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Pat Durante, First Vice-Chair of the DuPage Republican Party and Chair of the Addison Township Republican Party, has a past that he doesn't want anyone to find out about. If you wondered why Durante hasn't run for political office, these articles (reprinted with permission from the Daily Herald archives) may provide an explanation.

• Anti-gambling group demands probe of lobbying deal
• Legislators want casinos, tracks to open their books

He is also doing quite well financially since his wife gets a $58,000 paycheck for being the absent supervisor for Addison Township, and he recently got reappointed to another term on the RTA board to a position that pays about $35,000. He sure know how to take your tax dollars.

The Primadonna story is interesting. Pat Durante and James Schirott, an attorney from Itasca who makes thousands representing Addison Township, were hired by Primadonna Resorts to help secure a casino license in Illinois. Durante and Schirott gave thousands of dollars to Lee Daniels, Speaker of the House, and Pate Phillip, Senate President. The legislature would have to approve the license for Primadonna. Durante and Schirott then asked Primadonna to reimburse them for the thousands given to the legislators. That's a no-no according to the law. Durante and Schirott got caught and had to ask the legislators to give back the money. Had it gone through, Durante and Schirott would have received $20 million — that's $20,000,000. Durante had the nerve to say, according to a newspaper report, that the $20 million was "peanuts" compared to what the casino was getting. This is the same guy who has been blasting the chair of the Democratic Party over his $3,185 campaign for county board. $20 million vs. $3,185. As Paul Harvey would say, "Now you know the rest of the story." And now you know why Durante needs to be retired from political life.

Update: In our initial post we got Mr. Schirott's first name wrong. This is now corrected. Apologies for the error.