It’s coming down on Sanchez

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As the massive snowstorm blankets the area, a courtroom battle looms for the man who ironically once quarterbacked the city’s response for such weather events.

Mayor Daley’s former Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Al Sanchez is to be sentenced in federal court Thursday, where his lawyers will ask that the 63 year old be spared from prison.

“Al Sanchez is different from anybody else involved in this so-called scheme,” his lawyer, Tom Breen, said Tuesday. “He provided great services to the people of Chicago. He earned every dollar he was paid.”

Prosecutors, though, have a vastly different view on the man convicted of playing a role in a fraudulent hiring scheme in the city, saying he caused the city to pay $1.3 million in salaries to fraudulent hires.

They say Sanchez could face 12 years in prison according to their calculations – which are highly contested by defense lawyers. Prosecutors are recommending that a judge hand down a sentence more in line with convicted patronage chief Robert Sorich, who was also accused in the hiring scandal.

Sorich was released from prison last fall after he was given a nearly four-year term and continues to challenge his conviction.

Prosecutors argued in court papers that over 10 years Sanchez rose through the ranks, starting as a precinct captain for former Ald. Ed Vrdolyak and evolving to the founder of Daley’s once powerful and now-defunct Hispanic Democratic Organization.

Sanchez used his city position and the city treasury to reward his political soldiers with city jobs and promotions and was part of a larger hiring scandal with the city, prosecutors argued. He was convicted of a single mail fraud count in the summer.

“Defendant’s crime was a massive, long-running fraud against the City and its people,” prosecutors wrote.

Sanchez’s lawyers argued in court filings that there was no loss to the city, Sanchez never benefited financially and that prosecutors were not right to calculate $1.3 million in fraudulent payments – they had not put a number on the amount of “loss” with other defendants, and should not with Sanchez.

The dispute will play out in federal court Thursday as the factors could all play into how much time Sanchez could face behind bars. His co-defendant, Aaron Del Valle, is also scheduled to be sentenced.

Lawyers for Sanchez detailed his life-long work as a Mexican political activist, who they say was inspired by Cesar Chavez.

Sanchez’s defense lawyers say things have changed for the man Daley once tapped to reach out to Hispanic voters to help get the mayor elected.

“He has a negative net worth of $27,886.03,” defense lawyers wrote of Sanchez.

They say the Vietnam veteran suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and diabetes.

“He was a great public servant who did great things for the city of Chicago and for the Hispanic community,” said Breen.