How far will it go?

November 6, 2005

BY STEVE WARMBIR AND TIM NOVAK Staff Reporters

There's a guessing game being played at City Hall these days. Who's wearing the wire? Who'll be charged next in the continuing Hired Truck investigation? And just how close will the investigation get to Mayor Daley?

"I don't think anybody thinks it's over," said one City Hall insider. "Everybody's waiting for the other shoe to drop. This is one of those slow deaths."

It has been 22 months since the Chicago Sun-Times exposed how the city's $40 million-a-year Hired Truck Program was laden with waste, fraud and corruption, a haven for people with political clout or ties to organized crime. And City Hall has no idea when, or where, the resulting federal investigation will end.

In August, Daley spent two hours answering questions from federal agents as part of the investigation, which has expanded to include city hiring practices. Daley -- who has hired a prominent Washington attorney -- has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Daley has vowed that the city will cooperate with the federal investigation and said he was unaware of any wrongdoing, either in the Hired Truck Program or city hiring.

To clean up the corruption, Daley has hired a new inspector general, banned city contractors from donating to his campaign and drastically scaled back the Hired Truck Program, which he is still vowing to eliminate.

Turning up heat on city clerk

"I would sooner give up this office or lose the allegiance of other politicians than protect contractors or employees who would defraud the City of Chicago and cloud all the good we've accomplished these past 15 years," Daley said in February during his annual State of the City address.

"For one who takes pride in his record as a manager, this is a painful and embarrassing failure to acknowledge."

So far, 36 people -- including 20 city employees -- have been charged in the investigation. And more indictments are expected. To date, 23 people have pleaded guilty, with most agreeing to cooperate in what might be the most significant investigation of City Hall corruption ever in Chicago.

Federal authorities remain tight-lipped about where the investigation is heading. But, according to sources, the feds are turning up the heat on city Clerk James Laski, a former protege of retired U.S. Rep. William Lipinski. In a development that has sidetracked Laski's plans to run for state treasurer next year, the feds are looking at Laski's possible involvement in helping get city business for a Hired Truck company tied to Mick Jones, a longtime Laski aide and friend. Federal authorities have questioned both men. Neither has been charged with wrongdoing.

Laski's attorney, Anthony Pinelli, said Laski cooperated and answered investigators' questions when he was interviewed for a couple of hours in August. Pinelli said Laski was told then he was not a target.

Also coming under scrutiny is Victor Reyes, who spent years running Daley's political machine that oversaw city hiring, promotions and contracts. Reyes -- known among colleagues as "Buddha" -- learned at the knee of another top Daley political adviser, Timothy Degnan. Reyes runs the Hispanic Democratic Organization, a political army of city workers that has held sway over city jobs and contracts.

Reyes left city government five years ago and became a lobbyist with the law firm Greenberg Traurig, helping clients win lucrative city contracts, including a high-profile deal to provide new CTA bus shelters. Reyes left the law firm in August. A few weeks later, he was identified as an alleged participant in what prosecutors described as a scheme to rig city hiring to provide jobs for political workers. Reyes has not been charged, but his being linked to the hiring scandal shook City Hall.

The feds have charged that city officials routinely skirted a court order by awarding city jobs to people who worked on political campaigns. The court decree barred City Hall from taking politics into account when hiring all but 1,000 employees. City officials rigged job interviews and tests to ensure that their candidates got the jobs, the feds say.

The hiring was overseen by the Mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, which has been run during Daley's administration first by Degnan, then by Reyes and then by John Doerr, who recently resigned. Two key employees in that office have been indicted -- Robert Sorich, who ran the patronage part of the office, and his right-hand man, Tim McCarthy. Both have been fired.

Probe to expand further

The now-broad corruption investigation was sparked by a Sun-Times series in January 2004 on the Hired Truck Program. For decades, the city had been hiring out privately owned trucks, on nothing more than a handshake, to haul material at city work sites. Often, the Sun-Times found, the trucks weren't needed, but their owners -- some with ties to the mob or the mayor -- still were told to show up. Some trucking company owners admitted they had to pay bribes to city officials or contribute to certain politicians.

As the government's investigation has grown, prosecutors have gotten key cooperation from people with knowledge of both the Hired Truck Program and political hiring. Former First Deputy Water Commissioner Donald Tomczak and Daniel Katalinic, a high-ranking Streets and Sanitation official, provided insights into the corruption of the Hired Truck world. The two men also told federal investigators about the armies of city workers they were directed by the Mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs to campaign for specific candidates. After Election Day, Tomczak, Katalinic and other political coordinators would seek to reward their troops by asking City Hall to give them promotions and raises, according to court records.

Now, sources say they expect the federal investigation to be further expanded, to examine the awarding of city contracts. They say the next likely target is the awarding of contracts for projects at O'Hare International Airport.

ROAD MAP TO CORRUPTION PROBE

The Hired Truck investigation began by looking into city workers taking kickbacks to ensure private dump trucks got city work. It exploded into an investigation of how City Hall hires people based on clout and political work. This graphic shows how things worked in the Water Management Department, but the feds say variations of the scheme operated in other city departments, including Streets and Sanitation, and Transportation.

CITY HALL: Mayor Daley's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs allegedly controlled thousands of city jobs and based hiring decisions on political considerations rather than merit. That would violate a federal court decree banning the practice. Prosecutors allege that Robert Sorich, the mayor's patronage chief, and his colleagues, Patrick Slattery and Tim McCarthy, fixed tests to ensure political workers got jobs. If you got the call to work for the city, you were on the "blessed list," according to court filings.

Mayor Daley has not been implicated in the federal investigation. He has pledged the city's full cooperation and has taken several steps to root out corruption - such as refusing campaign donations from city contractors, and hiring a new inspector general to investigate wrongdoing.

WATER MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT: Donald Tomczak was first deputy commissioner, but he ran the show, the feds say. Tomczak decided which Hired Truck companies got city work. And with that power came the ability to shake down trucking companies for cash.

POLITICAL WORKERS: Tomczak led an army of political workers, up to 250 city employees, who worked for candidates as directed by the Mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

POLITICIANS: Prosecutors describe two ways in which Tomczak aided politicians. Tomczak would have his bagmen shake down trucking companies for contributions to various politicians. And his political army rang doorbells and passed out literature to help candidates, including his son, Jeff Tomczak, who was elected Will County state's attorney.

There is no evidence that any of the politicans knew of the alleged scheme behind the donations from Hired Truck companies or that city workers were ordered to work on campaigns. They say they knew nothing about this.

POLITICAL WORKERS: The political workers went back to Tomczak, demanding either city jobs or promotions or raises for the political work they did for City Hall.

WATER MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT: Tomczak has turned into one of the government's top cooperating witnesses. He has helped the government expand its investigation into political hiring at City Hall. And he's told the feds about conversations he had with a former top Daley aide, Victor Reyes, court records show.

Tomczak went to City Hall, asking for rewards for his political soldiers.

Who's who

HIRED TRUCK PROGRAM

Angelo Torres