Chicago Democrats Rig Hiring at City Hall Defying Federal Court Ban on Patronage

The Chicago Tribune reports:

From the time Mayor Richard Daley took office, dozens of city department managers gathered before elections at the plumbers' union hall or other sites to get campaign marching orders from top mayoral aides, a former Daley loyalist testified Monday in the City Hall corruption trial.

Donald Tomczak, a longtime Water Department official and veteran political operative, said he then would summon his top deputies to his office in the Jardine Filtration Plant to tell them which candidates would get help from hundreds of blue-collar city water workers.

After elections, Daley aide Robert Sorich fielded requests for promotions from the political workers and tried to accommodate them, Tomczak told jurors. When Sorich rewarded his effective campaign workers by advancing their careers, Tomczak said, he thanked Sorich.

But Tomczak said he also made sure to complain to Sorich when his campaign troops did not get what they wanted: "Robert, how can I keep this thing together if I can't get these people promoted?"

Tomczak is the latest in a growing line of former Daley administration officials to detail systematic patronage hiring in the federal trial of Sorich and ex-city officials Timothy McCarthy, John Sullivan and Patrick Slattery.

Prosecutors say the four were involved in a scheme to rig hiring and promotions in favor of applicants endorsed by the mayor's office, including pro-Daley political workers, in violation of a federal court decree restricting patronage.

It sounds like Mayor Daley runs a "continuing criminal enterprise" that spans several years.