'Hizzhonor': Chicago Politics Under Richard M. Daley

First the father, Richard J. (mayor from April 20, 1955 - December 20, 1976), now the son. To Chicagoans - "Hizzhonor," and for some - "Hizzhonor Da Mare." Authors Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor called the elder an "American Pharaoh." For former Chicago columnist, Mike Royko, he was "Boss" in his 1971 book by that title. When he died on December 20, 1976, Royko wrote:

Now the son - mayor since April 24, 1989. His official biography reads:

Now in his sixth mayoral term, "Richard M. Daley has earned a national reputation for his innovative, community-based programs (on) education, public safety, neighborhood development and other challenges facing American cities." More on that below.

On April 25, 2005. Time magazine called him "the nation's top urban executive." A week earlier, it said:

Earlier, the Wall Street Journal praised him as "a fix-it, problem-solving man" and most recently in a February 7 interview as:

According to the Corporate Crime Reporter, Illinois ranks sixth worst in the nation on corruption after Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama and Ohio. In the wake of the governor Blagojevich scandal, The New York Times (on December 13) said Illinois has "a tradition (since the 19th century) of corruption" (because) the state's unusually lax (campaign finance) laws" allow it, and local citizens say it's just the way it is.

On February 3, Dick Simpson, Thomas Gradel, and Andris Zimelis (below Simpson et al) from the University of Illinois Chicago's Political Science Department published: "Curing Corruption in Illinois - Anti-Corruption Report Number 1."

They call it "an unfortunate aspect of Illinois (and Chicago) politics for a century and a half," in citing one example after another - like former secretary of state Paul Powell's $800,000 stash found in shoe boxes when he died, 13 judges caught for fixing court cases, and a state auditor's embezzlement of over $1.5 million to buy two planes, four cars, and two homes.

Since 1972, three governors (besides Blagojevich), state legislators, two congressmen, 19 Cook County judges, 30 aldermen, and many others were convicted of corruption. In all since 1970, around 1000 public officials and businessmen were caught and convicted.

It's a tradition as far back as the 1860s, and mainly in Chicago where its large immigrant population helped politicians gain power. Needing housing and work, they turned public office into a bizaar. It's called patronage, and in return, politicos got support. Businessmen as well with bribes and payoffs for lucrative contracts, free from "troublesome city inspectors."

Former Chicago alderman Paddy Bauler said it best: "Chicago ain't ready for reform," and he was right. Richard J. Daley modernized machine politics, and while mayor, many of his subordinates were jailed. Under Richard M., the machine "simply adjusted to draw its power from interest groups, corporations, unions, and the global economy instead of ethnic communities." Everything changes, yet stays the same.

The 2004 - 05 Hired Truck Program involved private trucks for city work, but was phased out after a Chicago Sun-Times investigation uncovered companies being paid for little or no work and having mob and city officials' ties. Daley's patronage chief Robert Sorich was involved. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to 46 months in prison with US District Court Judge David Coar saying he ran a corruption operation "with a capital C."

Simpson et al calls Chicago "a one-party system where Democrats control the city" but govern like Republicans. They also explained that while many Daley aides were convicted of corruption, "neither father or son" was ever indicted. Yet, "corruption continues unabated in city, county, suburban, and state" politics. Paddy Bauler was right, and it's no different today. Here's more:

In the past 35 years, 30 alderman were indicted and convicted of bribery, extortion, embezzlement, conspiracy, mail fraud, and income tax evasion - three Republicans and 26 Democrats. Three others were indicted. Two died before going to trial, and the other was too sick to proceed. Several others weren't indicted but resigned after media investigations.

"In most cases, the Chicago political machine taught the crooked aldermen the fine art of graft." They learned from the grassroots up. "They saw political officials amass power and get rich over time by playing the game, keeping quiet, and delivering votes and campaign funds for the party." Locally, heads only rolled if exposed in the media. "The Cook County States Attorney or Illinois Attorney General almost never investigated or prosecuted political corruption." The task fell to federal attorneys, postal inspectors, FBI, and IRS agents.

The convicted are a who's who in Chicago and state politics, and the game is as old as the system - "Pay-to-Play" and "quid pro quo" with the latter very hard to prove, but it made millionaires out of the players.

These crimes persisted for decades, so it's clear Chicago and Illinois house "a thriving culture of corruption." Fixing something this embedded will take decades of committed change, no simple task after a century and a half of plundering public coffers for personal gain.

Simpson et al put it this way:

Richard M. Daley's Machine

Simpson and four assocates (Ola Adeoye, Daniel Bliss, Kevin Navratil, and Rebecca Raines) wrote earlier about "The New Daley Machine: 1989 - 2004" and compared it to the old one under his father - from 1955 - 1976.

Elder Daley's was characterized by "patronage, slate-making, and alliances" to Chicago's business community. Richard M.'s new version continues some of the old ways, "but patronage precinct captains are supplemented by candidate-based, synthetic campaigns using large sums of money from the global economy to purchase professional political consultants, public opinion polls, paid television ads, and direct mail."

In government, it's enforced by a "rubber stamp city council and public policies that benefit the new global economy more than the older developer" one. From 1955 to the present, two Daleys, father and son, have run Chicago for over 40 years and show no sign of stepping down with Richard M. a still youthful 66 and likely to run for a seventh term in February 2011.

He solidified power with strong business and trade union backing, especially from construction, real estate, finance, law, lobbying, and tourism related interests. His "regime is composed of traditional (rubber stamp city council backing along with) developers, city contractors, construction unions, real estate firms (plus) major contributors from the new global (economy), including banks, lawyers, and international manufacturing firms."

Combined, it's less democracy and more centralized power under the new "Chicago Machine." In city council votes, mayoral support runs about 90%. In elections, it's mainly from Whites and Latinos who are rewarded for their backing.

An old-fashioned political machine runs city precincts and the government, but private business instituted important changes. One is "turning over major public decisions either entirely to the private sector (with minimal government supervision) or to quasi-independent governmental agencies appointed by the mayor and governor."

In the 1990s, Chicago, like other cities, renovated a corporate-centered downtown and expanded its service economy. It became "the Midwest capital of the global economy," for example in tourism and conventions with millions of annual visitors and growing annual tax revenues as a result. "Most tourist, convention, and major development decisions are made behind closed doors with little public input" and considerable private sector influence. On the one hand, business greatly benefits at the discretion of an imperial mayor heading a powerful Chicago Machine.

It's active in elections where it crushes a "poorly organized opposition. In the 2003 aldermanic elections, all but five (of 50) incumbents were re-elected, most by landslide totals, and those that lost (got) tepid machine support in the face of strong community opposition." At the same time, ward committeemen won in "mostly uncontested romps."

With less power than his father, Richard M. still runs Chicago unchallenged. Democrats dominate city politics. The last Republican mayor ("Big Bill" Thompson) left office in 1931. The Great Depression ended their rule when Anton Cermak took over, built a strong constituency among African Americans, and consigned Republicans to small pockets on the city's far northwest side and suburban growth post-war.

As for regaining power in Chicago, they face "the prospect of a long wait," according to one observer. Democrats are well entrenched, and business loves them. Why not, they're more Republican than Republicans and voters hardly notice. They should as topics below explain.

Growing Poverty in Chicago

Last year, the Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights (HA) prepared a "2008 Report on Illinois Poverty: Chicago Area Snapshot." It quotes federal poverty monetary threshold guidelines (FPL). In each case, they're woefully inadequate, given the city's true cost of living. FPLs are:

Like most major cities, Chicago is greatly impacted. HA reports 977,320 Chicagoans as low income poor and 1.2 million "at risk of experiencing poverty," meaning they struggle daily to meet basic needs and are dangerously close to the edge. One negative event (like job loss) alone can push them over.

Latinos and especially blacks are far more impoverished than whites. Women are more affected than men. So are children, the disabled, one wage-earner households, and anyone "without education past high school." One-fourth of Chicagoans have no health insurance. Being employed is no guarantee against poverty. Over 56,000 full-time workers are impoverished and nearly 210,000 part-time ones. From 2000 - 2006 alone, when adjusted for inflation, Chicagoans' median annual household income declined by $3515 besides greater erosion since the 1970s. The changing job market and lost benefits are to blame, and conditions keep worsening with one-third of all northeastern Illinois jobs classified as "low-wage service" ones.

Affordable housing is shrinking, and the percent of renters paying over half their income for shelter rose substantially from 2000 - 2006 to around 30% of the population, leaving fewer resources for other needs. Critically important is that "the vast majority" of people  needing help get none. Since 2000, under the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, welfare rolls dropped 77%, meaning tens of thousands of Chicagoans are on their own and can't make it. Less housing aid is also provided because vouchers from nine of the 12 Public Housing Authorities aren't available. For many, the situation is critical.

The result is extreme poverty is rising. It reached almost 10% in 2006 and now is much higher given the economic crisis. In January, Feeding America (FA) reported that Obama's economic stimulus plan provides nothing for the hungry when growing numbers are needy and desperate.

Chicago and other city food banks report a 30% demand increase for their services. Many are newly unemployed, currently don't qualify for food stamps, or are waiting for benefits to be approved. FA's president, Vicki Escarra, said "Americans are going hungry, we're in crisis," and government help isn't forthcoming. "Food banks are on the front lines feeding people," so they're typically an early warning sign of what's to come. In December, 70% of them couldn't meet community needs, and that percentage is rising as resources can't match demand.

In a December report, Chicago Community Trust  reported that local conditions are far worse than a year earlier:

Last July, the Chicago Tribune ran a lengthy report on "Public housing limbo" in which it asked "What went wrong with Chicago's grand experiment." Thousands of families were displaced despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent after the Daley administration let private developers shape public housing's future for the city's poor under the Chicago Housing Authority's (CHA) Plan for Transformation.

CHA calls it "a blueprint for positive change (to) improve the appearance, quality and culture of (Chicago's) public housing." Tribune reporters Jason Grotto, Laurie Cohen and Sara Olkon called it a "virtual giveaway of public land" so real estate developers could displace poor residents and gentrify neighborhoods for profit. In the past decade, Chicago saw a surge in upscale development with many working-class and poor neighborhoods transformed for the well-off.

In the 1960s, sociologist Ruth Glass coined the term "gentrification" to describe the invasion of middle and upper income households into areas no longer affordable for the poor. Upscale condos replaced low-cost housing with people displaced to what Marquitta Campbell discovered - substandard construction, leaky ceilings, mold, awful odors, and much more making new quarters worse than the old ones.

Also low-cost housing proceeded slowly and got bogged down by bureaucracy, politics, and complex financing made all the worse by today's crisis. With a glut of unsold upscale properties, developers won't build low-profit ones for the poor.

The result is thousands of displaced Chicagoans have waited years for new public housing, and since 2001 no new applicants have been accepted. The trend goes far beyond Chicago in the wake of the Bush administration prodding dozens of cities to adopt similar plans to dump their poor, shift them to shoddy new buildings, and concentrate on gentrifying neighborhoods for profit.

Recently, many projects stalled as the economy faltered, but it hit Chicago hardest. Under ambitious Daley plans, it undertook the nation's largest public housing redevelopment with the idea of reshaping the city and enriching builders.