Posted on 03/16/2009 2:00:38 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
On election night last year, Mayor Richard Daley basked in the world's spotlight as hometown President Barack Obama gave his acceptance speech with the city's twinkling skyline as his backdrop. Just a few months later, Daley finds himself awash in problems.
A new political corruption trial has attention focused on City Hall; the city budget deficit could grow to $200 million next year; street violence is claiming the lives of Chicago Public School students and the one bright spot, the city's bid for the 2016 Olympics, has hit some new hurdles.
Things got so tough for Daley last week that retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu gave Chicago reporters mock absolution for their grilling of the mayor about free trips he took on a private jet.
Still, Daley is as synonymous with Chicago as his father was when he led the city. In 2007, the mayor was re-elected with 71 percent of the vote.
"The mayor's been the mayor now for going to be 20 years and he's had some real hits and he's taken them pretty hard, but he hasn't whined or whimpered, which is in the Chicago tradition, and he keeps on going," said Roosevelt University political scientist Paul Green.
For his part, Daley, 66, has blamed the media for focusing on the negative rather than the good works he's done for the city. He launched his own YouTube channel last month to promote the city, unfiltered by the media.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
People are just damn fools.
There’s no GOP in Chicago anymore, that’s why.
“the city budget deficit could grow to $200 million next year;”
Chump change these days.
I’m surprised that it was only 71%.
29% Voted Communist instead of Democrat.
Considering that even the dead still vote in Chicago and that any Republican votes don’t get counted I’m surprised also. I would have thought it would be closer to 99.9%. In fact, I’m not sure why they bother to vote - Daley is Baron, er Mayor of the fiefdom of Chicago for life.
"Everything's relative, and I think Chicago is an incredibly stable town from a long term perspective. You're not mayor for 20 years because you're doing things wrong," she said.
No, you're mayor for 20 years because you've fleeced the people and can pay for a ruthless political machine that crushes any opponent.
Mayor Daley broke a campaign promise, early in his last term, because he knew that the voters would forget, during his next campaign. When he ran, in 2003, he promised that, if he won, he wouldn’t increase any tax rates or fees. He got 73%, and, about a month later, some downtown parking meter prices tripled. In 2007, two other Democrats opposed Daley, but no Republicans ran, and he got 71%.
I voted against him.
But his opponents were all democrats also. No Republican has run the last 3 times.
Daley is a gangster. I couldn’t vote yet in 1999 but I would have voted for the odious Bobby Rush, anybody but Daley.
For whom did you vote, in 2007? If I lived in Chicago, I would have voted for Doc Walls.
Which Republican should run for mayor, in 2011? I hope that someone who barely lost a race for state legislature or a county office will run. If Rosanna Pulido gets at least 35%, she will give hope to many Cook Co. Republicans.
I think I chose Walls over Dorothy Brown but I’m not positive.
In 2003 I voted for one Patrcia McAllister, who was fired from her computer job with the city. On her website she said she loved God, that sounded better than Daley who loves his scruffy reflection in the mirror.
“Which Republican should run for mayor, in 2011?”
I hope one does. I would suggest the only GOP Alderman Brian Dohrety but I hear he’s a Daley ally.
How about Rosanna if she loses the congressional election?
I’m not sure anyone in the city ran a close state leg race besides the only one in the city, Mike McAuliffe. And there’s former state senator Walter Dudycz.
Maybe we should draft Gary Sinise or Coach Ditka. :p
A man named Antoine Members ran against Bobby Rush last time, he lives near Obama’s old area I think. I heard him on you tube or somewhere, he seemed to “get it” and savaged Obama (used “Hussien”), I’d like to see him run for mayor. He’d be my first pick among the names I mentioned.
Since they went to non-partisan, they changed the rules. It’s not party vs. party, just whomever gets the most amount of votes. I think a Communist party member would get into a runoff against Richie before a Republican would. It ain’t the ‘80s anymore...
It’s highly unlikely he’ll need a runoff.
I’d like someone to run just so I’d have someone to vote for.
You should move to a more politically competitive city... like Gary. =8-0
Last one out of Chicago shut off the lights...and remember to get fingerprinted.
So 71% of the Chicago voters are okay with corrupt officials. That's what, 19% higher than the national average, according to the last election.
The ballot in Chicago is "officially" nonpartisan now, but if a Republican runs, everyone is well aware of it, and the machine will kick anyone off the ballot they view as a threat.
90% of the time, it's simply liberal Democrat vs. liberal Democrat on the ballot for city government -- but at least it's not as bad as San Francisco where the Green Party ends up in the runoff and Gavin Newsom is seen as the "conservative" candidate running.
Of course the real story here that keeps King Daley in power forever is the ballot requirements. He had it changed so it now takes 25,000 signatures MINIMUM just to file for citywide office in Chicago (for comparison, it only takes 5,000 to file for Governor of Illinois!) As a result, any serious viable candidate does not bother to run. At least in 2007, Daley had a "credible" opponent since then-City Clerk Dororthy Brown filed, as the Clerk, Treasurer, and Mayor are the only people elected citywide (there's no City Manager or anything). Nevertheless, everyone viewed it as a kamikaze run on her part and questioned her sanity, but she did manage to get 20% of the vote against King Richie (and destroyed her chance of the machine ever slating her for future office in the process). In 2003, Daley had only token opposition, and the only "opponent" on the ballot that anyone had heard of was Rev. Paul Jakes, a vocal black minister, who was probably to the left of Daley (though he ran to the right of him on gun rights). He got 14%, with the remaining candidates in single digits.
There are 50 wards in Chicago, so being an Alderman in Chicago is not as impressive springboard to office as being an Alderman in a city with only 8 wards. Any Alderman that runs for Mayor still has to win over the remaining 49 out of 50 parts of the city they DON'T represent on the council.
I don't think Alderman Doherty (the lone Republican left on the city council) would be a strong candidate, and I seriously doubt he'd run. He does have a pretty good conservative record (especially considering he's holding office in the people's Republic of Chicago), but Impy is correct that he tends to placate Daley by switching his vote if he's needed, and this is why the machine doesn't make a real effort to replace him a RAT. (He did a RAT opponent in 2003 who tried to recruit college students to help his campaign).
State Rep. Michael McAuliffe (the lone Republican representing a Chicago district in the state legislature) might be a stronger choice, since he represents much of the same area that Doherty does, but his district contains parts of four Chicago wards (with most of it in the 41st ward) vs. Doherty representing ONLY the 41st ward. As someone from Chicago explained to me, the 41st ward is so far removed from the rest of Chicago it might as well be part of DuPage county anyway, since it's separated from the rest of the city due to O'Hare airport. The machine DID try to get rid of McAuliffe in 2002 by putting him in the same district with 30-year incumbent RAT State Rep. Ralph Capperelli (a "moderate" pro-life RAT) and failed miserably, since McAuliffe not only carried his own 41st ward by over 60%, but won a majority in the other three wards that normally vote Democrat. He's one of the few Republicans to be able to win over Chicago Democrat voters, even though his voting record is about 80-85% conservative (tends to vote with the RATS on labor issues but is otherwise pretty good) McAuliffe might be willing to run for Mayor once Daley is out of the picture, but even then I'd be surprised if he got over 30% citywide.
I do think we'll eventually see a Republican Mayor of Chicago in my lifetime, but certainly not in near future. We're talking 20-30 years before there's a fluke set of circumstances that would allow a Republican to win. And even then it would probably be a Riordan-style RINO elected.
My money is on Luis Guiterrez being the next Mayor of Chicago, after Daley is out of the picture.
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