Truck woes shouldn't have been blind spot for Daley

He wants answers. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who has already subpoenaed the city's hired truck records, is determined to get to the bottom of this scandal.

Mayor Daley apologized Friday for his administration's failure to clean up the $40 million a year boondoggle otherwise known as the Hired Truck Program.

As Sun-Times reporters Tim Novak and Steve Warmbir disclosed in their extraordinary series "Clout on Wheels," trucking firms with political connections and mob ties thrived on taxpayer money without competitive bidding. In many cases their trucks did very little work and the program's former chief is now under indictment.

"In placing blame, first of all, I'll take the blame myself," Daley said. "And then, I'll make the decisions that are necessary dealing with responsibility."

More than any controversy of Daley's 15-year tenure, this one hits close to home. Daley, who won re-election with 79 percent of the vote in 2003, has gained national acclaim for his stewardship of local government.

But at his Friday press conference, Daley said that he was embarrassed by his failure to end abuses in the Hired Truck Program. "I'm disappointed," he said, "because I feel I have let the people down."

He should not have been unaware of the recurring abuses of this program. The Daley administration was warned in a 1998 audit by Ernest & Young that the Hired Truck Program had many problems and was riddled with corruption.

Yet just after Daley's office got this report, former gang member Angelo Torres was placed in charge of the program. Torres was indicted last week on charges of taking cash from a trucking firm in exchange for getting city business.

The Sun-Times reported that one-fourth of the money spent on this dubious program over the last five years has gone to trucking firms based in the Southwest Side's 11th Ward, which has been controlled by the Daley family since the late Richard J. Daley became Democratic ward committeeman in 1948. Cook County Commissioner John P. Daley, the mayor's brother, is 11th Ward Democratic committeeman and has sold insurance to some of these trucking firms. "I don't know everybody from Bridgeport," the mayor said Friday.

Over the last eight years, trucking firms in the program have given more than $800,000 to politicians, including at least $108,575 into the mayor's campaign fund and more than $47,500 to his brother John. Gov. Blagojevich, House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, and other top politicians have also accepted contributions from the trucking firms in the city's program.

What is most embarrassing to the Daley administration is that at least 15 trucking firms with ties to organized crime got a major piece of the city's business.

"It's something you find in trucking," budget director William Abolt told the Sun-Times. "I can't say that I'm shocked you found connections to organized crime in the trucking business."

There is no indication that Daley had personal knowledge of this mob influence in the Hired Truck Program. But since his administration had been alerted to the abuses in this program, Daley should have known.

Daley has been quick to distance himself from previous scandals. In 1997, he dumped Ald. Patrick Huels (11th), his council floor leader, after the Sun-Times disclosed that Huels had accepted a $1.25 million loan from trucking contractor Michael Tadin, a major player in the Hired Truck Program.

Four years ago, Daley accepted the resignation of deputy chief of staff Terry Teele for accepting $10,500 in interest-free loans from developer Oscar D'Angelo, a longtime Daley confidant. Daley then froze out D'Angelo, who is still influential on the Near West Side.

Daley promptly dumped CTA chairman Robert Belcaster in 1996 when it was disclosed that Belcaster had bought stock in a firm that was doing business with the CTA.

But the Hired Truck scandal is different because of the staggering $40 million a year numbers, the federal investigation, and the indictment of the former head of the program.

Although former Gov. George H. Ryan became the target of a federal investigation of a scandal that also involved trucks and bribes, Daley isn't destined for a similar fate because he will be cooperative and truthful in his dealings with federal prosecutors. Ryan got into trouble for getting in the way of the federal investigation and for being less than candid with law-enforcement officials.

Daley, who appeared earlier this week with Fitzgerald at a press conference to announce a new crackdown on assault weapons, knows that this U.S. attorney is single-minded in his pursuit of public corruption.

Fitzgerald will determine the scope of the Hired Truck investigation and will ultimately decide who gets charged.

As Daley is well aware, some of the nation's more powerful mayors have had their careers cut short by ambitious and relentless U.S. attorneys.

Kevin C. White, who served as mayor of Boston from 1968 through 1983, had trouble fending off U.S. Attorney William Weld, who indicted several of his closest allies on corruption charges. White, who was never accused of wrongdoing, quit after 15 years in office. Weld was later elected governor of Massachusetts.

Edward I. Koch of New York, re-elected to a third term with 76 percent of the vote in 1985, was politically wounded by then U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani. Koch's popularity slumped after Giuliani brought indictments against leading members of his administration. In 1989, Daley's first year in office, Koch was defeated for re-election. Four years later, Giuliani won the mayor's office.

Daley is now facing his toughest battle.