Millennium City: Richard M. Daley & Global Chicago

FOCUS ON: Hired Truck Controversy

In 2004, Chicago's hired truck program became the center of a controversy. For more than a decade, the city had outsourced its needs for dump trucks and delivery trucks. Using no bid contracts, the city hired private firms. Investigative journalists, however, reported that many of the firms did little or no work and alleged that some firms funneled money through the Hispanic Democratic Organization in order to win preferential treatment from the city. According to one account, an estimated $10 million was allegedly wasted per year. Prosecutors indicted more than forty people, several of whom worked for the city under Mayor Daley. The mayor, however, was never indicted.

Victor Reyes, who worked in Daley's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, comments on the hired truck controversy:
John Schmidt, chief of staff (1989) and advisor to Mayor Daley, discusses a city official implicated in the controversy:
William Daley, the mayor's brother, reflects on the reaction of the news media to the hired truck controversy and to other controversies:

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