Judge slams top city lawyer's testimony
Corporation Counsel Mara Georges testified she didn't know politics was involved in city hiring. "For what it's worth, I found the Mara Georges position in all of this incredible," Coar said.
The judge also said he thought the city "put on blinders" when it came to the hiring scheme.
Coar's comments came in a discussion with lawyers in his chambers before jury deliberations. A transcript of the discussion was not unsealed until Thursday -- just after a 12-member jury returned guilty verdicts against four former city workers, including Mayor Daley's former patronage chief Robert Sorich.
Sorich, a top official at the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, and three others were convicted of using IGA's power to award jobs to political soldiers.
Georges, testifying over two days, said she didn't know about IGA's extensive involvement in hiring. She said she thought IGA tracked job candidates so it could report back to interested politicians and was unaware of irregularities in hiring until the FBI raided IGA offices last year.
"With respect to the city, the Law Department especially, the corporation counsel's office especially, there seems to be -- the attitude seems to be, put on the blinders and don't look left or right," Coar said.
No 'ostrich instruction'
Coar made the comments as he denied a prosecution request to give the jury an "ostrich instruction," which says people at the top -- like Sorich -- can't bury their heads in the sand and escape liability for things going on under them.
In denying the request, Coar said: "I used the Mara Georges example because I think that's a real clear-cut case of where an ostrich instruction, if she was a defendant . . . might be appropriate."
Prosecutors didn't embrace Georges' position, either, saying they needed to call her to introduce a crucial piece of evidence. "We stand by what we did and the limited purpose we called her," Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Collins said at the time. "We're not here to defend Mara Georges. We didn't vouch for Mara Georges."
Law Department spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle said Georges' testimony was limited and not meant to be a "blow by blow" on city hiring.
"I don't think that assessment is necessarily fair, given how much we cooperated with the U.S. attorney's office," Hoyle said.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Shapiro did praise Georges and her office for its cooperation, saying the investigation wouldn't have moved as quickly without it.