Stabbing Chicago Politics in the Heart

By Rachelle Bowden in News on Jul 20, 2005 3:42PM

In the most recent scandal at City Hall, Mayor Daley has fired 2 Chicago officials who are accused of running a rigged system that rewards people with political ties with jobs. Yesterday both Robert Sorich and Patrick Slattery were let go. But not just let go, that was just a result of their being INDICTED by the feds. The 2 men are accused of giving well-connected job applicants easy, fake interviews and of bumping up their interview scores to make sure they got positions.

Now, on to the resigning - John Doerrer, Sorich's boss, quit yesterday. But it wasn't too suprising, since the pattern has been to fire department heads after there are indictments. Doerrer was just beating them to the chase.

The feds charged Sorich and Slattery yesterday as part of an 18-month investigation that's spread from the scandalous Hired Truck Program to City Hall. All in all, 5 former city commissioners, 4 former and 2 current city personnel directors are among 30 indicted and working with the government.

Of course both Sorich and Slattery claim they're innocent. Mayor Daley says they're going to fix things, but is pretty much all like "Wasn't me, I didn't do it, I'm not involved in hiring." Which makes Jesse Jackson Jr., who wants Daley's job, to ask "Who's running our town?" while everyone else is saying it's just too late. And Mayor Daley's approval rating? ALL TIME LOW.

Both photos via AP.