Peter Fitzgerald

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. Continuing on, Mr. President, to bring the Senate back up to date, we are talking about a proposed Abraham Lincoln Library in downtown Springfield, IL, that would cost approximately $120 million. The library would be one of the most expensive buildings in the city of Springfield. The estimated value of the State capitol in Springfield is, I believe, $78 million, in inflation-adjusted dollars. This library would be approximately half the size of the State capitol, but it is a substantial building. It is also going to be very close to the Renaissance Springfield Hotel, which we have been examining in detail this afternoon. The reason I am concerned or have an objection to the conference committee report now before the Senate is that the conference committee report authorizes $50 million in Federal funding for the Abraham Lincoln site but does not carry the requirement that passed out of the Senate that the project be competitively bid in accordance with Federal law. Instead, it would appear the money that is authorized in the conference committee report--instead of having a competitive bid requirement, it says that the $50 million is authorized to go to an entity that will be selected later which would design and construct the library. The language does not make clear that the entity would be a governmental entity. It is possible, based on reading the conference report, that the $50 million could be channeled to private sources. Presumably, that would not happen however. Presumably, the money would be given to the State of Illinois. We have reviewed what would happen if the money were given to the State of Illinois, how the State of Illinois would award construction contracts. Presumably, the State of Illinois would turn the project over to its Capital Development Board. We reviewed and examined earlier today a giant loophole in the Capital Development Board--the statute on procurement that governs the Capital Development Board. They have a right to opt out of competitive bidding. Apparently, in the statute, they can just decide they are not going to have competitive sealed bids on the project. That loophole gives me pause for the reason that I thought we ought to have a tighter set of restrictions. I proposed an amendment that would require that the Federal competitive bid guidelines be attached to the project. I think that would take care of the problem. We are examining in detail the concerns I have and some of the red flags that have occurred to me with this project. I spent 6 years in the Illinois State Senate in Springfield. I have a pretty good idea of how State government operates. I am familiar with many of the people who are involved with this project. After taking a very close look at the project, it originally started out as a $40 million project, then went to a $60 million project. At one time they were talking about a $140-something million project; now it is back down to a $115 million or a $120 million project. They are seeking $50 million from the State of Illinois, $50 million from the Federal Government, and $10 million in essentially tax breaks from the city of Springfield, and possibly the contribution of some land. They are, in addition, creating a not-for-profit corporation that was filed with the office of the Illinois secretary of state in June of this year. They have recently made, are making, or have made--it is not clear which--a request to become registered as an official charity. They could solicit and retain contributions for the Lincoln Library Foundation. They have set an ambitious goal for the foundation of raising somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 or $55 million. I received from published reports that the foundation's board of directors appear to be Mrs. Julie Cellini, who is the head of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, and Mrs. Laura Ryan, the first lady of the State of Illinois.

Mr. FITZGERALD. I yield for a question.

Mr. FITZGERALD. I would go along with that as long as I could be recognized upon the completion of the remarks of the Senator from Idaho and upon the completion of the remarks of Senator Dorgan, and that my recognition would count as a continuation of the speech I am now delivering on the Senate floor.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. President, reviewing again the proposed Abraham Lincoln Library in Springfield, IL, I emphasize the magnitude of the project. It is a proposed $120 million project. It started as a $40 million project, went up to $60 million, and now it is at $120 million. At one time, it was up to $140 million. Reviewing the cost of other important buildings in the city of Springfield, the estimated cost, adjusted for inflation: The State capitol building built in 1868 to 1888, $70 million. The Willard Ice Building, I believe for the State Department of Revenue, a very large State office building built in 1981 to 1984, took 3 years to construct, $70 million; The Prairie Capitol Convention Center, a large convention center, built in 1975 to 1979, $60 million. This Abraham Lincoln Library will be one of the largest, most important buildings in the city of Springfield. I am supporting the project. However, I want the city of Springfield to get a $120 million library out of the project, not a $50 million library that just happens to cost $120 million. It is for that reason I have tried, and the Senate has tried, to insist that the project be competitively bid. The Senate has gone on record with the legislation that cleared the full Senate last night, unanimously requiring, with our authorization of $50 million for this project, that the Federal rules of competitive bidding, which are set forth in this volume and are very extensive, very well thought out, were worked on by then-Senator Bill Cohen from Maine, now the Secretary of Defense--a lot of thought has gone into these rules. A lot of refinements have been made over many years. They have had to correct problems, and they have gone back to them repeatedly. It has been a great focus of many Senators and Congresspeople in Washington. The intent of the Federal rules is to try to eliminate political favoritism in the awarding of construction contracts. The House has now in the conference committee, with provisions they have inserted into the conference committee, the same authorization that the Senate has backed. However, they struck the language requiring that Federal competitive bidding guidelines be followed. The money is supposed to go to an entity that will be selected later. It is not clear exactly to whom the $50 million taxpayer money will go. It is interesting that Washington passes legislation sending out the money without saying to whom it is going; that is what this provision does. One would think we would be more careful with the taxpayer money and we would know--at least for sure it would be nailed down in law-- who was getting the money. Presumably the money would wind up in the hands of the State of Illinois, and if it wound up in the State of Illinois, they would probably give it to their Illinois Capital Development Board for the Illinois Capital Development Board to construct the project in accordance with the Illinois procurement code. Reviewing for the Senators who have just arrived, the Illinois procurement code was at one time one of the weakest, perhaps, in the country. It was strengthened a few years ago, in late 1997. I think changes were made for the better. I supported legislation--I believe it was H.R. 1633--that strengthened those guidelines. When we started to look and study in a more detailed manner how the Federal money would go, and considered what would happen if it went to the State Capital Development Board, we looked carefully at the State's procurement code and a couple of glitches popped out at us. I want to review those glitches. The State's position on this is that if the money goes to the Capital Development Board and they build the library, they have to, under their law, use competitive bidding. It turns out, however, that contrary to the Capital Development Board's assertions, in fact, a contradiction appears in the statute governing the Capital Development Board. The portion of the procurement code that governs the Capital Board is 30.I.L.C.S.5500/30-a. It says: Other methods. The Capital Development Board shall establish by rule construction purchases that may be made without competitive sealed bidding and the most competitive alternate method of source selection that shall be used. That is a great big loophole in the Capital Development Board procurement code. Thus, there is the possibility that if we give this money to the State and do not attach the Federal competitive bidding guidelines, the State could simply opt out of competitively bidding the project. That troubled me greatly, given the magnitude of the project and given a long history in Illinois of what I would say is a fairly acute problem with procurement contracts--in construction and in leasing, particularly. It occurred to me that we needed tighter safeguards. There is another general problem I addressed earlier with the State procurement code, and that is in advance of bidding, even when they do opt to competitively bid, they don't have to tell the bidders what weight and relative importance they are going to attach to the various criteria they must set forth. The State must tell the bidders by what criteria they are going to judge the bids and make awards, but they are not going to tell you what weight they assign to the various criteria. The problem with that is that it is like trying to pin keylime pie to the wall. You can come in with the low bid and the State can say we gave more weight, actually, to the experience of this other bid. It costs a little bit more, but we give more weight to their experience, or vice versa; they could almost always rationalize the acceptance of any bid after the fact and make it very hard to challenge a decision by the State to not accept your bid. Of course, in contrast, the Federal code in that regard is markedly superior. It does a much better job at limiting the discretion of the procurement officers and it does that by requiring that sealed bid solicitations disclose in advance all significant bid evaluation factors and the relative importance of each factor and whether nonprice factors, when combined, will be accorded more, equal, or less weight than price. Of course, the State rules, which do not require the relative importance for weight of the factors to be disclosed, would allow a purchasing officer to pick any bid he wants and explain his decision by saying the one factor for which that bid was better was the most important factor, and any decision could be rationalized after the fact. It would be very hard to challenge any award the State made. Perhaps that could be why, after there have been so many articles and investigative reports written about seemingly, on their face, exorbitant rents or prices on projects, that you don't actually have much of a challenge or any history of prosecutions on that. So I feel the State code really is deficient in those two key respects. I feel the Senate did the right thing by attaching a requirement that the Federal competitive bidding guidelines attach to the project. There is greater protection for the taxpayers if we do that. We have reviewed the history of projects in Springfield. We talked about a State loan given to a partnership that constructed the Springfield Renaissance Hotel. That hotel is located close to where the Abraham Lincoln Library is proposed to be. We talked about some of the problems that have arisen from time to time in the State of Illinois. My goal here is to try to tighten the law so we are not setting the table for another problem to occur with this project, which is, after all, being built as a monument to ``Honest Abe'' Lincoln, perhaps the greatest President in history. We want to make sure the taxpayers get the value of all the resources they are contributing. We have reviewed how the State previously gave out loans to build the hotels. Those loans were never fully repaid. I believe there is still a substantial outstanding balance. We have, thus, in that manner, begun laying before the Senate the context in which my deep concern arises by the lose authorizing language in the conference committee report before the Senate. Now, we read the article ``Taxpayers Stuck With $30 Million Hotel Tab.'' I want to turn to an article that appeared in the Chicago Sun Times on October 6, 1996. It is an article by Tim Novak, Chuck Neubauer, and Dave McKinney. If I may read this article, the headline is: Cellini State Capitol's Quiet Captain of Clout; Dealmaker Built Empire Working in Background. Outside the state Capitol, William Cellini is just another businessman. Inside, Cellini is one of the most powerful people in state government, a man who has built a personal empire worth at least $50 million through his ties to the governor's office dating back to 1968. This 62-year-old son of a Springfield policeman is perhaps the most feared, respected and invisible man in those halls of power. He's played the system brilliantly--and legally. Cellini has never run for state office, but he's helped run state offices--reviewing choices for the governor's Cabinet, getting scores of people state jobs and at one time even approving all federal appointments in Illinois. His unique access has put him in position for a staggering succession of state-financed deals. He is an owner of the state's first riverboat casino. He got state money to build a money-losing luxury hotel where he throws fund-raisers for Gov. Edgar. He got state funds to build 1,791 apartments in Chicago, the suburbs and Downstate. He manages offices that he developed for state agencies. He invests pension funds for state teachers. And that is just part of his empire. But most of all Cellini has had clout with Illinois governors starting with Richard Ogilvie through James Thompson and now Edgar. Keep in mind, this is an article from 1996. George Ryan is the current Governor of Illinois. Reading again from the article: And those relationships have been mutually profitable: the Governors got cash for their campaigns and Cellini became a multimillionaire. ``I can't recall someone similar to Bill Cellini having that access. And for that long as well,'' said Donald Totten, the Schaumburg Township Republican committeeman who was President Reagan's Midwest coordinator. ``He seems to always have the ears of governors, which are always the most powerful people in government,'' Totten said. ``Thompson-Cellini, Ogilvie-Cellini. Edgar's got his sister on in a major job, so he has influence there.'' Cellini's sister Janis is Edgar's patronage director, in charge of hiring people for the highest level jobs. Both Cellinis accompanied Edgar on a two-week trade mission to Asia last month. Cellini has clout. But money is the foundation of his far- reaching empire. Specifically, his ability to raise cash-- primarily from road builders--while rarely giving any of his own money. Cellini raises hundreds of thousands of dollars, mainly for those Republicans, primarily candidates for governor, but also for those seeking the White House like Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bob Dole. Throughout it all, Cellini has been granted extraordinary powers, clout that elected officials usually reserve for themselves. When Edgar took office, Cellini interviewed candidates for the Cabinet and made recommendations--particularly for state departments that do business with Cellini's companies. ``The reason he's involved in Cabinet selections is Bill Cellini has seen more Cabinet members come and go. He has good instincts about what it takes to be a good Cabinet member,'' said state Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale), who spent three years as Edgar's first chief of staff. Cellini has also spent nearly 30 years helping scores of people get jobs in state agencies, creating what some call a patronage army more loyal to Cellini than any governor. ``He probably knows more people in state government that I do,'' Thompson told the Sun-Times in 1990 as he was winding down his 14 years as governor. Cellini's clout has gone all the way to the White House based on letters and memos from the Gerald R. Ford Library. Under President Ford, Cellini was in charge of all federal appointments in Illinois, according to a letter from Don ``Doc'' Adams, a longtime Cellini friend who was chairman of the Illinois Republican Party when Ford was president. ``As you know Bill Cellini is the man we've designated to coordinate Federal and State appointments for the state of Illinois,'' Adams wrote in 1976 to Ford's personnel director, Douglas Bennett. ``If Doc Adams is telling the White House that Bill Cellini is the guy to go to in Illinois . . . Bill is operating as a political boss without having to be an elected official,'' said a longtime Republican who requested anonymity. It's hard to find people, Republican or Democrat, willing to talk about Cellini and Cellini adds to the intrigue by shunning the spotlight. Cellini ignored numerous requests from the Chicago Sun- Times to discuss his empire and power. Over the past few years, Cellini has placed many of his financial holdings in trusts to benefit his son, William Jr., 27, and daughter, Claudia, 22. Keep in mind this article is from 1996. Often referred to as a Downstate Republican powerbroker, Cellini has numerous business deals in Chicago and the suburbs, often working with businessmen allied with Democrats such as Mayor Daley. Cellini spends so much time in Chicago that he bought a $594,000 condo on Michigan Avenue in 1993 without a mortgage. He also has a $325,000 home without a mortgage in an elite Springfield neighborhood. It's a long way from the Springfield duplex he and his wife, Julie, shared when he went to work for Ogilvie in 1969. ``There's no doubt he's probably done pretty well,'' Edgar said. ``But there are a lot of people who have made money off state government who have never been involved in politics . . . who have never worked a precinct or helped a candidate. ``I think there's a lot of folks who are envious of Bill Cellini.'' The Ogilvie Years ``When I met Bill Cellini he was a local politician. That was it,'' said John Henry Altorfer, a Peoria businessman who hired Cellini to manage his campaign for governor in 1968. Cellini (pronounced, Suh-LEE-nee), a former high school physics teacher, was in his early 30s and building a reputation as a Downstate power while serving his second term on Springfield's City Council. Altorfer said he thought Cellini could deliver Downstate votes and help him win the Republican nomination for governor in a four-way race that included Cook County Board President Richard Ogilvie. Cellini ``was very energetic and had a lot of ideas,'' said Altorfer, who now lives in Arizona. ``He worked very hard for me until I lost.'' Altorfer beat Ogilvie in the Downstate counties, but Ogilvie carried Cook County and won the primary. Ogilvie brought Cellini along to garner Downstate support, a move that has left Altorfer with lingering suspicions. ``Some of my friends came to me and said, `Do you think Bill was secretly working for Ogilvie?' '' Altorfer said. ``Ogilvie had inside information about my campaign and I wasn't sure where it came from. ``The only person who worked for me who received anything was Bill Cellini,'' Altorfer said. ``I have to believe he was being repaid. I thought he had loyalties to two people, me and Ogilvie.'' Altorfer ``didn't lose because of Cellini,'' said Thomas Drennan, a political advisor to Ogilvie. ``Cellini beat our brains out'' in the primary. ``He was just an excellent organizer,'' Drennan said. ``He was like a good precinct captain, but countywide.'' Ogilvie was elected governor and he picked Cellini to become the state's public works director, overseeing construction of the interstate highway system that had started in the 1950s. Cellini, who was 34, had experience with road construction, having served as Springfield's streets commissioner while on the City Council and as a member of the Roads and Bridges Committee when he was on the Sangamon County Board. Cellini rose quickly under Ogilvie. Cellini headed a task force that created the Illinois Department of Transportation and he became the first director, overseeing a $1.6 billion budget and 10,000 employees. His $40,000 salary was second only to Ogilvie's. Cellini was also chosen to head other committees. One pushed for extending the rapid transit line to O'Hare Airport. Another pushed for building the Deep Tunnel, the ongoing public works project to relieve flooding in Cook County. ``He expanded his influence when he was secretary of transportation,'' said Totten, who was a transportation deputy under Cellini. ``He was a very powerful, behind-the- scenes politician in Springfield. And he still is.'' Road construction boomed under Cellini and Ogilvie, but so did allegations of collusion among road builders seeking to cash in on the work. A handful of road builders were convicted in the federal probe and temporarily suspended from getting any more federally funded highway projects. The probe included accusations that Cellini's top deputies used IDOT helicopters to swoop down on construction sites to pick up campaign donations for Ogilvie. No state officials were ever charged in the probe that continued after Ogilvie lost his re-election bid in 1972 to Dan Walker, the Democrat who defied Mayor Daley's machine to become governor.

Mr. FITZGERALD. I will yield for a question.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from North Dakota now be recognized for 20 minutes and that I be rerecognized upon the completion of his remarks and that my rerecognition count as a further continuation of the speech I began earlier today.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues from North Dakota and Washington. I appreciate this opportunity to continue reading an article from the Chicago Sun-Times dated October 6, 1996. The article is by Tim Novak, Chuck Neubauer, and Dave McKinney, headlined ``Cellini: State Capitol's Quiet Captain of Clout; Dealmaker Built Empire Working in Background.'' As you will understand, if you listen to the articles I am reading, we are ultimately leading up to a tie-in back to the Abraham Lincoln $120 million Presidential library in Springfield, IL. The article earlier discussed the Ogilvie years--Governor Ogilvie's administration in Illinois. And where we last left off was at the beginning of the Walker years. Walker was the Governor of Illinois who succeeded Ogilvie in the early 1970s. Continuing with the article: With Walker in the governor's office, Cellini was out of a job, never to return to the state payroll. But his ties to state government grew under the Democratic governor. ``He still had all his contacts with IDOT,'' said Joe Falls, a former Downstate GOP leader who ran IDOT's safety programs under Cellini. ``Walker and all his people still needed his help and Bill cooperated,'' Falls said. ``He had friends on both sides, but when it came down to an election, he was always a Republican.'' Cellini became executive director of the Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association, representing virtually all state road builders, many engineering firms and other companies that build and repair state roads. And he still runs the association, serving as executive vice president. It's an association that has been quite beneficial for the road builders and Cellini, although his salary was a modest $49,140, according to the group's 1990 income tax returns. Under Cellini's leadership, the association members have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to governors and other state officials over the years. Edgar has received at least $375,000 from the association's members over the past 30 months. And the association's political action committee, the Good Government Council, has given more than $100,000 to other state officials. ``He and the asphalt pavers continued to play the same games as always but with a Democratic administration,'' a longtime Republican official said. ``The key to the asphalt pavers is that they get contracts for their work on a predictable basis,'' the official said. ``The business continued to flow and the campaign contributions flowed to the Democratic governor, just like the Republican governor.'' While heading the asphalt association, Cellini developed his reputation as a national transportation authority while expanding his political power. Soon after Cellini left the state payroll, President Richard M. Nixon appointed him to the National Highway Advisory Committee. Cellini found the federal post was advantageous, personally and politically. When his four-year term was set to expire in March, 1976, Cellini lobbied President Gerald Ford for an appoint to the National Transportation Policy Study Commission. ``The commission has been perfect for my simultaneously covering political meetings in D.C. and around the country, while keeping up with my profession in transportation and public works,'' Cellini wrote in a letter to Ford's personnel director Douglas Bennett on March 11, 1976. ``Of course, I'm counting that my serving as President Ford Committee's Downstate Coordinator for Illinois won't be a disadvantage,'' he added in the letter obtained from the Ford Library. Cellini got the appointment. He also was chosen to give a speech seconding Ford's renomination at the 1976 Republican convention. ``They were looking for somebody with an ethnic connection, and (Ogilvie) probably recommended him,'' said Falls, who ran Ford's Illinois campaign. Cellini was widely hailed for helping Ford win Illinois, although he lost the election to Jimmy Carter, one of the few times a presidential candidate won Illinois, but lost the White House. As Cellini was expanding his power, he got into real estate development and management using the name New Frontier. The company specialized in building and managing apartments, usually with state financing, for senior citizens. The firm later branched into office buildings that were leased to the state. In the waning days of the Walker administration, New Frontier got its first state deal when Cellini secured $5.4 million in state funds to build a 212-unit building near the state Capitol. The building includes offices for the asphalt pavement association and Cellini's companies, including New Frontier. It was the first of several real estate deals New Frontier would get from state government. the thompson years Cellini turned state government into a cottage industry after the Republicans regained the governor's office with the election of James R. Thompson in 1976. Cellini averaged more than a deal a year with the state before Thompson stepped down after 14 years in office. And state officials say they were probably others that no one was aware of. Cellini's personal income soared in the early Thompson years. Cellini's taxable income was $185,558 in 1978, and it nearly doubled to $368,100 in 1979, according to records he filed in federal tax court. He had no taxable income in 1980, $27,539 in 1981 and $252,349 in 1982. Cellini's use of tax shelters created problems with the IRS, which ordered him to pay $78,120 in back taxes for some of those years, according to tax court records filed in 1992. New Frontier--the company Cellini started shortly before Thompson took office--and its owners were worth $30 million when Thompson left office, according to a biography New Frontier used to attract clients in 1990. Under Thompson, Cellini and New Frontier built nine apartment buildings in Chicago, the suburbs and Downstate with an additional $84.1 million in loans from the state housing authority, whose chairman A.D. Van Meter is a close friend of Cellini. New Frontier also became one of the state's biggest landlords in Springfield, providing offices for several agencies such as Corrections, Public Aid and IDOT, the agency Cellini started. Sometimes the state agreed to move into the buildings before New Frontier bought them. Sometimes the State hired New Frontier to erect buildings and lease them to the state, all without competitive bids, which Illinois does not require for its real estate transactions. When New Frontier was chosen to build and lease a building for IDOT, Cellini already had an option to purchase the land. Cellini has sold all of those buildings, but New Frontier still manages them. And Cellini created new companies to get other deals under Thompson. The President Lincoln Hotel Corp. got a $15 million loan from Thompson and state treasurer Jerry Consentino, a Democrat, so Cellini could build a luxury hotel in Springfield, a long-time dream that no one else would finance. Cellini's dream has turned into a nightmare. Before Thompson and Cosentino left office, they renegotiated the loan twice lowering the interest rate to 6 percent from 12.5 percent to keep Cellini from defaulting. The current agreement prevents the state from foreclosing on the hotel until 1999, while Cellini can skip quarterly mortgage payments when the hotel operates at a loss. The deal has caused a political backlash for Cellini. State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka cut a deal last year to let Cellini's hotel and another state-financed hotel in Downstate Collinsville pay $10 million to settle their debts which totaled $40.3 million. Attorney General Jim Ryan squashed the deal, arguing the hotels were worth more than $10 million. Cellini and the Collinsville hotel owners, who include politically connected developer Gary Fears, sued, arguing that Ryan had no authority to cancel their deal with Topinka. The pending suit was brought by Winston & Strawn, the powerful law firm where Thompson now works. Cellini's hotel plays a prominent role in his empire. When road builders come to bid for state contracts, many of them stay in the hotel resplendent with Italian marble, cherry wood and special shower rods that were invented and patented by Cellini--designed to keep the shower curtain from sticking to the backside of his guests. The hotel is also the place where Cellini throws fund- raisers, like the bash he threw for Edgar the day after Topinka agreed to settle the hotel loan. Cellini had made a lot of deals, but he hit the jackpot when he and a new group of partners got a riverboat casino license from the state two months before Thompson left office. Cellini's Alton Belle was the state's first floating casino when it opened a few months after Edgar took office in 1991. Within two years, Cellini's group issued public stock in their casino company, Argosy Gaming, a deal that immediately netted Cellini $4.9 million and left him as one of the largest stockholders whose stock was worth $50 million. Since then, the stock's value has fallen and Cellini has sold off some shares. His family's remaining stock was worth $12 million last Wednesday. ``Right now the way Bill makes his money is by ownership of that boat,'' said a former state official, who asked not to be identified. ``It's questionable if . . . he needs to do any of these other deals. It's thought that he's hooked on deals. He just can't resist making deals.'' And while most of those deals came under Thompson, the former governor told the Sun-Times in 1990 that he had nothing to do with Cellini's influence. ``He was on the political scene when I became governor,'' Thompson said. ``He'll be on the political scene when I leave.'' the edgar years Cellini has remained close to the governor's office, although his deals have slowed since Edgar replaced Thompson in 1991. Cellini has been an important source of campaign contributions for Edgar, who spent $10.8 million to win re- election in 1994. Two of Cellini's family members have positions in the Edgar administration: sister Janis as patronage director, and wife Julie, who has continued as chairman of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, an unpaid position she got from Thompson. As we will recall, the Illinois historic preservation agency, which I believe Mrs. Cellini still runs or is in charge of, will probably be in charge of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield. New Frontier is constructing an addition to a building occupied by the state Environmental Protection Agency. New Frontier was hired to build the addition by the three businessmen who own the Springfield building. New Frontier has managed the building for the past 10 years. The state will pay $75 million to rent the complex that it will own at the end of the 20-year deal. Cellini lobbies for several major clients, including Chicago HMO. The state paid Chicago HMO $155 million last year to provide health care for 75 percent of the 180,000 welfare recipients who are in managed care programs. Those numbers are likely to grow as Edgar pushes more welfare recipients into managed care. With these vast business deals, Cellini's wealth has soared. In addition to his Argosy Gaming stock, his family has a stock portfolio worth at least $2.26 million. They own 108 stocks that are each worth at least $20,000 and 20 other stocks each worth at least $5,000, according to an ethics statement his wife filed earlier this year. And the family earned at least $165,000 in capital gains last year from the sale of stocks they owned in 33 companies, according to the ethics statement. Cellini remains in regular contact with Edgar's chiefs of staff, said Dillard, who had the job for three years. ``When I was the governor's chief of staff, Bill and I talked but it wasn't nearly as often as people imagined . . . a couple times a month,'' Dillard said. ``It could be (about) upcoming political races or just rumors he would pick up. ``One of the things that makes Bill Cellini a trusted adviser is the longevity and breadth of his experience in state government,'' Dillard said. ``Bill Cellini personally cares in a friendship type of fashion . . . about governors Thompson and Edgar,'' Dillard said. ``He's very different . . . from many of the other individuals who tangentially profit from government.'' Edgar's staff has consistently tried to downplay Cellini's clout, but the governor admits he has a close relationship with Cellini. ``Bill Cellini has been a friend of mine,'' Edgar said. ``We were both here in the '60s. I was starting out in the Legislature and he was in the Ogilvie administration. I've known him a long time. ``We don't socialize much, but we have over the years done things. . . . Our daughters were about the same age,'' Edgar said. ``If there's some issue he's got or some political thing coming up, we might talk about it. But we don't see each other that much.'' Cellini's clout is greatly exaggerated, Edgar insisted, the product of stories such as this. ``It's something you in the media have kind of continued to perpetuate that aura about Bill Cellini.'' There is another article on this same issue that came out a few years earlier. I would like to share that with the Senators who are here and the people in the galleries. Continuing along on the history of what has transpired in State government in Springfield over the years, all leading up to why I am concerned that we have to make sure this $120 million building project in Springfield is competitively bid according to the strict guidelines so that no taxpayer money goes off on insider dealing in Springfield, this article appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times of Thursday October 11, 1990. It is written by Mark Brown and Chuck Neubauer. The title of the article is ``Influence Peddler Turns Clout To Cash.'' As lobbyist, landlord developer, hotel operator and all- purpose influence peddler, William F. Cellini has become a legend in Springfield for his prolific ability to cash in on State government. A budding political and business force when Governor Thompson was elected in 1976, this son of a police officer is now regarded by many as the State's most influential Republican not holding elective office. Much of that reputation is based on the goodies he has culled from the Thompson administration--six major State office leases, plus State financing for eight apartment projects, one office building, and a luxury hotel. Like all legends, it often is difficult to sort fact from fiction where Cellini is concerned. For every business deal that can be traced to him, there are always two more in which he was rumored to be involved but left no fingerprints. Cellini, 55, tends to add to the mystery, rarely talking to reporters. He did not answer Chicago Sun-Times requests for an interview for this story. Although he served as the state's first transportation secretary, under Gov. Richard B. Ogilvie, his only official positions these days are with the Sangamon County Republican organization. While acknowledging Cellini's influence, Thompson denied that it stems from him. ``He probably know more people in state government than I do,'' Thompson said.'' . . . He was on the political scene when I became governor. He'll be on the political scene when I leave. He doesn't need me to front for him. Thompson said he speaks to Cellini no more than once a year. But they have communicated in other ways. In one 12-month period encompassing his 1986 re-election campaign, Thompson reported using $765 in campaign funds to buy five antiques as gifts for Cellini and his wife. Thompson sent gifts for Christmas and as thank-yous for fund-raisers hosted by the Cellinis. The governor even remembered their anniversary. Although Cellini's personal political donations to Thompson are not especially large, he is known for his ability to raise money from others. ``He's been very helpful,'' Thompson said. One source of Cellini's clout is his role as executive vice president of the Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association, a trade group of road builders who have fared well under Thompson's policies. Their combined fund-raising prowess is considerable. Cellini also gets paid to protect the interests of three other groups, the Illinois Association of Sanitary Districts, Illinois Concrete pipe Association and Prestressed Precast Producers of Illinois. His primary business, however, is the New Frontier Group, a diversified, Chicago-based real estate organization that was less than two years old when Thompson was elected. It now boasts that it has developed more than 1.3 million square feet of office space and 2,550 housing units. Much of that growth is attributable to Cellini's adept use of government programs. With $55 million in low-interest financing from the Illinois Housing Development Authority, a quasi-state agency under Thompson's control, New Frontier Developments Co. has built eight government-subsidized apartment projects since 1976. Cellini's New Frontier Management Co. serves as the management agent not only for his own properties but for many other Chicago-area apartment buildings. Cellini and New Frontier also emerged under Thompson as the state's favorite Springfield landlord. His first major office deal was in 1979, when Cellini bought an abandoned seminary and leased it to the state for a Corrections Department headquarters and training school. The controversial arrangement was typical of many of the Cellini deals that followed because state officials strayed from normal procedures to his apparent benefit. Corrections officials were in such a hurry to get the seminary property that they passed up an opportunity to buy it outright and instead entered into a lease-purchase agreement with Cellini. They said it enabled them to move in more quickly than if they had to go through the usual purchase process. The lease-purchase would have allowed the state to buy the facility any time over the term of the lease--at a generally escalating price. Eleven years later, though, the state still is renting. Cellini, who had paid $3.6 million for the property and spent at least $4.2 million remodeling it, collected $9.5 million in rent from the state before selling to a Virginia company in 1987 for $9.1 million. Cellini proved to be in the right place at the right time for many similar opportunities, renting space to the Public Aid, Transportation and Commerce and Community Affairs departments. In the cases of Public Aid and Transportation, Cellini's company was hired to construct buildings and lease them back to the state, bypassing the state Capital Development Board, which usually constructs state buildings on a competitively bid basis. When Transportation Department officials got around to announcing the site that they insisted on having for their new building, it turned out that Cellini already had an option on the land. Even when Cellini began selling his buildings, at a tidy profit, his company was kept on by the new owner to manage them. The 20-year management agreements have a special termination clause that calls for a $1.1 million fee to be paid to Cellini's company if the new owner replaces it. The most prominent symbol of Cellini's political influence is the Springfield Ramada Renaissance, a luxury hotel that he long had sought to build but couldn't get financed until Thompson and state Treasurer Jerry Cosentino approved a $15 million state loan in 1982. The hotel has been a financial embarrassment for the state, which has twice renegotiated the loan to avoid a default. That article ended by discussing a Renaissance Springfield Hotel which, and we have heard, Mr. Cellini was instrumental in getting a State loan to construct a hotel. We also reviewed earlier that Federal funds were involved in building that hotel, and we went through and realized that hotel has not paid back that $15 million loan--at least not as far as we know. The proposed Lincoln Library site is going to be right near that hotel. I turn from the hotel issue to discussing how the State awarded riverboat gaming licenses. The State, back in the beginning and the late 1980s, and I think finally in 1990, created 10 riverboat licenses. The State statute was fairly specific with respect to where many of these riverboat licenses had to be. It later turned out that in most cases, only a couple of people applied for the riverboat licenses and these licenses wound up being very lucrative. In fact, they ended up being phenomenally lucrative licenses. Again, on the riverboat licensing, as was mentioned in that article, Mr. Cellini was involved in the Alton Riverboat, the gaming company boat we have talked about. I will proceed to discuss how those licenses were handed out.

Mr. FITZGERALD. I yield only for a question.

Mr. FITZGERALD. I would be happy to accommodate my colleague. I am told that similar requests are pending from Senator Graham of Florida, Senator John McCain, and then you? If we could work out an agreement, I would not like to bypass those who have shown up earlier. Are either of those Senators on the floor or the Cloakroom?

Mr. FITZGERALD. I am going to object to that. I am told the leader is on his way and he is going to be making a statement.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Yes, I agree to that. I have no objection.

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. I just reserve the right to object. My understanding is that I will have the floor again at about 6:15.

Mr. FITZGERALD. I thank the leader for his accommodation. Mr. MURKOWSKI addressed the Chair.

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. FITZGERALD. I compliment my colleague, my friend from Illinois. Extending my time line further, I started in 1998. There are a lot of articles going back to the early 1980s when Senator Durbin--then Congressman Durbin--was working hard to get this project off the ground. I compliment him for his hard work over a number of years on behalf of this project. I appreciate his love for Springfield. Senator Durbin has talked many times at our weekly Thursday morning breakfast about his love for Springfield. I know that he and his wife Loretta have lived in Springfield for many years. I am hopeful that we can work together and build a wonderful Abraham Lincoln Library that will truly be a credit not just to Springfield but to the whole State of Illinois and the entire country. I also thank Senator Durbin for his support and the amendment he offered in the Senate requiring the Federal competitive bid rules. Senator Durbin has been very supportive and the whole Illinois delegation supports the project. There has simply been a difference of opinion as to which bidding rules should be attached. I did want to point out that the State code does contemplate, where Federal strings are attached, Federal appropriations, that State agencies receiving Federal aid, grant funds, or loans, shall have the authority to adapt their procedures, rules, projects, drawings, maps, surveys, and so forth, to comply with the regulation, policy, and procedures of the designated authority of the U.S. Government in order to remain eligible for such Federal aid funds. I think that provision would be helpful in the case of this grant or any other grant where the Federal Government seeks to ensure the proper accountability of the Federal funds. I compliment my colleague and thank him for his working and allowing me to make my views known. I look forward to continuing to work with the Senator this year and in following years.

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate now proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 847, H.R. 1605.

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. President, I will resume my filibuster on the Interior appropriations conference committee report. But the majority leader has asked me to take care of a few housekeeping matters in the meantime. I want to do that for the information of all Senators, before they go home for the evening.

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to this resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Committee on Indian Affairs reports S. 2917, a bill to settle the land claims of the Pueblo of Santa Domingo, the bill be referred to the Energy Committee for a period not to exceed 7 days; further, I ask unanimous consent that if the Energy Committee has not reported the measure prior to the expiration of the 7-day period, the bill be automatically discharged and placed on the calendar.

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Governmental Affairs Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 4642 and the Senate then proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 913, H.R. 4002.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. President, Senator Hagel has a technical amendment at the desk, and I ask for its consideration.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be agreed to.

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. For the information of all Senators, the Senate will begin closing remarks on the continuing resolution at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. Under the order, there will be approximately 30 minutes equally divided on the resolution, with a vote on adoption of the resolution scheduled to occur at 10 a.m. Following the vote, the Senate is expected to resume consideration of the conference report to accompany the Interior appropriations bill. The Senate may also begin consideration of any other appropriations bills available for action; therefore, Senators should be prepared for votes throughout the day.