Ex-Daley aide indicted - Sanchez rigged hiring for political workers, U.S. says

Ex-Daley aide indicted - Sanchez rigged hiring for political workers, U.S. says
By Jeff Coen, Todd Lighty and Dan Mihalopoulos, Tribune staff reporters
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published March 23, 2007

A former top aide to Mayor Richard Daley was charged Thursday with rigging city hiring for members of a pro-Daley political group, becoming the highest-ranking mayoral ally indicted in the federal investigation of City Hall.

Former Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Al Sanchez was accused of playing a prominent role in a scheme to reward loyal campaign workers for the Hispanic Democratic Organization from 1994 until 2005, when he quit Daley's Cabinet.

Prosecutors say Sanchez cheated the system to benefit members of HDO who sought jobs, promotions, overtime, pay raises and transfers.

"It's not fair to the taxpayers and it's not fair to the people who apply for jobs," U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald said.

Sanchez was charged with nine counts of mail fraud. Also indicted on one perjury count Thursday was HDO coordinator Aaron Del Valle, a former Streets and Sanitation employee and Chicago police officer who allegedly aided Sanchez. Del Valle was accused of lying to a federal grand jury investigating the hiring fraud this year.

Daley was on a business trip to Europe when the indictment was announced, one day after a proposed settlement of the federal civil case restricting political hiring by City Hall.

The mayor issued a statement that mirrored comments he made when his former patronage chief Robert Sorich and three other aides were indicted on similar charges in 2005. All four were convicted last year in a hiring scheme that prosecutors said was centered in the mayor's office.

"Naturally, I'm disappointed to hear about this indictment," Daley said of Sanchez. "It will be up to the courts to determine whether he violated the public trust. I have known Al Sanchez for several years and know him only to be hardworking and dedicated."

Like Sorich, Sanchez is accused of depriving people of the right to expect "honest services" from government. Sorich and his co-defendants have appealed, claiming they did not personally benefit from the scheme.



Lawn care, snow removal

In the first such example in the hiring investigation, prosecutors alleged that some members of HDO who got preferential treatment in their city jobs provided Sanchez with home repair work, snow removal, lawn care and gifts.

Charges against Sanchez were widely expected since the Sorich trial, when prosecutors described Sanchez and HDO chairman Victor Reyes as "co-schemers" in the fraud. Reyes has not been charged and has denied wrongdoing.

The indictment was the latest blow to what once was the most powerful street army in Daley's campaign organization.

Sanchez, 59, led the group's Southeast Side operation, which had as many as 500 campaign workers, authorities said. Those workers were sent out to help candidates for mayor, City Council, Illinois House and Senate, statewide posts and federal offices.

Sanchez was listed as the sponsor of 112 people who sought city jobs and promotions for their political work, according to a "clout list" maintained in the mayor's office and entered as evidence against Sorich.

Sanchez and other HDO leaders lobbied mayoral aides to reward workers with coveted, blue-collar jobs such as truck driver, streetlight-maintenance worker and laborer, according to the indictment. The scheme allegedly involved falsifying hiring records and conducting sham job interviews.

Neither Sanchez nor Del Valle was in custody Thursday, with prosecutors saying they would arrange to have them appear in court to face the charges.

Sanchez's lawyer did not return calls seeking comment, and Del Valle could not be reached.



Key ally of Vrdolyak

The son of a steelworker, Sanchez was raised in the "Slag Valley" section of the South Deering neighborhood, near the Calumet River. He served in the Army during the Vietnam War.

He began working for the city in 1974 and became a key member of the 10th Ward Democratic political organization of then-Ald. Edward Vrdolyak. "He was a good precinct captain," Vrdolyak said Thursday.

When Vrdolyak faded from the City Hall scene, Sanchez began working for Daley and rose to greater prominence as HDO's influence grew.

After the mayor appointed him Streets and Sanitation commissioner in 1999, Sanchez said: "We have helped the mayor in all his elections, and it is because he has done a good job. We feel Hispanics have to get more involved in the political process."

Prosecutors declined to estimate how many HDO members Sanchez allegedly helped. A 2002 Tribune investigation found at least 500 HDO members on the city payroll, many in Streets and Sanitation.

Sanchez retired from the city weeks after federal investigators raided the mayor's office in 2005. He receives a monthly city pension of $8,120.

Three weeks before leaving City Hall, Sanchez sent a memo to employees as "a reminder that political/campaign activities ... cannot be mingled with city work or resources."

He remained involved in city politics, even in last month's City Council election. Sanchez worked for the successful re-election bids of Ald. George Cardenas (12th) and state Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago), state records show.

On Thursday, Cardenas praised Sanchez as a great "alley commissioner" who made sure the garbage was picked up and the snow plowed.

"A lot of people out there judge him for his work," Cardenas said. "I'm sure things will work out for him in this case."

Del Valle, 34, also did paid campaign work for Cardenas and Sandoval in recent years and ran for 25th Ward alderman in last month's election, winning just 5 percent of the vote.

The winner of that race, Ald. Daniel Solis, said he believes Del Valle ran only to pull votes from him and force a runoff election.

"Al and Aaron were good friends. They hung out together after work," said Solis, a former HDO member who has quarreled with Sanchez and Reyes.

Del Valle became an administrative assistant in the mayor's Office of Inquiry and Information, the same office where Sanchez once was first deputy.

Soon after Sanchez became Streets and Sanitation commissioner, he brought Del Valle into that department. Del Valle became a Chicago police officer the following year but took leaves of absence from the police force to work as a top deputy to Sanchez.



Stripped of police powers

Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said Del Valle was scheduled to return from another leave of absence Thursday but was stripped of his police powers after the indictment.

Del Valle is accused of lying about his role in the hiring scheme. Another HDO Southeast operative, Water Management worker John Resa, also was charged late last year with lying to a grand jury when he testified that he had not sought city jobs for HDO workers.

Federal agents have scoured the working-class neighborhoods of the Southeast Side in recent months to interview patronage workers.

Sanchez often presided over HDO meetings at the Crow Bar, a tavern in the East Side neighborhood. Bar owner Pat Carroll said he was upset that Sanchez, a longtime friend, was indicted.

"Everyone who gets a city job knows someone," Carroll said. "That's how it's always been. That's not criminal. It's political."

By Jeff Coen, Todd Lighty and Dan Mihalopoulos, Tribune staff reporters
Published March 23, 2007