Chicago's Black Democrats Get a Good Laugh Over Patronage Trial

Mark Brown reports:

As is often the case these days, Ald. Ed Smith sounded weary when I found him at his 28th Ward office Monday evening. That'll happen after 23 years on the City Council working hard to represent a West Side ward with many more needs than resources. Then I told Smith what I'd just heard in federal court at the trial of Mayor Daley's former patronage chief Robert Sorich and three other city officials.

And the weary Smith started to laugh.

He laughed, and he laughed. He laughed so hard you would have thought somebody was holding him down and tickling him. He laughed until I could imagine tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.

"I guess I needed that laugh," he said, then laughed some more.

Finally, though, he came up for air.

"You're kidding," he said.

No. I was serious, so I told him again.

In response to allegations by federal prosecutors that Sorich and the others rigged city hiring and promotions in favor of politically-connected job candidates, three of their defense lawyers argued Monday that their clients' actions were in large part driven by a 1985 executive order from former Mayor Harold Washington setting affirmative action goals for city hiring.

Those white Democrats in Chicago sure are "progressive".