forde and his lawyer declined to comment.

Hynes — who also once worked for Madigan and has close ties to disgraced former Chicago Ald. Danny Solis — founded VAP with Solis’ sister Patti Doyle Solis, a prominent player in national Democratic circles.