Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has issued an apology to the people of the Windy City for the ongoing corruption investigation surrounding Chicago's city government.
The federal government has been investigating Daley's administration for the past 18 months. The initial investigation centered around alleged bribes that were given in exchange for jobs in the city's trucking program.
In the past few months, the investigation has grown to include allegations of fraud in city hiring practices.
Regardless of whether or not any Chicago city officials will be indicted or not, Daley said he should have been more vigilant about the government's practices.
'I take responsibility for these problems and tonight, I make a commitment to you to do everything within my power to fix them, root out those who engage in misconduct and hold them accountable for their misdeeds,' Daley said Tuesday night during a budget hearing.
'It's become clear to me that I should have done more to maintain higher ethical standards and prevent corruption,' he added.
Daley himself has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
More than 20 people have plead guilty in the investigation of the Hired Truck Program. Federal authorities say payoffs in the program were widespread and thousands of dollars worth of city property was stolen.
In the hiring fraud scandal, city officials are alleged to have faked scores to help applicants get city jobs after they earned political clout by working in get-out-the-vote organizations.
Chicago historically is known for its 'irregular' machine politics. Daley's father was mayor of the city for years and the slogan in old Chicago was 'vote early, vote often.' Many people even found ways to cast their ballots after they had died.
The question before Mayor Daley now is whether or not this investigation will lead to changes in city politics or whether the city will continue to do 'business as usual.'
