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My favorite Chicago political photo of all time wasn't even shot in Chicago. It was shot in Paris in 2007. It depicts Mayor Richard Daley riding a bike outside Paris City Hall, wearing a suit and tie, squeezing the handlebars while steering a wobbly little circle, an impish grin on his face. Happy days. The bike was part of a unique program in which the mayor of Paris provided bikes to the people to make his city more "green." For a small fee, Parisians could pedal whimsically for hours through the city of light. And what did the bikes cost?...

Private Firm Would Jack Up Rates For Residents, Watchdogs Warn _________________________________________________________ If the parking meter deal put a bad taste in your mouth, try swallowing this: Chicago is considering leasing its water system to help fix the budget. The new boss could charge whatever they want for water, CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez reports. Could it happen here in Chicago? It already has nearby. Homer Glen in Will County relies on Lake Michigan water, but the supply comes from a German-owned firm. Locals say there's a lot more than water going down the drain. It's a vital resource you can't live...

Mayor Richard Daley continued his drumbeat of bad financial news Monday, outlining a wage freeze and an unpaid month off for nonunion city workers that fell short of explaining how he will balance the 2010 budget that he is to unveil Wednesday. With revenues coming in well below expectations, the city has projected a deficit of more than $500 million next year. The new moves announced Monday would save about $44 million: --Reducing such costs as travel and supplies by 5 percent: $20 million. --Declining to fill 220 vacant jobs: $18 million. --Denying a scheduled cost-of-living increase for nonunion workers:...

It’s been days since president Barry Soetoro received the Olympic smack down. Plenty of time to think about this whole ugly sorted deal. Is it just me or did our president look like an errand boy for the Mayor of Chicago? Well think about it, who has the power to send the president of the United States of America the First Lady, all the top Soetoro advisers plus Oprah Winfrey to Copenhagen Denmark to shill for a certain U.S. City? (see story) Come on, they took two “Air Force One” jets like, “Honey I’m working late you take your car...

Mayor Richard Daley and his supporters hyped the 2016 Olympic bid as Chicago's best hope for a sorely needed economic boost, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to raise the city's global profile and even a way to help keep more kids from dropping out of school. "The next five years, six years, tell me one thing that is going to have economic opportunities for any city," Daley had said in July, when asked about criticism of his Olympic dream. "If you have something better, I'd love to see it." But Daley headed home from Denmark on Saturday without a trump card. He...

*snip* Chicago's president of the United States wants Chicago's political boss happy and hosting the 2016 Olympic Games. "Chicago is ready, the American people are ready," said the president, with about two weeks until the International Olympic Committee meets in Copenhagen to decide whether Chicago gets the Olympic payoff. "We want these Games." But a recent Tribune poll showed mixed feelings. People might not be crazy about the Games, but Daley sure is. He reaches for the Olympics the way a drowning man reaches for a floating chunk of wood. And if Daley doesn't get the Olympics -- if the...

For most of last week, Mayor Richard Daley calmly made pronouncements, issued his sweeping edicts and decrees and commands, the usual thing. But then his alternate self, the terrifying Mayor Chucky persona, was revealed again, this time on Friday. *snip* But it was inevitable that Mayor Chucky would pop out. First came the aggravated facial expressions, then the hand waving, great circular motions from the shoulder, then the sneering, the finger pointing, the index finger jabbing at those who offended him, and finally, the angry lip curling. It sure was terrifying, worse even than that little killer doll in the...

Mayor Richard Daley's personnel chief resigned Tuesday, less than two weeks after the city's independent inspector general called for his removal. Homero Tristan, a member of Daley's Cabinet as the top human resources official, was accused of lying to investigators from Inspector General David Hoffman's office, which was looking into City Hall hiring abuses. Tristan called Hoffman's allegations "grossly erroneous and irresponsible." But Tristan said he could not fight the charges while representing the city in federal proceedings aimed at reforming its scandal-scarred hiring system. "I can't do both at this time," Tristan said. "I will continue to defend my...

The Daley administration would be prohibited from signing a string of month-to-month leases — such as the one at a South Side industrial site co-owned by Mayor Daley’s nephew — under a crackdown in the works to restore “credibility” to the leasing process. As chairman of the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate, Ald. Ray Suarez (31st) says he should have signed off on the lease at 3348 S. Pulaski. Last week, Ald. Ray Suarez (31st) demanded to know why the city has paid nearly $500,000 to lease the space co-owned by mayoral nephew Robert Vanecko and his...

William Moorehead, the Oak Park resident sent to prison in 2007 for stealing more than $1 million from various federally supported public housing concerns, apparently ran with a powerful inside crowd connected to both Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and a then-state senator named Barack Obama. Published news reports show that Moorehead was once a "longtime business partner" and legal client of Allison Davis, who until recently was the business partner of Daley nephew Robert Vanecko. Davis is also often referred to as Obama's mentor, a role he reportedly fulfilled as the future president's first law firm boss. At one...

Let's give Mayor Richard Daley a big, gushy get-well wish, so he recovers quickly from the flu. Because I bet you can't wait to hear him tell you how shocked he is that his nephew Robert Vanecko, now under federal investigation, made a fortune after receiving almost $70 million in city pension-fund money to invest. And how Vanecko did it all without Daley's knowledge. He'll expect you to believe it, since he figures you're a bunch of chumbolones, and that, like so many times before, you'll take a slap in the mouth and then ask, "Please, sir, may I have...

City pension officials have been hit with subpoenas from a federal grand jury trying to determine how they decided to invest $68 million with a start-up company co-owned by Mayor Daley’s nephew. The grand jury issued the subpoenas Wednesday, nearly two months after city pension officials refused to comply with similar subpoenas issued by the city of Chicago’s inspector general, David Hoffman. Hoffman said Friday that he and federal investigators are now jointly investigating the pension fund investments with DV Urban Realty Partners, co-owned by Daley’s nephew Robert Vanecko and one of the mayor’s top African-American allies, Allison S. Davis....

Mayor Daley is urging President Obama to bail out an airline industry that has “weathered one extraordinary challenge after another” since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In an April 10 letter to the president, Daley referred to the “precarious state of our nation’s airports and airlines” and argued that the airline industry is every bit as deserving of a federal bailout as the banking, insurance and auto industries. “In contrast to the hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ dollars directed to the banking and insurance industries during the past few months and the tens of billions funneled into two...

Mayor Daley's son and nephew have hired a criminal defense attorney to represent them in the ongoing investigation of their investment in a sewer-cleaning company that won millions of dollars in no-bid contract extensions from City Hall. Charles Sklarsky, a former federal prosecutor now with the law firm of Jenner & Block, confirmed Thursday he is representing Patrick Daley and his cousin Robert Vanecko. Sklarsky wouldn't discuss the investigation, which the city's inspector general and federal authorities began in December 2007. That was days after the Chicago Sun-Times disclosed that Daley's son and nephew had held a hidden ownership stake...

Can Private Security Guards Act As Cops? That's Exactly What They May Soon Be Doing On The Far South Side . . . private security cars patrol Michigan Avenue between 100th and 116th streets, and a proposed city ordinance would give them many police powers. CBS They're private security guards, already on patrol, but they may soon have the powers of Chicago Police officers. As CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, the private security officers now on patrol on the city's Far South Side are expected to have their powers expanded as part of a citywide ordinance now being...

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez introduced Jack Blakey today as her office's new special prosecutions chief. The former assistant U.S. attorney will be in charge of pursuing corruption cases, as well as organized-crime and narcotics investigations. Blakey moves to Alvarez's staff from the office of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, where he was on the team that successfully prosecuted Tony Rezko on corruption charges involving state of Illinois deals under ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich. As Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed reported today, crime-busting is in Blakey's blood. His father, George Robert Blakey, was the principal author of the Racketeer Influenced...

Dan Zanoza, Executive Director of RFFM.org, interviews Carl Segvich, a Republican Committeeman in the 11th Ward--the ancestral home base of Mayor Richard M. Daley. Segvich discusses what it's like to be a member of the GOP in the city of Chicago, Chicago-style politics, the Chicago way and "pay to play". It is an insightful look into one-party, big city liberal politics which sould be an eye-opener for those wanting to learn more about President Barack Obama's political roots. Q. During the last election, it was reported there were some election irregularities in your Ward. Can you elaborate about this for...

Here is the list of projects that Mayor Richard Daley said today Chicago wants to pursue with new funding from the pending federal economic stimulus plan. Compare his less-than-detailed announcement with the lists compiled by other mayors, linked below. ### *Repair or reconstruct 15 miles of public transit lines *Retrofit and improve more than 200 schools for the 21st century *Resurface more than 150 miles of arterial city streets *Retrofit more than 200 miles of city street lights *Install or repair 75 miles of sewer and water mains *Install solar panels in more than 200 city facilities *Repair a substantial...

Watching Illinois Gov. Nosferatu (the walking politically undead) continue his media blitz on ABC's "The View" on Monday was like watching an old cheesy horror flick—"The Brides of Dracula." (snip) As he sat with the women of "The View," the Illinois Senate began the final act of the impeachment. Democrats are certain he's become infected and deadly, and so they'll amputate in a matter of days.

Chicago public school bureaucrats skirted public competitive bidding rules to buy 30 cappuccino/espresso machines for $67,000, with most of the machines going unused because the schools they were ordered for had not asked for them, according to a report by the CPS Office of Inspector General. That was just one example of questionable CPS actions detailed in the inspector general's 2008 annual report. Others included high school staffers changing grades to pump up transcripts of student athletes and workers at a restricted-enrollment grade school falsifying addresses to get relatives admitted. In the case of the cappuccino machines, central office administrators...