FBI agents raid ward office of Ald. Carrie Austin

Federal agents on Wednesday afternoon remove boxes of material from the Far South Side office of Ald. Carrie Austin.

FBI agents executed a search warrant Wednesday morning on the Far South Side ward office of Ald. Carrie Austin (34th).

The search marks the latest step in ongoing, widespread federal investigations of Chicago aldermen.

So far, Ald. Edward M. Burke has been indicted on political corruption charges, and former Ald. Danny Solis has cooperated with the investigation by wearing a wire for the feds and secretly recording conversations. Burke has denied any wrongdoing, and Austin has not been charged with any crimes. Austin, 70, is second in seniority on the City Council after Burke.

After the Sun-Times first reported that Solis was wearing a wire, Austin told reporters: “Not about Danny. I might cry,” Austin said. “You don’t do that. You just don’t.”

At Austin’s Far South Side ward office, the front door was locked Wednesday afternoon.

A federal agent Wednesday afternoon removes a box from the 34th Ward office of Ald. Carrie Austin.

An unmarked white cargo van sat in a side parking lot of the building on 111th Street along with two sedans and a black SUV.

A federal agent got into the black SUV and pulled away about 1:45 p.m. after loading a cardboard box with marked evidence bags and a large rolled-up poster into the vehicle.

A desktop computer tower could be seen stowed in the back seat, along with a few other cardboard boxes, before the SUV took off west on 111th.

About 2 p.m., about eight government employees left the building through the front entrance, lugging about five boxes — some marked “evidence” — bags, envelopes, a trash bag and a computer monitor.

The employees got into five vehicles parked in front and left without acknowledging the dozen or so reporters outside.

Shortly before that, two security guards, apparently from a private company, had pulled up in a black SUV, knocked on the front door and left when no one answered. Their SUV was marked AGB Innovative Security Solutions, but they wouldn’t comment or say whom they worked for.

A man who asked be identified only as “Kenny” said he was driving to work about 9:15 a.m., westbound on 111th when about five cars coming from the opposite direction all pulled U-turns in front of him, parked on both sides of the street and got out. Kenny said he had to stop to let one of the men cross the street in front of him to Austin’s office.

“None of their cars were marked. But when you see those cars making that kind of formation in a neighborhood like this, you can tell it’s law enforcement,” he said. “They looked like feds.”

Donyetta Jenkins, who recently purchased the property next door to Austin’s office, said nothing seemed out of the ordinary when she first arrived about 12:30 p.m.

Shortly after 1 p.m. though, she went outside and saw a handful of vehicles pull up and several men in suits going inside and carrying boxes out of the office.

“They said they were there to fix the pipes, which seemed silly. I asked again and they just repeated that they were there for the pipes, and it was clear they didn’t want any more questions,” Jenkins said.

As federal agents were raiding her ward office, Ald. Carrie Austin, far right, appeared at an event Wednesday morning with Mayor Lori Lightfoot at Percy Julian High School to announce a summer mentoring program. Pictured with Austin is Fred Waller, the CPD’s chief of patrol, and a student.

As the feds were raiding her office, Austin was with Mayor Lori Lightfoot at Percy Julian High School, 10330 S. Elizabeth, to announce a new $1.4 million summer mentoring program for at-risk youth.

Austin and Lightfoot exchanged pleasantries and appeared to be warm to each other, despite earlier tensions caused by Lightfoot’s decision to dump Austin as Budget Committee chairman and replace her with Ald. Pat Dowell (3^rd).

Austin supported Toni Preckwinkle in the April 2 mayoral runoff.

A federal agent drives away with boxes of records seized from the Far South Side ward office of Ald. Carrie Austin. (34th)

In a desperate attempt to remain as budget chairman, she promised to be just as loyal to Lightfoot as she was to Rahm Emanuel and Richard M. Daley.

She also condemned the hateful remarks U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush made about Lightfoot during a March 22 Preckwinkle rally.

Austin was on the stage when Rush warned that the “blood of the next young black man or black woman” killed by police would be on the hands of Lightfoot supporters if the former police board president won.

Lightfoot was asked whether she believed Austin when the alderman said she “couldn’t get off the stage fast enough” when Rush made those remarks. She hinted strongly that she did not.

“There’s a group shot of that stage. She’s in it — as are a number of other people. They’re gonna have to give account for their behavior,” Lightfoot told the Sun-Times just days before taking office.

“First of all, they’ve got to give account to their own constituents. And the way that they move forward and conduct themselves as representatives of the people will be evidence as to whether or not they’re part of that crowd or part of the future of the city.”

When Lightfoot announced her leadership line-up, Austin was out as budget chairman. But she was offered a consolation prize to win the 26 votes needed to approve the mayor’s team: chairmanship of a new Committee on Contract Oversight and Equity.

Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) at the City Council meeting last week.

At first, Austin was so hurt, she referred to it as a “pansy” committee and said she wasn’t certain she would accept Lightfoot’s offer.

“Anthony’s not getting anything [either]. He’s got seniority. So, she don’t care about seniority. It doesn’t appear that way if he’s not getting anything,” Austin said, referring to Transportation Committee Chairman Anthony Beale (9^th), who was also dumped.

Austin was defiant, even about her appearance at the Preckwinkle rally that featured Rush’s hateful remarks.

“How do you hold another person accountable for what someone else said? You can’t. I didn’t say it. How come I’ve got to be the one doing the denouncing? I think I did. I think I said that was despicable,” Austin said on that day.

“What am I supposed to do — stand up on the stage and say that? No, I do not. I’m not gonna allow somebody to hold me accountable for what somebody else says. That would be like her telling me that I’m accountable for what Trump says. Can I say the same thing about her — that she’s a Republican?”

Ultimately, Austin acquiesced and agreed to accept Lightfoot’s consolation prize, apparently concluding that something was better than nothing.

Austin was appointed alderman in 1994 by then-Mayor Richard M. Daley to succeed her husband, Budget Committee Chairman Lemuel Austin (34^th).

Ald. Carrie Austin’s 34th Ward office

Lemuel Austin was known for his fiery speeches on the City Council floor in defense of Daley, who didn’t have too many other African-American supporters during his early years in office. Lemuel Austin was one of the few.

“Don’t mess with Austin. Don’t mess with him, okay. I want to serve notice here this morning,” Lemuel Austin, his voice rising to a fever pitch, once scolded his colleagues on the City Council floor.

“Because remember, I’ve got information that could embarrass you all, okay?”

After Lemuel Austin’s fatal heart attack at the age of 48, Carrie Austin quickly became every bit as loyal to Daley as her husband was. Seven years later, Daley rewarded her with the budget chair. It was an emotional moment for the woman who had replaced her husband and believed she had done him proud.

When Daley chose political retirement over a seventh term, Austin quickly transferred her fierce loyalty to Emanuel and dutifully pushed through every one of his budgets, including the one with the biggest property tax increase in Chicago history.

Never without controversy, Austin was always outspoken and unapologetic about hiring her relatives.

Three years ago, Austin’s son resigned from his $72,384-a-year city laborer’s job after an internal investigation concluded he crashed a city vehicle while driving on a suspended license, then had a co-worker cover for him to avoid taking a mandatory drug test.

Kenny Austin and co-worker Darryl Milsap were accused of violating numerous city personnel rules by participating in an alleged cover-up unmasked by Inspector General Joe Ferguson.

The crash that damaged a city van and a private vehicle but caused no injuries, occurred in 2012. But it wasn’t until 2013 that Ferguson’s office got an anonymous tip alleging that the accident report filed with the Chicago Police Department and the damage report to the Department of Streets and Sanitation were fraudulent.

After an extensive investigation that involved interviewing co-workers and examining police reports, driving records, damage estimates, drug tests and surveillance video, the inspector general confronted both men.

Sources said Kenny Austin allegedly lied to investigators by claiming to have been the passenger — not the driver — at the time of the accident.

The alderman’s son further violated personnel rules by driving on a suspended license, failing to report the accident and falsely claiming that the passenger was the driver to avoid the mandatory drug test required of city drivers after on-duty accidents.

Sources said Milsap contradicted Kenny Austin. Milsap admitted Kenny Austin was behind the wheel at the time of the accident, that the two men had traded places to cover up the fact that Kenny Austin was ineligible to drive and that Milsap had nevertheless taken the drug test.

Armed with Milsap’s confession, Ferguson recommended the firing of both Kenny Austin and Milsap, whose salary was $77,400. Both men resigned to avoid being fired.

Carrie Austin was the political powerhouse who joined forces with Burke to block an ordinance empowering Ferguson to investigate aldermen and their employees and taking that power away from Legislative Inspector General Faisal Khan, who is suing the city.

On the day her son resigned, Carrie Austin accused Ferguson of targeting her son to get even. She insisted that her son was the passenger — not the driver.

“Everybody’s trying to make like Kenny is the liar. That’s not true. Milsap is the liar. He came with his own personal attorney and the inspector general believed them. That’s what the inspector general wanted to do because it’s my son. I’m sick and tired of this f—— city witch-hunting my god—- family,” the alderman said then.

“My son didn’t do any of that. That’s the lie the inspector general is telling. There was an accident, yes. But my son was not the one driving. He was the passenger. Milsap is the one lying and saying that Kenny is the one who did it.”

Pressed to explain why her son resigned, Austin said, “He told me. He said, ‘Mother, I cannot lose my pension on no BS.’ And I said, ‘OK, son. Do what you have to do. It ain’t my decision. It’s your decision. If you want to fight it, I’ll fight it with you. But it’s your decision.’”

A furious Austin added, “The young man who was in the car with my son told another individual at Sanitation that they had to protect me. From what? That’s a bald-faced lie. That’s the reason I know they’re lying. Why would you even say that you were protecting me? What were you protecting me from? I believe it’s a witch hunt. Who is the Budget chairman? [Ferguson] would want to get at any of us. Not just me. He’s already picked at Ed [Burke]. I’m next on the line. Next, I guess he’ll go at Michelle” Harris, chairman of the City Council’s Rules Committee.

Further complicating the issue was the fact that another one of Carrie Austin’s sons, Lemuel Austin III, served as the $88,812-a-year superintendent overseeing the South Side division where his brother works. City Hall said he was not the division’s superintendent at the time of the accident; he was promoted to division superintendent in 2013.

The division superintendent at the time of the accident failed to notify a safety administrator when the accident occurred. The department brass was unaware of it until the spring of 2013, when the inspector general started asking questions.

Nepotism apparently comes naturally to the Austins.

For five years ending in 1993, Austin’s husband, then the 34th Ward alderman, and Anthony C. Laurino (39th) engaged in the art of political wife-swapping.

Laurino’s wife was placed on the payroll of the City Council’s Budget Committee, chaired by Lemuel Austin. Laurino, who chaired the Traffic Committee, returned the favor by giving Austin’s wife a committee job.

Despite a federal investigation into alleged ghost payrolling on the staffs of City Council committees, Carrie Austin insisted that she earned her $37,560-a-year field investigator’s pay by driving around four South Side wards in search of broken street signs.

After cruising to re-election in 2011 with 65 percent of the vote over four challengers, Carrie Austin chose Lemuel III to serve as her ward superintendent. Lemuel III had run snow-removal operations in the 34th Ward during the infamous Ground Hog Day 2011 blizzard that shut down Lake Shore Drive.

If Austin winds up being indicted, she will join a relatively short list of women aldermen who ran afoul of the law. Only three female aldermen have been convicted of corruption.

Altogether, 35 aldermen have been convicted since 1973.

Austin would join former Aldermen Sandi Jackson (7th), Arenda Troutman (20^th) and Marian Humes (8^th).