Sanchez on Trial: Convicted

The federal corruption trial of former streets and sanitation commissioner and Hispanic Democratic Organization chief Al Sanchez ended yesterday afternoon in his conviction on four counts of mail fraud. His alleged co-conspirator Aaron DelValle (who ran as a stalking horse against 25th Ward Alderman Danny Solis in 2007 in what was largely seen as an HDO vendetta against the alderman) was convicted of perjury.

In spite of the swift verdict against him, Sanchez remained defiant. "Today is not a fair day," Sanchez told reporters at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. "I did my job as I was supposed to do. I don't think I should be in this position." Thomas Breen, Sanchez's attorney, echoed that sentiment. "We are a little mystified at the verdict," Breen said. "It's not a happy day for Al Sanchez ... He's a decent, decent human being." Sanchez added. "And now I'm sitting up here, you know, convicted of crimes, I don't even know what the crime is."

But jurors indicated that they felt this was about putting an end to corruption in Chicago. "Mr. Sanchez is a very nice man, he's done a lot for the city, but it's not right what's going on. It's been going on for a long time, and the buck's gotta stop somewhere. We don't know where it's going to stop, but I think us saying what we did say, maybe puts it out there that everybody's aware of what going on, and let's clean it up"; said Juror Arlene Kaminski. "A lot of us know his record, what he did for the city, and we took that into account" she said, but, "It made it hard to see why he did some of the things that he did. That's why we didn't come in guilty on all counts. That's why we kicked it back and forth quite a bit."

While the case is yet another nail in the coffin of Chicago's vaunted political machine, it also came as close to the mayor as any political corruption has thus far. During the trial, prosecutors painted in broad strokes how the HDO, and politically motivated hiring in the streets and sanitation department, used its clout to strengthen the mayor's control over city politics, especially among Latinos. In fact, Breen himself pointed at the profound corruption at City Hall as an excuse for Sanchez's actions. "This was done every day in every department in the city and he has to wear the jacket for it," Breen said. Of course, Mayor Daley denied any connection to corrupt hiring, saying:

Let's be clear: I never have or ever will support any activity that is illegal. The jury has reached its decision. I accept their verdict. But, I also believe it's fair to remind people that today's decision was based on allegations from years ago. We have since implemented many reforms, including the appointment of a former federal prosecutor, who, for four years, has been aggressively rooting out misconduct as our Inspector General. We've created an independent Office of Compliance to prevent abuse of the hiring system and we continue to work with the federal monitor to do the same.

Sentencing is yet to be scheduled, however both Sanchez and DelValle plan to appeal.