Corruption at City Hall? Surely You Jest!

By Amy Hart on Sep 23, 2005 3:21PM

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 wake up this morning and realize that the world as we know it still exists!

Yesterday federal prosecutors announced that they believe Victor Reyes, a former Daley aide and current head of the Hispanic Democratic Organization (HDO), was a “co-schemer” in the City Hall patronage scandal plaguing the mayor’s office, although Reyes was not specifically named in the new court documents.

Prosecutors believe many HDO members were on the city’s payroll and worked as a “political street army” charged with drumming up support for Daley and Daley supported political candidates.

We know what you’re thinking… Chicago politics equals patronage, right? Actually, federal laws limiting patronage have been in existence for over 20 years.

As if that wasn’t enough for one day, prosecutors also indicted five Chicago officials on fraud charges stemming from the patronage scandal. For those of you keeping score, that makes 36 defendants in the hiring scandal.

In response, Daley said reforms to the city’s hiring practices would be enacted. So, nothing to see here people, move along!