The Blog

There goes that city council rubber stamp again. morsehellhole.blogspot.com

You have to love when someone like "Broken Heart" complains about the "rubber stamp" when his candidate in the 49th ward (Gordon) would have absolutely voted for this ordinance. Shoot... Gordon would have probably thought the ordinance went to far in its hope to create affordable housing. At least Joe Moore is willing to stand up against the "rubber stamp" and speak against the money men who could care less about affordable housing.

Joe's got talent, that's for sure, he can lie right to your face with utmost sincerity, then turn around and collect his thirty pieces from all those who you say Gordon would be sucking up to. How soon you choose to forget Joe's chummy relationship with Jay 'the torch' Johnson and those of his ilk.

Seems Daley may have been having a wee bit of fun at Burnett's sexual prowess. Or maybe I am just reading that wrong: My ultimate goal is not to satisfy any man--" "Or woman," Daley interjected. "What?" said Burnett, confused. "Or woman."

Anyway you look at this; the Mayor comes off looking like an ass, having blocked efforts for years to address the growing problem of affordable housing. The upside is those new alderman he is going to bully will have four years to improve a very flawed attempt to get an ordinance on affordable housing. The down side - we have lost significant numbers of affordable rental units on the north and south sides to conversions - and little new construction will happen in the city for about a decade due to higher interest rates and an excess downtown. And most suburbs seem to think this is just a city issue.

Wow, Richie sure is a prick, isn't he? Why do people idolize this guy? I really do not get it. I just had a chilling thought: for Chicagoans, government at every level is being run by a man-child! Daley, Stroger, Blagojevich, Bush....it's uncanny.

Any way you can provide the "yea" votes for the two alternative income attempts that were shot down?

You can download and listen to the MP3 of Monday's Special City council meeting in its entirety at http://aldertrack.typepad.com/aldertrack2/2007/05/special_city_co.html

Thanks for the excellent report. I too have seen the behavior from Daley in City Council you document. Most people are probably not familiar with this side of Daley because we don't get to see it except for one or two times a year: he usually turns Council meetings over to Solis, and of course there is usually no actual debate on anything, but when there IS a debate, Daley is perched in his throne, and he is not above abusing his role as chair. He interrupts to throw people off. Other speakers need to wait their turn, but he blurts out whenever he feels like it. He's actually quite the smart alack. He fancies himself a real wit and he can't hold back the highly amusing things that pop into his head. Playing with our City Council like it's his toy helps him stay awake, I guess.

In a press conference, we're lucky if Daley utterances are parse-able sentences. In a public speaking situation, he wisely sticks to reading a prepared text. But presiding over City Council, he's Mr. Ad Lib, a regular Jay Leno. He seems perfectly relaxed. Daley leads the City in disrespecting our City Council. Alderman blame the press for the City Council's image problem, but not the head of the executive branch. Daley blames the foie gras ordinance for making a laughing stock of our City Council, but he personally leads the ridicule and lack of respect.

Da Mayor wants camera's all over the place, lets get them in the City Council. It would be the most watched reality comedy in Chicago!We can actually see these b actors at work ! That includes you mayor!

Daley's political acumen is far too superior for these aldermanic fools to put up any fight.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A FOREIGN DICTATORSHIP AND CHICAGO ,NONE. DALEY IS NOTHLING MORE THAN A LOCAL WARLORD.

Put a camera in Mayor Daley's office and find all the crooks. Put cameras in Tim Degnan office, Jerry Joyce offic and Victor Reyes home.

Ignore Mindful Mission's malevolent message manufacturing - aka spinning the facts to suit a lie. I know because I was 49th Ward Aldermanic Candidate Don Gordon's campaign manager. Those of us who live in Rogers Park saw lots of these lies during the election season. Whoever Mindful Mission is, s/he knows Gordon's policy proposal was for aggressive development of affordable housing and oversight, in contrast to the neglect we've endured for 16 years. You can read the truth about what Gordon proposed on his web site at www.dongordon.org/agendas/housing.html

thank you, aldertrack - that was a long listen, but definitely worth it.

Mick, thanks again for the thorough report. In particular, thanks for the priceless Banks quote, which delimits the battle lines as well as you'd ever want: "we have [a development] industry to protect" Also, I appreciate you enumerating the aldermen who voted in opposition, and the aldermen at the press conference, without falling into the easy trap you might find lesser writers around town regularly falling into: mislabeling them as "progressive" or "reform" aldermen.

This serial poster only knows how to attack Elected Officials.It is obvious that since he hates all incumbents,it must be Democracy itself he hates.As soon as one wins an Election,they are on Hugh's target list.

What mayor daley is doing is making it hard for blacks and latinos to afford to stay in Chicago. I like that idea, I'm a white woman running a union that has majority black and hispanic members.

"Hugh is anti-Democracy May 17th - 4:07 p.m. This serial poster only knows how to attack Elected Officials.It is obvious that since he hates all incumbents,it must be Democracy itself he hates.As soon as one wins an Election,they are on Hugh's target list." and "Christine Boardman President of SEIU 73 May 17th - 5:27 p.m. What mayor daley is doing is making it hard for blacks and latinos to afford to stay in Chicago. I like that idea, I'm a white woman running a union that has majority black and hispanic members." Sorry, assholes, your 'daley-driven' agendas are much too obvious. The only 'incumbents' deserving of contempt are those butt-lickers we've all come to know and despise, you know, your bosses and Daley's lackeys. As for anyone being anti-Democracy, the people who are against Democracy are the ones who manipulate the few voters who still believe that elections are conducted honestly and those voters who find Dumbocracy more to their liking, ie., exploiting the many dumb citizens who fall for the bullshit served by those incumbents as 'honest' government. Don't worry, all you clout pigs will never starve, there seems to be a surplus of dumb voters for you to bullshit into keeping your pig-masters in power, Hugh is an intelligent man, and, thus, in the minority.

In City Council Daley is like a cat whose instincts get the best of him and accidentally kills a mouse, before he's done playing with it, so he bats it around to try to get it to imitate life.

Interesting analysis: "Being a Chicago alderman is sort of like being a Chicago Cubs fan. But instead of the perpetual refrain of waiting for next year, the city's aldermen are waiting for the next mayoral administration -- because they're still firmly under the thumb of the Daley Administration. Chicago, in actuality, has a weak mayor/strong council system. The mayor appoints the department commissioners who control hiring, formulate policy and allocate services, but the City Council controls the budget, authorizes funding for every department, sets the salary for every employee, and approves all bond issues. That should make the aldermen dominant. Rich Daley, however, is the unchallenged boss of City Hall, not because he has institutional power, but rather because 26 or more of the council's 50 aldermen either cannot or will not unify and exercise their own institutional power. The "Vrdolyak 29" asserted their authority during Harold Washington's first term (1983-87), and the so-called "Grey Wolves" did it during Martin Kennelly's tenure (1947-55). The aldermen ruled because they, not the mayor, controlled the city budget. If one were to coin a phrase for the current City Council, it might be the "Joe Moore 10," or perhaps the "Dorothy Tillman 10," and the pro-Daley majority might be tabbed as the "Snoozing Opossums" or the "Meek 40." When Richard J. Daley won the mayoralty in 1955, he understood how to consolidate his power: First, control the hiring process. Then, control those hired. Then dispatch and concentrate those city job holders in certain wards to ensure the election of compliant aldermen. Then order those aldermen to support the mayor's budget, which controlled spending on all ward projects. Then use those dollars to control all the aldermen. Like his father, Richard M. Daley understands and implements that methodology. Since his election in 1989, the City Council has been docile and neutered, as it was from 1955 to 1976. Dick Simpson, a University of Illinois professor and a former 44th Ward alderman, thinks otherwise. He has released a seriously flawed study that heralds a "newly found" council independence. Citing resolutions on such non-germane matters as the Iraq War, slave reparations and the Patriot Act, the Simpson study mixes the symbolic votes with the substantive. "We're the Chicago City Council, not the Council on Foreign Relations," said Alderman Tom Allen (38th). "It is not our job to make foreign policy." Alderman Brian Doherty (41st) voiced similar sentiments on the reparations issue. "What happened 200 years ago, in another part of the country, is not relevant to Chicago today," Doherty said. "It is not a matter properly before the City Council." To be sure, there were many substantive council votes in the past 5 years, and there was some dissonance. But there has been no revolt. Black aldermen, led by Toni Preckwinkle (4th), have been trying for years to mandate an "affordable housing" set-aside in all new city construction, which would require lower rents or lower sale prices for some of the new units. Daley, and the white aldermen, resisted the idea, and killed it. Organized labor has been adamantly opposed to allowing Wal-Mart into Chicago, and the council approved zoning for a Wal-Mart in the 37th Ward, but not in the 21st Ward. The smoking ban in restaurants, bars and public places stirred controversy, as did an attempt to instruct the city corporation counsel to cease efforts to vacate the Shakman Decree, which outlawed patronage, but more typical were routine budget votes, such as the $5.1 billion 2005 budget which contained increases in the city's sales, cigarette, hotel, liquor, theater and natural gas taxes. Also, the aldermen increased their salary from $85,000 to $98,125 annually. The aldermen cooperate with the mayor because the mayor cooperates with them. He lets them pick their ward sanitation superintendent. He guarantees adequate city services. He spreads capital improvements equitably throughout the city. So why should any alderman risk the status quo, and likely re-election, by becoming a Daley foe? On the Northwest Side, as can be discerned from the adjoining vote chart, there are two kinds of aldermen: Daley supporters and slavish Daley supporters. All 12 area aldermen supported the mayor's 2005 budget, but only Doherty opposed the tax hikes. All the aldermen present, except Rey Colon (35th), opposed the resolution to end the city's Shakman appeal. All the aldermen present opposed affordable housing set-asides. All, but Doherty, Gene Schulter (47th) and Pat Levar (45th), supported the pay hike. All present, except Doherty, supported the smoking ban. All supported broadening gang loitering restrictions and raising taxi fares. Alderman Dorothy Tillman (3rd), a champion of slavery reparations, claimed that Lehman Brothers, which was chosen to underwrite $1.5 billion in city bonds for O'Hare Airport expansion, was "involved in the slave trade." In a vote to disqualify, all Northwest Siders present, with the exception of Colon, voted to retain Lehman Brothers. On Wal-Mart, the division was geographical: Aldermen from the minority and gentrifying areas -- Ariel Reboyras (30th), Ted Matlak (32nd), Dick Mell (33rd) and Berny Stone (50th) -- along with Doherty, a Republican, voted for the zoning change. Those voting pro-Labor were Colon, Bill Banks (36th), Allen, Marge Laurino (39th), Pat O'Connor (40th), Levar and Schulter. But on "foreign policy," the Northwest Siders were all over the lot -- and showed their true liberal and conservative colors. Reboyras, Mell, Colon, O'Connor, Schulter and Stone cast a symbolic vote to mandate the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq. Matlak, Banks, Laurino and Doherty opposed a precipitate withdrawal. Allen and Levar were absent. "I took a walk," Allen said. "The vote was ridiculous." On the resolution seeking the termination of the U.S. Patriot Act, which Alderman Leslie Hairston (5th) incredibly compared to "Hitler's takeover of the German government," Allen stayed sitting, and he, Levar and Doherty supported the act. Reboyras, Mell, Colon, O'Connor and Stone voted against renewal. Banks and Matlak voted "present," and Laurino and Schulter were absent. All aldermen face the voters in 2007, and their voting record is fair game. A couple of votes could be silver bullets -- like the 2005 tax hikes, the aldermanic pay hike and the Shakman Decree vote, which could be construed as supporting "business as usual" in city government. The foreign policy votes are laughably irrelevant. Stone and Mell are expected to retire in 2007. Matlak and Levar expect tough competition. All other incumbents will win easily, and they won't suffer if an anti-Daley wave erupts. But, if Daley is no longer mayor, expect the aldermanic opossum to morph itself into a wolf."