In the game of Clue, players attempt to solve a murder by answering three questions: Who did it? Where? With what weapon? The solution is found in the Confidential File.
THE GAME OF CLOUT asks a similar set of questions about the sprawling corruption scandal at City Hall. And U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald holds the cards.
It began with irregularities in a program to hire private trucking firms to haul construction material and now involves the city’s entire system of hiring and promotion. So far 42 people have been charged with wrongdoing, including the city clerk, who resigned last week. Did they commit a crime? And if so, where? And many Chicagoans wonder: Did Mayor Richard Daley have a clue? No need to roll the dice–they’re just for show. In Clout, the fix is in.
WAS IT Robert Sorich
IN Intergovernmental Affairs
WITH Mail fraud?
Sold out on his front stoop by a longtime colleague, SORICH was the first high-ranking official in the mayor’s office to be arrested and charged in the CITY HALL probe. A Daley family friend and the mayor’s longtime patronage chief, Sorich allegedly orchestrated efforts to hire what federal officials called “goofballs” over more qualifi ed candidates for city jobs. Another Daley official, Dan Katalinic, secretly recorded Sorich outside his Bridgeport home, discussing whether lists of politically connected employees had been seized during a government search of his office. He is expected to go to trial this spring on charges of FEDERAL MAIL FRAUD–for sending letters to notify employees of their promotions.
WAS IT Donald Tomczak
IN THE Water Management Dept.
WITH Racketeering / tax fraud?
TOMCZAK played a role in both Hired Truck and the jobs scandal. A former WATER MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT official, he became the first to admit in court that he had taken part in the scheme that awarded jobs, promotions and overtime to workers who campaigned for Mayor Daley and his favored candidates. He pleaded guilty to RACKETEERING AND TAX FRAUD last year, admitting that he took almost $400,000 in cash bribes and political contributions in exchange for getting people jobs in the Hired Truck Program.
WAS IT James Laski
IN THE City clerk’s office
WITH Bribery?
LASKI resigned as city clerk Monday after he was charged last month with accepting $50,000 in bribes. Prosecutors allege that since the late 1990s he has solicited bribes in return for steering city business to a trucking company operated by a friend. They also allege that Laski offered to give jobs in the CLERK’S OFFICE to allies of Donald Tomczak, a former top official in the city’s Water Management Department who has admitted to getting patronage jobs for Daley supporters. Laski has denied the charges against him.
WAS IT John `Quarters’ Boyle
IN THE Transportation Dept.
WITH Racketeering / tax fraud?
First, he stole $4 million from the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. Then, after 3 years in prison, BOYLE landed a job in the city’s TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT, where he took bribes from trucking-firm owners who wanted to be part of the department’s Hired Truck Program. Among those payments? Steaks for his Christmas party. He pleaded guilty in August to STEALING $214,000 in cash, gifts and campaign contributions and was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
WAS IT Dan Katalinic
IN Intergovernmental Affairs
WITH Bribery?
You didn’t have to be in Chicago for DAN KATALINIC to get you a job. Or even in the country. A former deputy commissioner for the STREETS AND SANITATION DEPARTMENT, Katalinic says he ran a political organization–the “Kit Kat Club” –that rewarded workers with jobs and promotions based on how well they campaigned for politicians supported by Mayor Daley. He helped secure a promotion for one city worker who was on active duty in Iraq when he purportedly aced a job interview. Katalinic admitted taking $15,000 in BRIBES to help companies get Hired Truck work. Katalinic, who is cooperating with federal investigators, secretly recorded a conversation with longtime Daley patronage chief Robert Sorich that helped lead to Sorich’s indictment.
WAS IT Victor Reyes
IN Intergovernmental Affairs
WITH Politically connected hiring?
REYES was director of the city’s OFFICE OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, where Robert Sorich worked for him, and he heads the Hispanic Democratic Organization, a pro-Daley political army. But, according to court documents, he was also “Individual A,” a government official suspected of arranging PROMOTIONS FOR POLITICALLY CONNECTED CITY EMPLOYEES. Although prosecutors have described him as a “co-schemer,” Reyes has not been charged with any crime and denies wrongdoing. Mayor Daley has defended his former aide, calling him a “great public servant.”
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DISCARD PILE
Not every player is caught up in the Hired Truck or jobs investigations. Some have played the game in their own unique way.
George Prado
He is the man accused of putting the H in H2O. A longtime employee of the city’s water department, Prado was arrested in June for allegedly running a heroin ring on city time. Prosecutors say he was captured on wiretaps threatening to kidnap and possibly kill a drug courier caught by police. Prado has pleaded not guilty.
Denise Casalino
What do you do when your husband is a developer and can’t get a building permit he needs? You call City Hall and ask what’s taking so long. No problem with that, unless you’re the city planning commissioner and the former No. 2 in the department that issues permits. That’s one of the ethical missteps that led to the resignation of Casalino last fall.
Rafael Hernandez
The former head of the Department of Construction and Permits, Hernandez is the only City Hall official who claims he has lost his job for being honest. Hernandez took an envelope from a developer and–he says–stuffed it in the glove compartment of his car. Only a week later did he open the envelope and find it contained a $25 restaurant gift certificate and $1,000 in cash. After he returned the cash and reported the developer to the Ethics Board, Hernandez says he was forced to resign.
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Did Daley have a clue?
The last year has been Mayor Richard Daley’s most difficult since taking office in 1989. The whiff of scandal has been everywhere, ensnaring the city clerk, patronage chief and countless other political supporters. In August, Daley was interviewed for two hours by federal investigators. Neither Daley nor prosecutors have described what was discussed, although the mayor’s office later said in a statement that the questions “related to city policies and procedures for hiring, promotion and certain city programs.”
John Daley
The 11th Ward, where the mayor’s younger brother has run the Democratic Organization for more than a quarter century, is at the center of the Hired Truck scandal. Daley was often driven to work by Robert Sorich, his brother’s patronage chief, who has been accused by prosecutors of participating in the City Hall hiring fraud. John Daley has not been charged.
