Since U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald and Rovegate are all the rage these days, it's easy to miss the other case Fitz is working on. Turns out, Chicago's Mayor Daley is in some hot water.
CHICAGO, July 21 -- First it was the truckers caught paying bribes and pocketing millions in city contracts. Then it was the white businessmen who set up front companies to win minority contracts. Then came charges that employees in the water department got raises for working on political campaigns.Mayor Richard M. Daley has suffered bad news aplenty since soaring into his fifth term with 79 percent of the vote, but none as troublesome as this week's federal corruption indictment of two close associates, including the leader of the City Hall patronage operation.
Federal investigators charged that the hiring system was thoroughly rigged.
One political organizer was picked for a job although he died before interviews were held. Another was hired over objections that he was a "drunk." A third won a promotion although he was in Iraq when the interview supposedly took place. He scored a perfect 5.0 anyway.
Allegations of favoritism and corruption have not reached Daley, who told reporters: "I don't play any role in hiring, no, I don't. I never have." Yet his popularity is falling, a potential political rival is criticizing him and federal investigators are making it clear they are not yet done.
"Now is the time to cooperate, because this train is leaving and you're either on the train or you're on the tracks," Robert Grant, head of the FBI's Chicago office, said this week. An affidavit unveiled this week against patronage boss Robert Sorich mentions 22 cooperating witnesses. [...]
Prosecution documents filed in court allege that high-ranking members of Daley's staff routinely violated the civil decree, as well as federal law. U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald charged that the system was riddled with fraud, but in an interview he would not say whether evidence indicates that Daley was aware of the alleged crimes.
2005, year of the political scandal.