The Latest Chicago Corruption Scandal
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson The latest corruption scandal in Chicago, “Operation Crooked Code,” has resulted in the convictions of 21 people. Of the individuals convicted, 15 were city building and zoning inspectors. If you’ve never heard of the Crooked Code scandal, you are not alone. The Chicago Sun-Times explains: Despite those successful cases, Crooked Code hasn’t been as high-profile...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson
The latest corruption scandal in Chicago, “Operation Crooked Code,” has resulted in the convictions of 21 people. Of the individuals convicted, 15 were city building and zoning inspectors. If you’ve never heard of the Crooked Code scandal, you are not alone. The Chicago Sun-Times explains:
Despite those successful cases, Crooked Code hasn’t been as high-profile as investigations of the city’s Hired Truck Program or city hiring or the Operation Silver Shovel probe, largely because it involves corruption on a smaller scale — rank-and-file city workers taking bribes to overlook building-code violations on neighborhood housing projects.
Still, the joint investigation by the city of Chicago inspector general’s office and federal authorities has changed the way City Hall does business:
- The city now randomly assigns inspectors to job sites, hoping to keep them from developing personal relationships with contractors.
- And once a construction project begins, City Hall tries to ensure that different inspectors examine different phases of the work.
“The old system was a breeding ground for improper relationships,” says Juliet Sorensen, a former assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted most of the 21 people convicted.
Six of the 15 crooked inspectors apparently used connections to get their city jobs, according to a hiring “clout list” that was kept by Mayor Daley’s former patronage director, Robert Sorich, who, in an outgrowth of the Hired Truck investigation, was convicted in June 2006 of overseeing an illegal-hiring system that gave city jobs and promotions to politically connected people.
You can read the full article at the Chicago Sun-Times website.