Sanchez on Trial
By Kevin Robinson in News on Mar 13, 2009 4:20PM
The federal corruption trial against former Chicago Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Al Sanchez continued with prosecutors calling yet another city worker to the stand, and virtually forcing former HDO worker Aaron DelValle to testify.
John Barrera, who got his start with the city working as a toll collector on the Chicago Skyway, told jurors that he began working for the HDO in 2000, helping to elect 10th Ward Alderman John Pope. He testified that he heard about his job on the Skyway before he even applied for the job. He left his application with Al Sanchez's driver, after meeting him outside a Southeast side bar.
Later in the day, prosecutors played a tape of Aaron DelValle's testimony before a federal grand jury. On that tape, DelValle denied working with Sanchez to rig the city hiring process to steer politically connected workers into city jobs. Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Collins asked DelValle on the recording if he ever "through official or unofficial channels" helped political workers get city jobs. "No, sir," DelValle replied. "No, sir you have not done that?" Collins asked. "No, sir, I haven't," DelValle told the grand jury.Minutes after the tape was played in court, city worker Danny Munoz testified that he had, in fact, had numerous conversations with DelValle about steering political workers into city jobs. "That was the guy who I'd report to when I needed something," Munoz said. When he complained to DelValle that HDO workers weren't getting city jobs after helping out with a aldermanic campaign, DelValle "said he was going to take care of it," Munoz said. "He said he was going to talk to Al."