companies suspended from the Hired Truck program. About 35% of the 70 firms in the program were suspended or referred to the city's Inspector General. The program was overhauled in 2004, and phased out in 2005. Daley patronage chief among officials convicted of fraud On July 5, 2006, Robert Sorich, formally, director of the Mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and, informally, Daley's patronage chief, and Timothy McCarthy, Sorich's aide, were each convicted on two counts of mail fraud connected to rigging blue-collar city jobs and promotions. Sorich's best friend, former Streets and Sanitation official Patrick Slattery was convicted of one count of mail fraud. A former Streets and Sanitation managing deputy commissioner was found guilty of lying to federal agents about political hiring. Sorich, McCarthy and Slattery lived in the Bridgeport neighborhood in 11th Ward, the Daley family's home neighborhood and ward. "I've never known them to be anything but hard working, and I feel for them at this difficult time," Daley said. "It is fair criticism to say I should have exercised greater oversight to ensure that every worker the city hired, regardless of who recommended them, was qualified and that proper procedures were always followed," Daley admitted a few days later. Weeks later, David Axelrod, a Democratic political consultant whose clients included Daley, defended patronage in an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune. Daley son concealed city contracting Mayor Daley's son Patrick R. Daley was an MBA student at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business working as an unpaid intern at Cardinal Growth, a Chicago venture capital firm, when he profited from two Cardinal Growth ventures formed to win city contracts while concealing his role. Patrick's cousin, and Mayor Daley's nephew, is Robert G. Vanecko. In June 2003, Patrick and Vanecko formed a Delaware company, MSS Investors LLC, and invested $65,000 each. MSS Investors LLC in turn purchased a 5% stake in Municipal Sewer Services, a Cardinal Growth venture. Patrick and Vanecko failed to disclose their ownership stake in Municipal Sewer Services as required by city ethics ordinances. Brunt Brothers Transfer Inc. was one of the largest black-owned contractors in the Hired Truck program. Municipal Sewer Services partnered with Brunt Brothers Transfer Inc. in their bid for City sewer-inspection contracts. Five months after Patrick and Vanecko became owners, Municipal Sewer Services' city contract was extended by $3 million, the first of two no-bid contract extensions, totaled an