|
Taking Care of Business A smiling, confident Richard
M. Daley took the stage at Chicago’s Hilton & Towers on election
night, holding hands high with his cancer-surviving wife, Maggie, and
ready to eclipse his father as the city’s longest-serving mayor.
“Taking Care of Business” was blasting from the speakers,
consistent with the campaign theme that allowed Daley to trounce two opponents
with 72 percent of the vote just seven months after his patronage chief
was convicted in a jobs-and-contracts-for-cronies scandal that has sent
44 people to jail so far.
But the city’s downtown and lakefront look great. Daley doesn’t
look anywhere near his 65 years. He and buddy Patrick Ryan, the Aon Insurance
founder,
won the battle to name Chicago as the American city vying for the 2016
Olympics. Daley is pushing to retake “tallest building” bragging
rights for Chicago with a new tower. And Daley ally Sen. Barack Obama
is making a strong bid for the White House.
Just as his father survived the messy police riot that happened just outside
this hotel at the 1968 Democratic convention to be re-elected twice more,
Daley has convinced Chicagoans of all colors that he’s the right
man to “take care of business” in Chicago.
Astutely bringing potential rivals in-house as he has done throughout
his career, Daley talked the longtime leader of Chicago’s independent
Hispanics, State Sen. Miguel Del Valle, into running as his city clerk
and he raised his hands with Del Valle on the stage. Daley also slated
African-American Stephanie Neely as his candidate for city treasurer.
In his father’s time, a “balanced ticket” meant a Polish-American
and an Italian-American on the stage with him in the other top city offices.
What would his father, who served 21 years as mayor, think about Daley
winning a term that will take him to 22 years in office by 2011?
“I think my dad would be very proud of me,” Daley said in
an interview at the party. “So would my mom. And Kevin.” Daley
often mentions his son Kevin, who died of Spina Bifida at age 2 in 1981.
Daley’s family has been through a lot during this term, with Maggie
surviving breast cancer; Daley himself coming down with heart problems;
his son Patrick joining the army to fight in Iraq; and his daughter Nora
giving him two grandchildren.
Meeting with the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board just before the election,
Daley lampooned concerns some critics had about an Arab-owned company
managing U.S. ports. He sold the Chicago Skyway to a Spanish-based company
and had no concerns about that, he said. He noted that Dublin-born Garrett
Kelleher was preparing to build a 2,000-foot-high spire skyscraper in
Chicago and said, “What, are they going to worry about IRA terrorism?
“Please.”
– Abdon M. Pallasch
|
