Feds not done: 'You take it one step at a time'

"For those responsible out there for this scheme, there is another day," Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Guentert told jurors in closing arguments.

Acknowledging that Mayor Daley's former patronage chief Robert Sorich and three others followed a practice put in place at a higher level, Guentert suggested prosecutors were going up the food chain: "You take it one step at a time."

But who could be next?

Prosecutors said in a recent filing there was a "potential" of prosecuting John Doerrer, former director of Daley's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. They say Doerrer was tied to a scheme to hire unqualified 19-year-old Andy Ryan as a city building inspector.

And prosecutors have made it clear Victor Reyes -- former head of the IGA and chief of Daley's Hispanic Democratic Organization -- is on their radar screen. Reyes has not been interviewed by the government. He refused to talk without a promise of immunity, according to court records.

Sorich and three others were tried for rigging the city's hiring system so clout-backed candidates got jobs and promotions. IGA -- and politics -- is supposed to stay out of hiring.

Ryan is the son of powerful union official Thomas Ryan, who is also a top Daley campaign contributor. The Chicago Sun-Times first disclosed the controversial hiring in 2004, causing a firestorm in Daley's administration because Ryan was too young to have proper training for the post.

Buildings Commissioner Stan Kaderbek was fired over it, and the Daley administration denied at the time that clout had a role in Ryan's hiring. But prosecutors say Doerrer played a role in the hiring, along with Kaderbek and Tim McCarthy, whom the jury found guilty of two mail fraud counts.

'Implausible' stance

"There is ... potential for prosecution of each of the three high-ranking persons from this matter," a recent court filing indicates, referring to Kaderbek, McCarthy and Doerrer. The filing added: "The government has made no prosecution decisions."

Kaderbek tied Doerrer to the scheme in his talk with the government. Kaderbek said Doerrer called him to apologize for putting him in a difficult position after Ryan's hiring grabbed headlines.

"Kaderbek assumed that Doerrer had something to do with getting Andrew Ryan on the qualified list," prosecutors wrote.

Doerrer has never been interviewed by the government, according to court records.

Thomas Ryan did talk.

He told prosecutors he lobbied McCarthy and Doerrer at the IGA to hire his son. But he said IGA couldn't make promises and that he didn't understand IGA's role in hiring -- a stance prosecutors called "implausible."

Ryan said when his son's application was initially rejected, McCarthy told him to write an appeal letter. He then notified Sorich and McCarthy when his son submitted a second application. The younger Ryan was hired allegedly by falsifying a second application.

"The court has heard evidence in the trial suggesting that Doerrer, Reyes, [former mayoral adviser Timothy] Degnan Sr., [ First Deputy Commissioner of General Services Mike] Broderick and Thomas Ryan all may have knowingly participated in a fraudulent hiring scheme," prosecutors wrote.

Broderick was the mayor's patronage chief before Sorich.

Al Sanchez, a onetime Streets and Sanitation commissioner and a leader in the HDO, also came up repeatedly at the trial. His name turned up on a color-coded list of job requests that one witness, Jack Drumgould, testified he saw in the office of John Sullivan, former deputy commissioner in Streets and Sanitation. The list included people who wanted to be seasonal laborers and the people backing them. Sanchez's name was linked to 11 candidates. All of them were hired.

Reyes, meanwhile, repeatedly came up in the trial testimony as pulling strings to land political workers in city jobs. Donald Tomczak, a key government witness, said he'd take names of political volunteers to Sorich and request jobs. When Tomczak asked for a guarantee, Sorich would tell him: "I'll talk to Victor [Reyes]."

Reyes' lawyer, Thomas Breen, said he has not heard from the government. When asked about the immunity request, Breen said: "I know nothing about that."

nkorecki@suntimes.com