The federal sentencing hearing Thursday of ex-Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Al Sanchez meant 2 1/2-years in prison for the onetime city official.
It prompted opinions over this week’s disaster on Lake Shore Drive as well as a hiring scheme that has gone on in the city for decades.
But it also did something else.
It ended a seven-year run of federal prosecutions into city hall that began with the Hired Truck scandal in 2004.
Sanchez was the very last defendant to be prosecuted as part of a hiring scandal that grew out of the Hired Truck probe. Prosecutions were prompted by a Chicago Sun-Times investigation in 2004.
Funny that the whole thing ends just a day or two after one of the larger displays of incompetence by the City government and the last guy sentenced is the last guy who actually seemed to keep the streets clear and make Shortshanks look good. Way to fall on the sword for a thankless leader there Al.