It looks as though Ted Matlack former Alderman of the Chicago 32nd Ward, spelled trouble for Lester Cioch. The new Alderman, Scott Waguespack, did not use his clout to override the Chicago Inspector General’s ruling to remove Lester Cioch. Also the Commissioner of the Department of Water Management, did not use his powers to reinstate Lester. This story was followed closely by Tribune star reporter Todd Lighty. Insiders told me Lester would have been reinstated if the heat had died down. Lester was on full pay for many months. This is another loss for Daley, as he ducks all the bad news in Paris, as usual. Do you think Lester was treated fair? Patrick McDonough
Acquitted city supervisor resigns
Tribune staff report
September 8, 2007
CHICAGO – 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.
City making an example of sewer boss: Charged with passing Daley
Chicago Sun-Times, Feb 15, 2007 by Fran Spielman
This is what it has come down to, now that Mayor Daley’s former patronage chief has been convicted of rigging city hiring and promotions to benefit pro-Daley political workers.
A $39.65-an-hour assistant foreman of sewers asks 40 of his Water Management Department co-workers at 39th and Ashland to sign Daley’s nominating petitions in December — signatures that were never even filed — and officials throw the book at him.
The 63-year-old worker is not only arrested on the job in front of the very co-workers who turned him in. He faces termination proceedings after being charged in a criminal complaint announced by the city’s inspector general at a press conference attended by the mayor’s chief of staff.
Lester Cioch — a precinct captain in the 32nd Ward Regular Democratic Organization once run by political powerhouse Dan Rostenkowski and former Ald. Terry Gabinski (32nd) — is charged with the misdemeanor crime of violating state and municipal ethics laws prohibiting political activity on city time.
‘MULTIPLE’ COMPLAINTS
To say Inspector General David Hoffman is trying to make an example of Cioch to show that it’s a new day at City Hall is an understatement.
“We think it’s stop-the-presses material. . . . The fact that it’s one person . . . doesn’t mitigate the strength of the message,” Hoffman said.
Acquitted city supervisor resigns
Tribune staff report
September 8, 2007
CHICAGO – 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.
If state law doesn’t apply to city workers, than, does this mean that city workers can violate state laws with impunity?