The Hispanic Democratic Organization (HDO) was a political action committee (PAC) active from 1993 to 2008.
HDO was created by Tim Degnan, Victor Reyes, and Al Sanchez in 1993 to assist Richard M. Daley win his first mayoral election. At first, the organization focused on the South Side of Chicago. Aside from Mayor Daley, HDO was a major force in electing alderman, state representatives, and state senators. According to the Chicago Sun-Times , HDO spent $530,338 on political campaigns.[ citation needed ]
The HDO filed paperwork on July 1, 2008, along with state records, that indicate the group is closing its campaign committee. The group's reports show that all their funds were spent as of April 2008. [1]
In 2006, a Federal investigation was launched into hiring practices at Chicago City Hall. HDO and other political groups allegedly had influence over the city's hiring system and political workers allegedly were rewarded with city jobs and promotions. This investigation culminated into convictions of Angelo Torres on Hired Trucks, George Prado's conviction on drug dealing, John Resa. Al Sanchez and Aaron DelValle were charged with perjury and fraud in relation to employment practices. The two were later granted a new trial after it was discovered that FBI agents had known the cooperating witness Brian Gabriel was in fact working as informant in a case pending in Indiana and may have used his testimony at the Sanchez-DelValle trial as part of a plea deal in the case pending in Indiana. Judge Gettlemen found that Gabriel's testimony was essential to the case, and ordered a new trial for late June 2010.
Richard Michael Daley is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh term. At 22 years, his was the longest tenure in Chicago mayoral history, surpassing the 21-year mayoralty of his father, Richard J. Daley.
George Homer Ryan is an American former politician who served as the 39th governor of Illinois from 1999 to 2003. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as secretary of State of Illinois from 1991 to 1999 and as lieutenant governor from 1983 to 1991. He was later convicted of federal racketeering, bribery, extortion, money laundering and tax fraud stemming from his time in office.
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Patrick J. O'Connor is a former Chicago politician. He is the former alderman in Chicago's City Council representing the 40th ward on the North Side of the city. He was first elected in 1983 at age 28. His tenure ended in May 2019 after his loss to challenger Andre Vasquez in the 2019 Chicago aldermanic elections. O'Connor was an unsuccessful candidate in the Democratic Party primary election for Illinois's 5th congressional district special election, 2009.
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The Cook County Democratic Party is an American county-level political party organization which represents voters in 50 wards in the city of Chicago and 30 suburban townships of Cook County. The organization has dominated Chicago politics since the 1930s. It relies on an organizational structure of a ward or township committeeperson to elect candidates. At the height of its influence under Richard J. Daley in the 1960s when political patronage in employment was endemic in American cities, it was one of the most powerful political machines in American history. By the beginning of the 21st century the party had largely ceased to function as a machine due to the legal dismantling of the patronage system under the Shakman Decrees issued by the federal court in Chicago. The current Chair is Toni Preckwinkle, who is also the elected Cook County Board president.
The Hired Truck Program was a scandal-plagued program in the city of Chicago that involved hiring private trucks to do city work. It was overhauled in 2004 after an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that some participating companies were being paid for doing little or no work, had mob connections, or were tied to city employees. Truck owners also paid bribes in order to get into the program.
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Aaron del Valle, a Chicago Police officer, was a member of the Hispanic Democratic Organization (HDO), a political action committee (PAC), officially started in 1993, to aid political power for the Hispanic community in Chicago and throughout Illinois.
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William Singer is an American lawyer, politician, consultant, and lobbyist who formerly served as a Chicago alderman, representing the 44th and 43rd wards during his aldermanic career.
On January 29, 2019, American actor Jussie Smollett approached the Chicago Police Department and reported a hate crime that he had staged earlier that morning. He planned the fake hate crime with two Nigerian-American brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who had worked as extras on the set of television drama Empire, in which Smollett was a cast member. During the staged attack, which took place on East Lower North Water Street in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood, the disguised brothers shouted racial and homophobic slurs while one poured bleach on Smollett and the other placed a noose around his neck. In addition to falsely reporting that he had been attacked by two unknown individuals, Smollett described one of them as a white male. He also told police the men shouted "This is MAGA country" during the attack, a reference to the Trumpist political slogan "Make America Great Again". The brothers later testified that Smollett staged the attack near a surveillance camera so that video of it could be publicized.
Robert Shaw was an American politician. He served as a City of Chicago Alderman in the 9th ward for four terms, first in 1979 through 1983 and again from 1987 until 1998. Shaw also served as commissioner on the Cook County Board of Review from 1998 until 2004.