The head of the City of Chicago’s Department of Law yesterday wrapped up her testimony for the prosecution in the City Hall hiring trial.
Mara Georges is on the witness list of both sides, but yesterday defense attorney Thomas Durkin tried to impeach Georges’ earlier testimony. She’d said she didn’t know that the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs kept lists of politically connected job seekers until after the FBI raided city hall in April of last year.
But Durkin asked her about the damage control surrounding a hire that predated the raid; that of 19 year old building inspector Andrew Ryan. Georges said she discussed the hire a year earlier with the then-head of the IGA, John Doerrer. She said Doerrer told her it was the Buildings department, and not the IGA, who’d steered Ryan into the job.
What she and others knew about hiring irregularities, and when, is crucial in the case, as the four defendants are accused of using political influence as the basis for filling city jobs.