Scandals Keeps on Truckin'

By vouchey in News on Jun 10, 2005 2:47PM

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 Water Department heroin scandal brushed by State Senator Tony Munoz, who announced he was matching and giving an $850 campaign contribution from indicted druglord George Prado to charity.

The Water Department and Hired Truck scandals have generated a good deal of heat for Munoz, a former Chicago police officer. First, Munoz was friends with convicted Hired Truck director Angelo Torres. And then more scrutiny comes to Munoz, as he is widely recognized as a leader of the Hispanic Democratic Organization political organization. A significant number of HDO "members" have jobs in the Water Department and in Streets and Sanitation, and then manage to take days off right around election time so they can work the polls.

Finally, just as things couldn't get any nuttier for the Water Department, employee Clifford Bryant was arrested, "for breeding and training pit bulls and bull terriers for sport fighting."