Chicago’s former top lawyer faces complaint for role in doomed plan to open pot shop at old Rainforest Cafe

A River North resident who helped tank a clouted weed firm’s bid to open a dispensary at the former Rainforest Cafe site has filed a complaint alleging the city’s former top lawyer engaged in misconduct while seeking zoning approval for the pot shop.

Robert Brown pushed back on the plan for more than a year, organizing neighbors and filing a lawsuit that sought to reverse a decision by the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals granting approval to open the store at 605 N. Clark St.

Brown has now submitted a complaint to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission alleging that former Corporation Counsel Mara Georges sent an improper letter to zoning board chairman Brian Sanchez while working for the companies that sought to open the dispensary.

Georges made statements in the letter that were “prejudicial, generally unsupported, and contained hearsay and slander” in an effort to discredit arguments Brown intended to make during a hearing in November 2022, according to the complaint.

“Much of the ‘facts’ represented in her communications were not true, which may be why they were not raised as objections within the official proceedings but merely intended to ‘poison the well’ outside the confines of the official proceedings,” Brown wrote in the complaint, filed on Feb. 15.

In her letter, Georges claimed Brown’s presentation “contains misstatements, outright falsehoods, outdated information and forms, and irrelevant and hearsay statements, many of which don’t pertain to this matter.”

She specifically contested Brown’s claims that a public notice and a contentious community meeting were inadequate.

But according to Brown’s complaint, Georges’ claim that his presentation included “falsehoods” wasn’t sustained or raised in an objection.

“It was only theatre to prejudice the adjudicator and presiding officers outside of the official proceedings,” he wrote.

Brown contends Georges knowingly violated the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct and misled the zoning board “to believe that she had provided a copy of her communication” to him.

Georges currently sits on the ARDC’s inquiry board, which considers investigations, weighs evidence and determines if a case should be dismissed or closed. As a result, Brown’s complaint is being handled by an independent special counsel, according to an email obtained by the Sun-Times.

Brown said he feels Georges’ communication with Sanchez was improper but will leave it up to the ARDC to make that determination. Meanwhile, he said he’s relieved that his lengthy battle over the pot shop is over.

“If I never hear of a cannabis dispensary again, I’d be very happy,” he said with a laugh.

Georges didn’t respond to a message. An ARDC spokesperson declined to comment.

A connected company

Brown’s crusade to keep yet another pot shop from opening in his neighborhood began in April 2022, when a sign was posted outside the old Rainforest Cafe stating that Bio-Pharm and Progressive Treatment Solutions planned to move in.

By then, PTS’ initial plan to move an existing dispensary to the frog-adorned building had already gone up in smoke after the Sun-Times reported it was illegal. Under state law, a retail cannabis store can’t open within 1,500 feet of an existing dispensary unless it’s owned by a social equity firm, a designation created to bolster minority ownership.

As the saga played out, PTS trotted out a new chief executive: former 17th Ward Ald. Terry Peterson, who is Black. Peterson and Georges both served under former Mayor Richard M. Daley, who appointed Peterson as chairman of the Chicago Transit Authority board after Peterson worked as his campaign manager.

PTS has also been led in part by David Flood, whose politically connected family owns the Flood Brothers trash-hauling company that has held lucrative contracts with city agencies. Flood previously served as the treasurer and principal officer of the influential and deep-pocketed Medical Cannabis Alliance of Illinois, which is now known as the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois.

The clout-heavy firm ultimately partnered with Bio-Pharm, which earned social equity status based on the decades-old weed arrest of the company’s majority owner, Michael F. Munroe Jr.

Munroe is the son of the founder of Pickens-Kane, which touts itself as “the largest commercial relocation company” in Illinois.

Controversial plan goes up in smoke

Using Bio-Pharm’s state-issued social equity license, the two companies forged ahead.

But the partnership faced resistance from the community and at the zoning board meeting where Brown raised concerns about the legality of the arrangement. Ultimately, he and another pot firm filed lawsuits that imperiled the dispensary plan.

Brown’s suit claimed the board’s zoning approval was “arbitrary, capricious, and against the manifest weight of the evidence.” Among other things, he cited Georges’ “ex parte” communication and the companies’ move to apply as co-applicants, even though they hadn’t jointly earned the dispensary license.

The other suit, brought by GRI Holdings, another clouted firm with a nearby dispensary, held that the exception allowing social equity pot shops to open in close proximity amounted to a misinterpretation of state law.

Last month, Georges confirmed that PTS and Bio-Pharm had dropped their bid to set up shop together. Brown then filed his complaint against her with the ARDC after his court case ended.

Reflecting back on his David and Goliath fight over the weed store, Brown said he was never intimidated by the powerful forces he was up against. And while he acknowledged the process was “frustrating,” he said he never lost confidence “that the facts were friendly and I would ultimately prevail in this.”

“When I told the ZBA this should be [dead on arrival] … I just wish they would have listened more carefully to the arguments at the board hearing than they did,” he said. “It would’ve saved a lot of people a lot of time.”