David H. Hoffman is a former federal prosecutor and was Chicago's inspector general. On August 26, he declared his candidacy as a Democrat for the Illinois seat of the U.S. Senate. On February 2, 2010, Hoffman lost to Alexi Giannoulias the Democratic Party nomination for the United States Senate.

Personal

Hoffman was raised in northern suburban Chicago by parents of Jewish and Puerto Rican descent. Hoffman graduated from New Trier High School

New Trier High School

New Trier High School is a public four-year high school , with its major campus located in Winnetka, Illinois, USA, and a second campus in Northfield, Illinois, with freshman classes and district administration...

 in 1984. He graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in History in from Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 in 1988 and the University of Chicago Law School

University of Chicago Law School

The University of Chicago Law School was founded in 1902 as the graduate school of law at the University of Chicago and is among the most prestigious and selective law schools in the world. The U.S. News & World Report currently ranks it fifth among U.S...

 in 1995 where he was Articles Editor of the Law Review and Head of the University of Chicago Law School Democrats. David was awarded the University’s President's Award for Volunteer Service for founding Neighbors, a neighborhood-based community service program Hoffman lives in the Wicker Park

Wicker Park, Chicago

Wicker Park is a Chicago neighborhood northwest of the Loop, south of Bucktown and west of Pulaski Park within West Town. Charles and Joel Wicker purchased of land along Milwaukee Avenue in 1870 and laid out a subdivision with a mix of lot sizes surrounding a park...

 neighborhood of Chicago with his wife, Monique, from Downstate Alton, Illinois

Alton, Illinois

Alton is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, United States, about north of St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 27,865 at the 2010 census. It is a part of the Metro-East region of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area in Southern Illinois...

. They have a two year-old son, Grayson, two dogs, and two cats. The Hoffmans are avid Chicago sports fans. Hoffman will be teaching a course in Public Corruption and the Law at the University of Chicago Law School next April.

Illinois Reform Commission

In January 2009, Governor Pat Quinn appointed Hoffman to the 15-member Illinois Reform Commission, chaired by former U.S. Assistant Attorney Patrick M. Collins

Patrick M. Collins

Patrick M. Collins , is an American lawyer. Collins is a partner in Perkins Coie's LLP's litigation practice. Previously, he worked for the United States Department of Justice as an assistant U.S. Attorney. In 2005, he led the U.S. government's team in the trial and conviction of former Illinois...

, which was charged with recommending anti-corruption and ethics reforms in the wake of former Governor Rod Blagojevich’s arrest. While participating in the Commission’s hearings and town meetings around Illinois, Hoffman and the other Commission members heard extensive testimony from citizens about their frustration with Illinois’ history of corruption and their desire for reform. He drafted substantial portions of the Commission’s proposed legislation regarding criminal law and contracting reforms, and testified at a number of legislative hearings on behalf of the Commission’s recommendations./

Chicago Inspector General

The Chicago Tribune Editorial Board described David Hoffman in the following way, “Since 2005, Chicago has had a truly independent Inspector General”.

The mission of the Inspector General’s Office (“IGO”) is to root out corruption, waste, and mismanagement, while promoting effectiveness and efficiency in the City of Chicago. The IGO is a watchdog for the taxpayers of the City, and has jurisdiction to conduct investigations and audits over most aspects of City government.

Hoffman directed a 55-person staff of attorneys, investigators, and auditors that exposed bribery, fraud and theft schemes, contracting corruption, illegal employment practices, ethics violations, and extensive waste.

As part of Operation Crooked Code

Operation Crooked Code

Operation Crooked Code is a federal investigation into the corruption surrounding the City of Chicago's Department of Building and Zoning. As of September 2009, Operation Crooked Code had resulted in charges against more than two dozen individuals, 13 of them city inspectors charged with bribery...

, his joint investigations with the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies led to federal charges against numerous city employees and contractors and uncovered widespread corruption in Chicago’s system of building-safety and zoning inspections.

U.S. Attorney's Office

Hoffman served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago from 1998–2005, and was appointed Deputy Chief of the Narcotics and Gangs Section by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. In this post, he led a newly created gang unit, supervised all federal gang investigations and prosecutions, and helped create a new federal-local gang investigation strategy that Justice Department officials used to train gang investigators around the country. He also served as co-leader of the office’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) anti-gun violence program, which helped reduce gun violence in some of Chicago’s most crime-ridden neighborhoods. Hoffman was one of the leaders in creating and running a highly-praised program in which law enforcement and community organizations worked together in high-crime neighborhoods to persuade felons convicted of gun crimes not to carry guns.
While an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Hoffman investigated and prosecuted all types of federal crimes, including drug trafficking and money-laundering cases against street gangs and international drug cartels, and white-collar crime

White-collar crime

Within the field of criminology, white-collar crime has been defined by Edwin Sutherland as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation" . Sutherland was a proponent of Symbolic Interactionism, and believed that criminal behavior was...

s including health care fraud, bank fraud, and tax fraud. He received the Director’s Award in 2002 for his prosecution of 48 defendants who “rented” babies to smuggle liquid cocaine in baby-formula cans from Panama to Chicago and other cities.

Clerkships

After his graduation from Law School, Hoffman served as a law clerk for Judge Dennis G. Jacobs, Hoffman also clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.[5] Hoffman, in response to questions about his experience clerking for conservative jurists has been quoted as saying, “If you’re lucky enough in Law School to be in a position to apply for a supreme court clerkship what the law professors will tell you is that you apply to all nine. Because it’s really an honor to clerk on the Supreme Court no matter who you clerk for. And you really can’t tell anything about someone’s ideology by who they clerk for… Judge Richard Posner, on the Appellate Court, who’s widely considered a conservative judge. He clerked for Justice Brennan, one of the great liberal Justices".

Congressman Boren's Office

After graduating from Yale, David spent three years working on Capitol Hill, where he served as Press Secretary and legislative assistant for foreign policy to U.S. Congressman David Boren (D-OK).

External links

• Official Campaign Website