Ex-Chicago official found guilty of hiring fraud

A jury says Chicago's former streets and sanitation commissioner is guilty of scheming put political workers on the city payroll.

Sixty-one-year-old Al Sanchez showed no emotion as the verdict was read in federal court.

A former Sanchez aide also was convicted of perjury by the jury that deliberated for two-and-half days.

The two-week trial marked the latest round in the long-running legal battle over the custom of political patronage in Chicago that calls for reserving city jobs for those who get out the vote.

Sanchez was charged with engaging in fraud to hide the practice. He'd claimed he was too busy working to partake in corrupt hiring.

Sanchez ran the streets and sanitation department under Mayor Richard Daley from 1999 to 2005.