Birkett: Ties to tollway vendor not a conflict

By Times wire services | Monday, January 30, 2006

CHICAGO — DuPage County State’s Attorney Joseph Birkett said Sunday that his family and financial ties to a fast-food vendor operating at Illinois Toll Highway Authority oases do not conflict with his civil investigation into how the tollway’s fast-food leases were granted.

Birkett’s cousin, Phil Mesi, is president of Subway Development Corp.

The suburban prosecutor’s campaign fund owes Subway Development $100,000 in loans and has received more than $37,000 in direct contributions from Mesi’s company, the Daily Southtown reported in its Sunday editions, citing financial disclosure filings.

–– Times wire services