Thread: Got hired through HDO

Got hired through HDO, city worker testifies
SANCHEZ TRIAL | 'Good driver' disciplined in 5 work accidents
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March 12, 2009

NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts Reporter nkorecki@suntimes.com
A city driver disciplined after five work accidents -- including one that seriously injured a co-worker -- told a federal jury Wednesday "yes, I am" a good driver.

Denise Garcia Cortez's remarks came during the corruption trial of Al Sanchez. She testified that she first got her job after doing political work for the Hispanic Democratic Organization. She said she was trained but had little experience.

Last week, a witness testified that Cortez, whose name was Alcantar, won the job after Sanchez chose her from a political hiring list. Her test scores were doctored, former personnel director Jack Drumgould said.

Cortez admitted on the stand she applied for her job, not at City Hall, but at a club where HDO met. She said she left it on the table and was later called in, and eventually hired in 2002.

She was involved in two accidents her first year, including one that injured co-worker Earceen Alexander and one where she side-swiped another vehicle, which got her a two-day suspension.

Asked by Sanchez lawyer Tom Breen if she was a good driver, she agreed.

"Yes, I am," she said, smiling.

In all, she had five accidents, four of which she bore some of the blame for, city officials said. Her most recent was in 2007, when she was suspended for five days.

Streets and Sanitation spokesman Matt Smith said Cortez received a written reprimand in the 2003 accident, where Alexander was pinned to a pole and thrown to the ground. Alexander later died.

Smith said the city could not conclude that Cortez caused the accident. She was punished because she was involved in an accident at work.

"My only conclusion [was] she was trying to reposition herself or lost her footing, I don't know," Cortez said on the stand. She described Alexander as a large woman in her 60s who had trouble getting on and off the back of the garbage truck.

Cortez still works for the city and earns more than $63,000 a year.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/14732 ... 12.article

How many names does this person have? Does she have legal status to work in the United States?

This is insane! Involved in five accidents and still earning $63,000 a year.

Don't know about the legal status.....it's just Chicago corruption and how tied in the hispanic issue is to where they don't have to go through the same channels like I would if I was trying for a job. Not to mention.....try doing all that wrong and still have a job!!!!! Try going for job like that and not having things checked! It is so corrupt and there's definately a tie with the hispanic community that serves just their group and that worrys me knowing there's definate cartel influences, and corruption from Mexico here.