Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Politics / Clout City / News City inspector David Hoffman quits
Posted by Mick Dumke on Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 2:32 PM
Some of us have been thinking out loud that the Democratic field for Barack Obama's old spot in the U.S. Senate looks pretty weak, and that the party needs some other candidates—fast—if it's going to keep the seat after next year's elections.
Now it's looking like the first of additional candidate is entering the race.
The Tribune is reporting that David Hoffman, the city's inspector general for nearly four years, is planning to run. The IG's office confirms that he's already resigned from that job.
At this point Hoffman is probably best known for issuing a damning report on the parking meter lease deal. The report concluded that the city, in the throes of an ongoing budget crisis, rushed into the agreement and may have undersold the meters by a billion dollars. It also advised the City Council to develop a more thorough vetting process—i.e., some vetting process—before agreeing to sell off any more city assets. "There were valid alternatives to this lease deal that could have solved the City’s short-term budget problem without (i) raising the meter rates to the same level, and (ii) giving up control of the parking meters for such a long period of time," the report stated. "At the least, these alternatives merited consideration in a regular, democratic, deliberative process."
That's the kind of well-reasoned critique that boils the blood of Mayor Daley, his staff, and his aldermen, who lashed out at Hoffman and his report for allegedly not taking into consideration all the facts they had available showing that the deal was brilliant. Or, as alderman Bernard Stone so eloquently stated it when we were on Chicago Tonight together last week: "What does he know about it?"
Of course, Stone has been sore at Hoffman since the IG's office investigated one of his precinct workers for election fraud a couple years back.
Anyway, under Hoffman's lead, the IG's office has gained a reputation for doing something—a stark change from the limp operation it was previously. In addition to the parking meter report, the office conducted investigations into corruption in the building department, hiring shenanigans in the human resources department, and loafing by city sanitation workers. Few people have questioned Hoffman's work ethic or seriousness, though Daley allies have long whispered that he was in it to make a name for himself so he could run for higher office, and others of us wondered why he seemed to go after low-hanging fruit when the entire tree was rotten.
If he's going to win the Democratic Senate nomination, Hoffman will need to get some name recognition and cash together—and quickly. His top foe, state treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, has been unofficially campaigning for the job for more than a year, comes across as positive and energetic on camera, and is armed with money and well-heeled connections. But Giannoulias hasn't even finished one term in a post no one knows much about, and he's mostly been in the news for playing hoops with the president and leading a bank that gave loans to mob figures—not the ideal credentials for a seat Democrats need to keep if they want to maintain a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
Also running is Cheryle Jackson, who's injected new life into the Chicago Urban League since become its president in 2006. She's the lone African-American in the race so far, which is important considering that this position has been seen by some as the black seat in the U.S. Senate since it was held by Obama and Carol Moseley Braun. But Jackson is going to have to downplay that history if her candidacy is going anywhere—for starters, too many people are still annoyed that Rod Blagojevich and congressman Bobby Rush openly played racial politics in pressuring leading Senate Democrats to accept the appointment of Roland Burris earlier this year. Worse, before joining the Urban League Jackson worked as a top aide to Blago, an inconvenient fact she's already had to talk about.
Likely Republican nominee Mark Kirk has his own problems—among other things, he's reviled by arch-conservatives for the occasional moderation he's shown on issues like carbon cap-and-trade legislation, and Democratic activists are busy painting him as a flip-flopper on health care and other issues. But if the GOP doesn't devour itself from within, his middle-of-the-road social positions and fiscal conservatism could go over well in a state weary of scandal.
That's why Democrats have been looking around for other candidates since Lisa Madigan opted out of a run. Cook County sheriff Tom Dart has been approached by party leaders and is reportedly thinking it over. If he runs, he'll be the favorite since he has cultivated a reputation as a progressive goo-goo type while still maintaining ties to party regulars across Illinois, formed when he was a state legislator.
Hoffman will make the race more interesting regardless. It's too soon to say how he'll do on the stump or who's going to write him checks, but sources say he's enlisted David Axelrod's people to craft his message. Combined with Hoffman's smarts and obvious knack for using the media, that's an indication that this is going to be a real live campaign before it's done.
Meanwhile, there is a city to watch over. A spokesman for the IG's office assures me its work will go on as usual. Until the mayor names Hoffman's successor, first deputy IG Mary Hodge will run the show.
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Mr. Hoffman had the stones (not Berny, mind you) to take on City Hall. For that, I give him credit.
I have no idea how he'll fare in a statewide Democratic primary, but based upon his body of work, I'll be happy to knock on doors on his behalf.
Has anyone else had to deal with the Giannoulias family aside from me? I tried to open a safe deposit box at their bank and a woman who I assume was Alexi's mother kept browbeating me about only having a passport as ID since I was driving on a ticket. I just went over to Mid-City (now MB Financial) and had no problems.
"sources say he's enlisted David Axelrod's people to craft his message"
Really? The Reader is much better than this. AKPD sent the Hoffman press release to all the local news agencies. Is the Reader not on their mailing list?
Believe it or not, wtfcapinv, some of us get our information from people, not press releases. But I'm glad you can confirm the information was correct.
FGFM: Try using a Russian Passport. You'll get the VIP treatment.
Mick: I'm just messing with you. Keep up the good work. Your coverage of City Government has been outstanding.
I thought it was pretty crazy when I heard Hoffman chose AKPD. Or did AKPD choose him like they did with Obama in 2003.
Thanks for the word. Clearly I'm ready to fight today. But I thought the same thing you did about AKPD.
I think the term is Hubris when it comes to this move.
He is not going to be able to raise $5 - $8 million dollars for the primary and then another $10 million for the general against Mark Kirk - not at $1,500 limit per pop per the FEC rules.
Hell, he is going to have a hard time collecting 5,000 - 10,000 signatures and getting his name on the ballot without a political organization - the same organizations he finds so reprehensible.
This move just shows that all of his pimping of the media (or him being a media whore) was calculated for a run for political office - but he was too much of a wimp to run against Lisa Madigan for a job for which he is better suited.
And from the looks of his picture, he seems to have Don Lemon/Ron Huberman-esque look about himself.
Anyway, it will be entertaining seeing him go down in flames.
This is a great 1:42 video of the idiot Andy Martin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLq0rP4QXWE
So Axelrod's "Firm" is "OPPOSING" Obama's CLOSE Friend,Alexi?
What's NOT RIGHT in this picture?
Mick: The next phase of the discussion regarding Hoffman's bid should focus on his stated goal (and main platform issue) of reform and cleaning up corruption in Illinois. Maybe, if he successfully ran for the AG position (as he originally planned, according to most sources thus far), he would be in a position to go after the corruption we in Illinois and Chicago are so troubled by.
But if Hoffman prevails in his senate run, what real good does that do us when it comes to our local scandals and corruption? I see only rare examples of federal senators affecting timely and important change where local corruption is concerned. For example, we would have to wait for Hoffman to be the senior senator before he would even have a say in who gets appointed US Attorney (the choice of which obviously bears on local corruption). I suppose that another example of a senator's ability to impact local corruption is just the way that they wield their influence. They can disfavor and strategize to cut out known corrupt players from federal projects, etc. But that would occur during less than transparent back door dealings, which shouldn't sit right with us.
So I ask, if Hoffman makes it to Washington, what muscle stays behind to effectively police local corruption in Illinois and Chicago?
Hoffman has done a great job in many ways as Chicago IG, and has always shown himself to be politically ambitious. I think now we're reaching a phase where his fight on local corruption issues is drawing to a close, and his ambition is taking the wheel. If he makes it, he'll be a good senator, I guess, but Chicago's going to have to look elsewhere for its next big reformer.
So then Pete, Hoffman is basically exposed as a self serving hypocrite.
His fight against what HE saw as corruption was not some sort of moral calling as the media that fawned over him would have the public believe, but rather as a platform for his own self-aggrandisement and positioning for a political office.
It will be interesting on the political stump for him to answer several questions about his tenure as IG such as:
- did he accept pay from his City Job while on his 3 month tour on the reform commission ? or did he even get permission from his boss to take such a long time off ? Failure to do so would be violation of the City's personnel rules that he was so strict on enforcing.
- as a Senator he could be on a committee that would be convened on torture and interrogation techinques used against prisoners (like Gitmo). How did his former office of IG conduct its interrogations of City employees ? Were they read their rights ? Were they allowed to have counsel present ? Were they conducted in windowless rooms for hours at a time ? He is on thin ice on this one.
- as a Senator he would have confirmation authority for nominations to positions such as Justice Department and the head of Civil Rights Division, responsible for Equal Employment and discrimination matters. As the City's Inspector General, did his hiring reflect the diversity of the City of Chicago or, as according to his website, was the majority of his hires from zip codes along the lakeshore and lincoln park and other North Side environs ? How many minorities had non-clerical jobs in his office besides his token First Deputy ?
- maybe on the stump he would explain how he could afford a $1,000,000 plus mansion in the City on a salary from all of his working life in the public sector?
- while campaigning he would also be in a position to explain why in the first three years of his appointment there was very little activity in his office, yet in the last year he was doing a press conference every week ?
- and maybe a brave soul from the media would ask about the allegations of the type of young, handsome men that his former employer Sen. Boren would hire in his time there.
All of this is moot however because Mark Kirk will defeat whomever comes out of the Dem primary.
I'm happy to see Hoffman leave. He was always a big meanie toward our great Mayor Daley. I hate it when people try to scrooten our great mayor.
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