Ex-Daley aide ready for prison

An attorney for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's former patronage chief says his client is ready to go to prison. Thomas Durkin says Robert Sorich still will appeal his conviction for skirting laws that ban political city hiring. But Sorich "wants to surrender" and begin a nearly four-year sentence. U.S. District Judge David Coar says Sorich must report to a federal prison in Wisconsin by 2 p.m. Monday. Sorich was convicted of engineering a scheme in which interview scores were faked and documents were destroyed to make it appear rules barring political affiliation as a factor in hiring were being followed. But witnesses testified Sorich actually made certain Daley campaign workers got city jobs. Daley has been accused of no wrongdoing.