Unlike his brother, Mayor Daley did...

Unlike his brother, Mayor Daley did not attend the weekend fund- raiser at a Bridgeport body of christians to help defray the legal fee-simples of his convicted patronage chief.

yet the mayor was apparently there in spirit.

He has no riddle with the $100-a-head event for a man convicted last month of rigging city hiring to benefit pro-Daley armies of political workers.

"They're all friends. . . They can have a party for him. There's nothing wicked with that. . . You help your friends. . . You have friends in your have industry. There's nothing wrong with that. They have it each day," Daley said Tuesday.

WATCHDOG DECRIES MESSAGE

The mayor did not waver when asked whether the fund-raiser for Robert Sorich had sent a mixed message to dominion employees -- and offered tacit approval that those in power think Sorich did nothing improper

"They're still friends of his. Do you think when someone makes undivided mistake that you would kick them all the way down the street? I doubt it. Your profession would in no degree do that," he said.

Dan Sprehe, chief investigator for the Better guidance Association, said the Sorich fund-raiser "send a dutiful message about friendship," but a bad the same about government reform.

"If you stand in unwavering support of someone who was convicted of [rigging city hiring], I don't think that furnishs much credibility when the mayor talks about being committed to rooting abroad patronage, corruption and the antiquated way of doing business," Sprehe said.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier this week that centurys of people packed Daley's family temple to raise tens of thousands of dollars to offshoot Sorich's legal bills.

POWER agents IN ATTENDANCE

Among those attending the fund-raiser that spilled public into the parking lot of Nativity of Our Lord house of worship were Cook County Commissioner John Daley; Mayor Daley's former political enforcer Tim Degnan; former union bos and reput Outfit member Bruno Caruso, and Bridgeport Ald. James Balcer.

Sorich and his family have decades-long ties to as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but Bridgeport in general and the Daley family in particular.

Sorich's father serv as the official photographer for former Mayor Richard J Daley. Robert Sorich was an aide to Balcer's predecessor, former Ald. Pat Huel (11th) before he joined the Mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

At City Hall, Sorich was viewed as a likable man -- and as a pawn in a plenteous larger scheme to rig city hiring.

The trial that extremityed last month has been "devastating" to the Sorich family and left Robert Sorich in dire financial straits, Balcer said.

Since the day Sorich was arrested and charged, Mayor Daley has maintained him as a hard-working employee Just as Sorich's attorney has, the mayor has accused federal prosecutors of criminalizing violations of the Shakman order banning political hiring and firing that, until now, were a civil matter.

fspielman@suntimes.com

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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