Top Chicago aviation official quits after generator is delivered to his home during power outage

The Chicago area was clobbered by a belt of nasty thunderstorms Monday night, many people lost power that evening--myself included.

It was more serious for residents of a neighborhood on Chicago's Far Northwest Side. My power came on after a couple of hours of darkness, but in this neighborhood, they were without power for two days.

With one exception: Dave Ochal, the second-highest official in the City of Chicago's Aviation Department. Ochal, Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass revealed this morning, called up the local electric utility, Commonwealth Edison, and had a generator sent to his home.

If you have political power, then get electric power.

That's The Chicago Way.

From the Chicago Tribune, free registration may be required:

Ochal played a prominent role in the mayor's political organization, which came under scrutiny in recent years from federal prosecutors who found widespread fraud in city hiring and promotions.

Ochal was a top official of the pro-Daley Lakefront Independent Democratic Organization, a campaign group formed largely of city workers. The organization disbanded after authorities arrested the mayor's patronage chief in 2005 and charged him with rigging city hiring on behalf of political workers loyal to Daley.

This week's generator incident was not the first time Ochal had been embroiled in controversy. In 2000, Kass reported that Ochal installed a pool without permits at his home. Residents in the quiet neighborhood of police, firefighters and other city workers complained that the pool caused flooding on their properties, but Daley aides responded that Ochal had done nothing wrong.

I know about a dozen aviation department employees. Good guys, all of them, but each of them got their jobs through political connections.

Kass' column about Dave "Pool Boy" Ochal is right here.

And finally, on the heels of this latest outrage, expect a strong rebuke of Chicago's political culture from the city's most famous resident--Barack Obama.

Then again, maybe not.

Related post:

Kass on fire on Obama

Technorati tags: Obama politics Barack Obama Illinois Election Democrats corruption Chicago John Kass Richard Daley Commonwealth Edison