Results tagged “hispanicdemocraticorganization”

With all the investigating and convicting going on these days, the case against the Hispanic Democratic Organization and its leadership hasn't been in the news much lately. With George Ryan out the way, the feds can get back to taking down the Chicago Machine. The first casualty of what will likely be many in that case came yesterday, with John Resa, an HDO coordinator who controlled some 70 city jobs, getting 15 months in prison...

If you had just arrived in Chicago yesterday, with no knowledge of the political history of this town for the last 100 years or so, you might think that the mayor here was some kind of forward-thinking good-government type. With the Tribune's headline announcing that the city had agreed to ban patronage, it would seem that Daley was taking corruption by the horns and stamping it out, once and for all. Not likely. In fact,...

While the rest of the city was preparing to get sauced this past weekend, and the media was running after Conrad Black, DNC Chairman Howard Dean made a trip to Chicago for a series of fund raisers last week. And Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd) took the opportunity to make some connections, working the Howard Dean crowd for volunteers. He also went ahead and filed the paperwork to form a congressional campaign committee. He also held...

The story of hope and redemption on the South Side continued Friday, as the news that the Illinois State Supreme Court had ruled that both Ambrosio Medrano and Virgil Jones are ineligible to run for alderman. Even more bizarre is that because the court's ruling makes no mention of Wallace Davis, a former 27th Ward alderman and candidate in the 2nd Ward, and Percy Giles in the 37th Ward, the city election board has no...

The race in the 25th Ward has been making the news a lot lately, with both Danny Solis and Ambrosio Medrano taking shots at one another, and each camp doing the backstage maneuvering that goes on in Chicago politics. This is what happens when two experienced politicians take each other on for an important seat in the city council. Although largely associated with Pilsen, the 25th Ward encompasses parts of Chinatown, Tri-Taylor, and Heart of Chicago, and the six challengers to Danny Solis reflect more on the power struggle going on in the Mexican community in that ward (and to a lesser extent in the 22nd Ward) than any specific discontent by residents.

At night on the slowest news day of the week federal prosecutors announced an indictment in the inquiry of the hiring practices of Mayor Daley's political organization. In this gutsy and bold move, the prosecutors indicted a Hispanic Democratic Organization (HOD) coordinator for lying. The Hispanic Democratic Organization, a powerful street team for Mayor Daley, is being investigated for hitting up city officials for jobs for the HDO. John Resa, a worker in the Water...

While Congress wallows in its own self-loathing, the City that Works keeps plugging along. Mayor Daley announced yesterday that Miguel Del Valle would be replacing convicted former City Clerk James Laski. Del Valle, an Illinois State Senator since the late 1980's, has served a mostly Latino district on the Northwest Side of the city. Altogether this is a smart move by Da Mare, as it puts him in good graces with independents in the city,...

Yesterday federal investigators said aides to Mayor Daley shredded documents and erased computer files in an attempt to hide the role patronage played in the hiring and promotion of city workers and Daley supporters, regardless of whether or not the job candidates were qualified for the positions. The prosecution says the "massive fraud" has been going on since the 1990s. Next month four Daley aides are going on trial for having roles in the scheme....

As 2005 comes to an end, Mayor Daley is taking some time to reflect upon his time in office, the Hired Truck scandal, and the prospects of running for another term. Last Friday Daley appeared on Chicago Tonight and said of the City Hall corruption scandal: People give me a public trust. ... When [corruption] takes place, I get mad at myself. You get depressed. You get upset. But you lift yourself up. ......

Chicagoist knew something didn’t feel quite right this week. We were tossing and turning in bed last night trying to figure out what was missing. Then it hit us—no new City Hall scandal news this week!! Was there some rift in the space-time continuum? Did global warming somehow affect the earth’s axis enough to send corruption into some new weird dimension that we cannot even begin to comprehend? Imagine how relieved we were to...

The twelfth Hired Trucker was convicted this week, as Joseph Ignoffo of Ignoffo Trucking plead guilty to mail fraud and detailed how bagmen from the Water Department took bribes and directed political contributions to campaign funds for Cook County Commissioner and Mayoral Brother, John Daley. Ignoffo would make cash payments to Water Department Deputy Commissioner Donald Tomczak and later his underling, Gerald Wesolowski, in return for millions of dollars of city trucking business. Meanwhile, the...

Yesterday Chicagoist wondered how organizations like the Hispanic Democratic Organization might play into Mayor Richard M. Daley's new campaign contribution restrictions. The Chicago Tribune learned the answer: HDO and other political committees will face no limitations. The upshot is that while city contractors will now be limited from making direct contributions to the mayor's campaign committee, contractors now have a green light to make contributions to Daley sponsored political committees like HDO, the Coalition for...

The State of the City speech is usually a snoozer for Chicago media, a few major programs are announced, and a write up goes into the paper. But this year Mayor Richard M. Daley used the opportunity to make the first two substantive moves against corruption in his administration since the Hired Truck Scandal first began a year ago. First, he will privatize the entire hired truck program and take it out of city control,...

The latest Chicago pol to fall into the Hired Truck spotlight is West Side State Senator Antonio Muñoz (pictured at right), cited by the Chicago Tribune as an acquaintance of former Hired Truck Program director, Angelo Torres. Torres, you may remember, has been indicted for extortion -- sending city trucking contracts to shadow companies. The connection between Muñoz and Torres is essentially through the Hispanic Democratic Organization. Muñoz' 1998 senate election is considered one of...