A city supervisor accused of working for Mayor Richard Daley’s re-election campaign on city time resigned last month from his $85,176-a-year job.
Lester Cioch, an assistant foreman of sewer cleaning and a precinct captain for the 32nd Ward Democratic Organization, had faced both criminal charges and internal personnel charges for passing Daley’s nominating petitions on city time shortly before the February municipal election.
A Cook County judge in April found Cioch not guilty of misdemeanor charges of violating state and city ethics laws that prohibit public employees from doing political work while on the clock.
The judge questioned whether state law applied to city workers and the case was hurt because prosecutors could not produce as evidence the petitions circulated by Cioch. Daley’s campaign had thrown out the petitions and said they were never submitted to election officials. Still, city Inspector General David Hoffman recommended Cioch be fired for violating city policy forbidding campaigning on city time.
