Local News

Conviction Upheld For Former Daley Patronage Chief

Analyst: Ruling May Have Profound Effect On Daley Administration

CHICAGO (AP) ― A federal appeals court upheld convictions Tuesday for four former aides to Mayor Richard M. Daley accused of skirting laws that ban political city hiring in a ruling at least one observer says could have "profound impact" for City Hall.

"These defendants were key players in a corrupt and far-reaching scheme ... that doled out thousands of city civil service jobs based on political patronage and nepotism," said a three-judge panel of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The court flatly dismissed defense arguments that the men couldn't be convicted of criminal fraud because they didn't take bribes or kickbacks.

"It is hard to take too seriously the contention that the defendants did not know that by creating a false hiring scheme that provided thousands of lucrative city jobs to political cronies, falsifying documents and lying repeatedly about what they were doing, they were perpetrating a fraud," Judge Ann Williams wrote on behalf of the panel.

The long-standing Shakman Decree bans Chicago officials from hiring most municipal employees based on politics and the city's hiring practices are under court-ordered monitoring. But patronage has been part of Chicago politics since anyone can remember and the decree had been long ignored.

Daley's former patronage chief, Robert Sorich, was among those convicted of mail fraud. He was sentenced to four years in federal prison for his part in the scheme outlined by federal prosecutors, but won a bond allowing him to remain free pending the appeal.

Tuesday's ruling means the 43-year-old Sorich has 72 hours to report to prison, according to his attorney, Thomas Anthony Durkin. Prosecutors said a federal judge would hear their motion to revoke the bond Thursday.

But Durkin noted he would continue the appeal process, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

"We respectfully disagree with the 7th Circuit's opinion, and continue to believe this prosecution is an unprecedented and unwarranted expansion of federal criminal liability," he said.

Daley said Tuesday that the city is cooperating with the court-appointed monitor in all hiring.

"The court has made its decision, and there is nothing I can add to the legal debate," Daley said in an e-mailed statement. "It is important to remember that the city has moved forward and upward on many fronts since the events in question ... I will continue my efforts to move this great city forward. At the same time I must also express my concern for the individuals and their families who have been involved in this case."

The court's decision could greatly affect Daley's administration.

"It will have a profound impact," said Dick Simpson, a former alderman and professor of political science at the University of Illinois-Chicago. "This is the first case that has shown that participating in patronage hiring and promotion is criminal as opposed to civil from the Shakman cases. It opens up the possibilities of further prosecution of many people in the Daley administration who have engaged in patronage hiring and promotions."

Three other former city officials also were convicted in the case.

Witnesses testified at trial that "patronage armies" had been formed in city departments and deployed into the city's wards and precincts on Election Day to round up votes for Daley and candidates he supported.

Testimony indicated Sorich and those under him faked test scores and evaluations to make it appear the rules barring political affiliation as a factor in hiring were being followed -- but that people who took part in the patronage armies would get the jobs.

In January, a federal judge approved a plan to end political patronage hiring at city hall after modifying it to require officials to log all contacts about hiring from aldermen or the mayor.

At the time, U.S. District Judge Wayne R. Andersen also warned city officials the court-ordered monitoring will not end until city payroll jobs stop going to campaign workers.

The battle over patronage hiring at City Hall has been raging in the courts for decades. It was attorney Michael Shakman who in 1969 filed a lawsuit seeking to wipe out the patronage system.

Shakman filed the suit after he was beaten in a race for delegate to the 1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention. He blamed the help his opponent got from a horde of precinct captains and other doorbell ringing campaign workers who had jobs on the city payroll.

(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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