Jun 14, 2006 6:40 pm US/Central
City Hall's Top Lawyer Takes The Stand Again
Mara Georges Testifies About Corruption Probe
by Mike Flannery
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
City Hall's top lawyer took the stand Wednesday to discuss what she knew about a corruption probe and when she knew about it.
Mara Georges' testimony came at the corruption trial of Mayor Daley's former patronage chief.
Chicago's corporation counsel said she had heard allegations of inappropriate political hiring by the mayor's office months before FBI agents showed up with search warrants.
But, as CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, there was no indication that she or any other top official ever tried to stop it.
Georges declined to discuss Wednesday's trial testimony with reporters.
Mara Georges had sometimes argumentative exchanges with defendant Robert Sorich's lead lawyer, focusing on what she knew about the allegedly inappropriate political hiring that is at the heart of the case against Sorich and three co-defendants. All of them connected at various times to the mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA).
Attorney Thomas Anthony Durkin asked about a series of memos to Mara Georges that he claimed made explicit references to IGA's political hiring activities.
"Did you (know) that IGA played a role in political hiring?" he asked.
Georges shot back: "It depends on what you mean by played a role."
Georges then changed an answer she gave Tuesday, when she said that the FBI's April 2005 raid on City Hall was the first time she learned of the inappropriate hiring allegations. She said Wednesday that she'd heard those allegations at least seven months earlier.
Michael Sheahan, son of the Cook County Sheriff, testified later about rigged political hiring.
Although prosecutors gave him immunity, Sheahan told the defense: "We had a difference of opinion. Prosecutor (Barry) Miller told me violating the Shakman decree was a criminal offense. I didn't agree."
While Judge David Coar prohibited defense lawyers from asking whether she or any other top city officials took action to stop IGA's hiring activities, the defense has claimed that none did, and that the co-defendants were all just mid-level bureaucrats doing what they though their bosses wanted. None had any intention of breaking the law, they said.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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