Posted on 05/04/2005 3:00:51 PM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican
CHICAGO - Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley said Wednesday that new disclosures of corruption in city government, including allegations that payoff money found its way into his campaign fund, have left him "hurt, embarrassed, disappointed."
"Clearly, I'm not proud or pleased," Daley told a news conference, his first since a former city water official pleaded guilty to taking payoffs from trucking companies and said some of the money went to campaign funds, including Daley's.
It was the first time Daley's name surfaced in the yearlong investigation of the city's corruption-riddled, $38 million Hired Truck Program, which outsourced work to private trucking companies, some with mob ties.
Daley has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but said federal prosecutors had asked him not to go into detail about the ongoing investigation. In the past week, federal agents have carted off documents from several agencies in City Hall.
A number of city officials, including the former head of the Hired Truck Program, have already pleaded guilty to corruption charges. Others are awaiting trial.
Daley said it was important to "build on the reforms that were put into place after the first evidence of wrongdoing." Among other things, Daley has barred contractors who do business with the city from contributing to his campaign fund.
In his plea agreement Monday, former water official Gerald Wesolowski said "city officials" directed payoff money from the Hired Truck Program into various campaign funds. Daley said if any of that money reached his campaign, he is considering returning it.
When asked which city officials may have directed the money, however, Daley ended the news conference, saying: "Everybody supported my campaign. Everybody knows that. I won last time with 80 percent" of the vote.
Thanks for cheering me up! Just when I think Wisconsin sucks so badly that I need to get the h#ll outta Dodge, I think of my Flatlander Friends just to the south of me, and I feel much better. :)
What does Oprah have to say about this? Doesn't she own most of Chicago by now? ;)
He added "We normally have a much better and tighter control of the cities corruption practices then letting the stupid Feds get enough info to bust us"
"I also apologize to all the mob bosses who have to go home and face their families"
< / sarcasm >
I agree, they sound like they work for his press office.
Our top performers range from Chicago's imperial Richard Daley, who after 16 years is widely viewed as the nation's top urban executive...
Yeah. Right.
I would like to say, "glad to be of service," but....
It's like the old saying, "There's always someone worse off than you."
I don't know what Oprah has to say. The last time I watched her show was several years ago when the topic was people who got killed in bizarre accidents.
They should have reconsidered before they issued that edition. The surprising reaction to that story among some of the press here was "Huh?"
But not indicted. Chicago! Chicago! That Democrat town!
But of course, they'll have to contribute before they get any city contract.
IMPOSSIBLE! /s the very mention, of Daley (and his Family's Crime/Political Machine) and Chicago Corruption, is very well known.
Right. I started laughing at the site of this headline.
>>Chicago might be the top or second most corrupt city in the US.<<
Washington DC is the absolute TOP, then NYC, then Chicago, then .....
You took the words right off my keyboard ;-D
Pulleeeeeze! Tell this to some dimwit Demonrat who might pretend to believe you.
I heard this on the 4:30 news update down here in way-southern Illinois. The newscaster read it without giggling, but I laughed out loud. Sorry to those of you in the city.
Do you suppose he's the guy who stole Ditka's $30,000?
Notice they left out the rest of the quote?
"Clearly, I'm not proud or pleased," said Daley. "Those stupid SOBs know that they're supposed to donate in cash, and in a brown paper bag directly to my campaign manager. Now I'm going to have to TRIPLE my prices to make sure that the stupid bagmen get legal representation. The City of Chicago is going to really hate these dummies when it sees how much I take it for now. I hope when some policeman catches the press who decided to report on this doing something illegal [nudges chief of police] that they don't rough them up so fine articles like this won't get published [smiles to reporters, who slink backwards]."
"And by the way, we need to take out the airport because I need that land to hold parties on. Who needs small airplanes, anyway?!?!?"
I guess that should have been "sight" not "site"...
More likely friends and family will still be allowed to donate (why deny somone else the oppurtunity to donate?).
These finance rules are a joke.
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