No doubt, aldermanic clout is out
INSIDE STORY: A LOOK AT THE WEEK AT CITY HALL
No doubt, aldermanic clout is out
By Dan Mihalopoulos
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
Published August 6, 2006
Chicago aldermen are howling at the frightening specter of a City Hall where the politically blessed no longer can leap to the head of the line for blue-collar city jobs with good pay and benefits.
They complain about the loss of clout they are enduring because of the ongoing federal assault on patronage in Mayor Richard Daley's administration.
But many of those same City Council members privately concede the obvious truth: They have little or no clout to lose in Daley's City Hall.
A look at the evidence used to convict four former Daley aides shows that the backing of aldermen and Democratic ward committeemen didn't count for much in the mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Known as IGA, the office was where hirings and promotions were rigged.
Take government exhibit IGA-21, a color-coded list of favored applicants for permanent jobs as truck drivers for the Streets and Sanitation Department. The jobs pay almost $29 an hour, about double what the average worker in Chicago gets.
Federal agents who raided IGA last year found the list and a "synopsis" of applicants and selections for the truck driver openings by political sponsor.
The synopsis provides graphic proof that job applicants who took the time-honored path of seeking a letter of recommendation from their alderman or ward committeeman often were wasting their time.
The quickest way to get a good blue-collar, union job with the city was to work on campaigns for pro-Daley political armies such as the Hispanic Democratic Organization.
According to the hiring-trial exhibit, Al Sanchez, leader of that organization and then commissioner of Streets and Sanitation, was the power behind 25 successful truck driver applicants. Teamsters Local 726 selected 23 workers.
Below Sanchez and the union, the handwritten sheet lists political job sponsors and the number of each sponsor's bidders for the job openings that were successful.
Daniel Katalinic, who ran a pro-Daley "white ethnic" group, backed nine, and all were hired.
"Tony M.," believed to be State Sen. Antonio "Tony" Munoz (D-Chicago), an HDO leader, got jobs for six of his 12 bidders.
Ward organizations got crumbs, if anything.
Only one of three bidders from Ald. Edward Burke's 14th Ward Democrats was offered a job. The 13th Ward Democrats went one for six, while just one of 17 11th Warders was selected. Ald. Richard Mell's 33rd Ward group got shut out completely--zero for five.
One alderman, Isaac Carothers (29th), scored eight hirings in 11 tries. But his patronage power began when he was a top Streets and Sanitation official running a black pro-Daley army, before his election as alderman and committeeman.
An analysis of another key piece of prosecution evidence, the IGA "clout list," showed a similar pattern. The secretary to Robert Sorich, Daley's longtime patronage chief, testified that she maintained the computerized list from 1989 to 1997 to track requests from what she called pro-Daley "volunteer" groups such as HDO, as well as from aldermen and committeemen.
The majority of the 5,700 politically connected applicants owed their allegiance to the political groups--including HDO--that took orders at election time from the mayor's aides.
And of those on the list who were sponsored by ward organizations, more than half belonged to just nine of the city's 50 ward groups. All nine of those ward organizations are led by white allies of the mayor.
"Aldermen haven't been getting any patronage for years," said Ald. Thomas Murphy (18th). "It's clear it was the mayor's political organization that got everything."
Murphy said the attack on Daley's machine and its loyal patronage armies helped prompt the council's recent moves toward greater independence.
"It's emboldened the aldermen," he said. "They know he can't put 300 or 400 [political workers] on the street to work against them" when they seek re-election.
The council's recent 35-14 vote in favor of a wage ordinance for big retailers, despite the mayor's strong opposition, "would never have happened two years ago," Murphy said.
Yet many aldermen have complained loudly about the federal investigation and never miss a chance to gripe about the appointment of a monitor to oversee city hiring. The federal judge in the civil Shakman case appointed the monitor last year after the Daley aides' arrests in the hiring fraud.
Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) is critical of patronage in the Daley administration but said he, too, is concerned about the federal monitor's impact.
"Daley's not going to be mayor forever," Brookins said. "It's unfair for them to mess it up for everybody else. We don't want to be foreclosed from anything because of this administration's action."
----------
dmihalopoulos@tribune.com
No doubt, aldermanic clout is out
By Dan Mihalopoulos
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
Published August 6, 2006
Chicago aldermen are howling at the frightening specter of a City Hall where the politically blessed no longer can leap to the head of the line for blue-collar city jobs with good pay and benefits.
They complain about the loss of clout they are enduring because of the ongoing federal assault on patronage in Mayor Richard Daley's administration.
But many of those same City Council members privately concede the obvious truth: They have little or no clout to lose in Daley's City Hall.
A look at the evidence used to convict four former Daley aides shows that the backing of aldermen and Democratic ward committeemen didn't count for much in the mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Known as IGA, the office was where hirings and promotions were rigged.
Take government exhibit IGA-21, a color-coded list of favored applicants for permanent jobs as truck drivers for the Streets and Sanitation Department. The jobs pay almost $29 an hour, about double what the average worker in Chicago gets.
Federal agents who raided IGA last year found the list and a "synopsis" of applicants and selections for the truck driver openings by political sponsor.
The synopsis provides graphic proof that job applicants who took the time-honored path of seeking a letter of recommendation from their alderman or ward committeeman often were wasting their time.
The quickest way to get a good blue-collar, union job with the city was to work on campaigns for pro-Daley political armies such as the Hispanic Democratic Organization.
According to the hiring-trial exhibit, Al Sanchez, leader of that organization and then commissioner of Streets and Sanitation, was the power behind 25 successful truck driver applicants. Teamsters Local 726 selected 23 workers.
Below Sanchez and the union, the handwritten sheet lists political job sponsors and the number of each sponsor's bidders for the job openings that were successful.
Daniel Katalinic, who ran a pro-Daley "white ethnic" group, backed nine, and all were hired.
"Tony M.," believed to be State Sen. Antonio "Tony" Munoz (D-Chicago), an HDO leader, got jobs for six of his 12 bidders.
Ward organizations got crumbs, if anything.
Only one of three bidders from Ald. Edward Burke's 14th Ward Democrats was offered a job. The 13th Ward Democrats went one for six, while just one of 17 11th Warders was selected. Ald. Richard Mell's 33rd Ward group got shut out completely--zero for five.
One alderman, Isaac Carothers (29th), scored eight hirings in 11 tries. But his patronage power began when he was a top Streets and Sanitation official running a black pro-Daley army, before his election as alderman and committeeman.
An analysis of another key piece of prosecution evidence, the IGA "clout list," showed a similar pattern. The secretary to Robert Sorich, Daley's longtime patronage chief, testified that she maintained the computerized list from 1989 to 1997 to track requests from what she called pro-Daley "volunteer" groups such as HDO, as well as from aldermen and committeemen.
The majority of the 5,700 politically connected applicants owed their allegiance to the political groups--including HDO--that took orders at election time from the mayor's aides.
And of those on the list who were sponsored by ward organizations, more than half belonged to just nine of the city's 50 ward groups. All nine of those ward organizations are led by white allies of the mayor.
"Aldermen haven't been getting any patronage for years," said Ald. Thomas Murphy (18th). "It's clear it was the mayor's political organization that got everything."
Murphy said the attack on Daley's machine and its loyal patronage armies helped prompt the council's recent moves toward greater independence.
"It's emboldened the aldermen," he said. "They know he can't put 300 or 400 [political workers] on the street to work against them" when they seek re-election.
The council's recent 35-14 vote in favor of a wage ordinance for big retailers, despite the mayor's strong opposition, "would never have happened two years ago," Murphy said.
Yet many aldermen have complained loudly about the federal investigation and never miss a chance to gripe about the appointment of a monitor to oversee city hiring. The federal judge in the civil Shakman case appointed the monitor last year after the Daley aides' arrests in the hiring fraud.
Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) is critical of patronage in the Daley administration but said he, too, is concerned about the federal monitor's impact.
"Daley's not going to be mayor forever," Brookins said. "It's unfair for them to mess it up for everybody else. We don't want to be foreclosed from anything because of this administration's action."
----------
dmihalopoulos@tribune.com
posted by Carlos T Mock at 11:14 AM
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