Historically, when you think of Chicago politics, you think of the quintessential political machine.  Chicago party politics have been criticized for decades over this, and now finally they've been dealt a legal blow.  Robert Sorich, the former patronage chief for Mayor Richard Daley (D), has been convicted of rewarding campaign workers with jobs over more qualified applicants.

Where else would public officials try to play off blatant political favoritism as "business as usual"?  Yeesh.

What exactly this means for Mayor Daley is still in question, but one can hardly say it looks good.  Whether or not the mayor himself becomes involved in the scandal, his administration has been trampled by US Attorneys looking to teach these guys a new way of business as usual.