The $40 million-a-year Hired Truck program was the biggest scandal of Daley's first 15 years as mayor. The Hired Truck Program hired private truck companies to do city work. A six-month investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times resulted in a three-day series of articles in January 2004 that revealed some participating companies were being paid for doing little or no work, had American Mafia connections or were tied to city employees, or paid bribes to get into the program. Between 1996 and 2004, companies in the Hired Truck Program gave more than $800,000 in campaign contributions to various politicians, including Daley, House Speaker Michael Madigan, and Governor Rod Blagojevich; Daley received at least $108,575 and his brother John Daley and his ward organization more than $47,500.
The $40 million-a-year Hired Truck program was the biggest scandal of Daley's first 15 years as mayor. The Hired Truck Program hired private truck companies to do city work. A six-month investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times resulted in a three-day series of articles in January 2004 that revealed some participating companies were being paid for doing little or no work, had American Mafia connections or were tied to city employees, or paid bribes to get into the program. Between 1996 and 2004, companies in the Hired Truck Program gave more than $800000 in campaign contributions to various politicians, including Daley, House Speaker Michael Madigan, and Governor Rod Blagojevich; Daley received at least $108,575 and his brother John Daley and his ward organization more than $47,500.