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http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_138175307.html

James Duff Sentenced to Nearly 10 Years

May 18, 2005 4:50 pm US/Central
CHICAGO (CBS 2) The most notorious cheater in Chicago’s minority contracting scandal, James Duff, has just been sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison.

Duff has been a major contributor to Mayor Daley's campaigns. As CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, the judge says the stiff sentence delivers a strong message.

He was polite as he arrived at the court house, but by the end of the day, Duff had been sentenced to pay more than $22 million and to serve 9 years, 10 months in federal prison.

Duff pleaded guilty, admitting that he had his 76-year-old mother and an African-American friend of his family pretend to own and operate companies that fraudulently received more than $100 million in city contracts set aside for women and minorities.

At Duff's sentencing, Judge Elaine Bucklo declared: "The public needs to know that corruption and fraud against the city will not be dealt with by a slap on the wrist."

"The human cost is sort of untold because we don’t have names of people who would have had the contracts, names of people who worked there. But it’s very real, and the judge sent that message that business as usual must stop so that in the future those contracts go where they belong,” said U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

Duff's lawyers told the court that he was getting treatment for addictions to alcohol and gambling and hoped he might be sentenced to as little as two years in prison.

Duff had contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Mayor Daley's political campaigns. On Wednesday, the mayor spoke of the difficulty of deterring fraud.

“Well, you know human frailties are always there, you know that human basis, but I believe we have hard working people work for government do the job every day. Over the long run, I think they're good people,” Daley said.

The mayor Wednesday named Ron Huberman as his new chief of staff. Among his many duties, Huberman is supposed to see to it that only good people get city contracts.