Hanania was forced to resign from the Sun-Times in the wake of complaints that he was acting as a behind-the-scenes adviser[3] to Treasurer Miriam Santos, the city's top Hispanic officeholder. From 1993 to 1996 he was publisher of the suburban Villager Newspapers group, was spokesperson for the Town of Cicero and published the Arab American View, an English-language American Arab newspaper. In 1992 Hanania founded his own public relations firm, Urban Strategies Group,[4] doing media consulting for political, government and private clients including the Town of Cicero (2009 to present).