Richard M. Daley

Richard Michael Daley
54th Mayor of Chicago
Incumbent
Assumed office  April 24, 1989
Preceded by	Eugene Sawyer
Cook County State's Attorney
In office 1980–1989
Preceded by	Bernard Carey
Succeeded by	Cecil Partee
Illinois State Senator from the 23rd district
In office 1973–1981
Born	April 24, 1942 (1942-04-24) (age 68) Chicago, Illinois
Ethnicity	Irish
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Margaret Daley
Residence	Chicago, Illinois
Alma mater	DePaul University Providence College
Religion	Roman Catholic
Signature

Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party, and currently the Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007.^[1] He is the second longest serving mayor, after his father.^[2] Daley announced on September 7, 2010, that he would not run for re-election in 2011.^[3]

Daley was chosen by Time magazine in its April 25, 2005 issue as the best out of five mayors of large cities in the United States, and characterized as having "imperial" style and power,^[4] he has presided over a resurgence in tourism, the modernization of the Chicago Transit Authority, the mayoral takeover of the Chicago Public Schools, the construction of Millennium Park, increased environmental efforts and the rapid development of the city's North Side, as well as the near South and West sides. He took over 70% of the mayoral vote in 1999, 2003, and 2007. According to a Chicago Tribune poll taken in late 2009, however, Daley's approval rating was at an all-time low of 35%.^[5]

Prior to serving as mayor, Daley served in the Illinois Senate and then as the Cook County State's Attorney .^[1] He also served as the 11th Ward Democratic committeeman after his father, Richard J. Daley, died until he passed the role on to his brother John P. Daley .

In September 2010, Daley announced he would not seek a seventh term re-election as mayor.^[6] He cited his and his family's desire to begin a "new phase of our lives".^[6]

Biography

Richard M. Daley is the fourth of seven children and eldest son of Richard J. Daley and Eleanor Daley, the late Mayor and First Lady of Chicago . Originally from Bridgeport, a historically Irish-American neighborhood located southwest of the Chicago Loop, Daley graduated from De La Salle Institute and obtained his bachelor's degree from Providence College in 1964 and his Juris Doctor from DePaul University. Prior to earning his law degree, Daley served in the Marine Reserves.^[7]

Mayor Daley is married to Margaret Daley. They have four children: Nora, Patrick, Elizabeth and Kevin. Daley's second son, Kevin, was thirty-three months old when he died of complications of spina bifida in 1981.

Mayor Daley is brother to William M. Daley, former United States Secretary of Commerce under President Bill Clinton, and John P. Daley, a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Commissioners who also serves as its finance chairman.

Political beginnings

Daley was elected to his first public office as delegate to the 1969 Illinois Constitutional Convention. On the strength of his father's political machine, Daley next ran for and won a seat in the Illinois Senate, serving from 1972 to 1980. He left Springfield to become Cook County State's Attorney, serving from 1980 to 1989. Daley's tenure as county prosecutor was interrupted in 1983 with his first mayoral campaign, losing in the three-way primary to Congressman Harold Washington. Incumbent Jane Byrne, a former protege of Daley's father, was also defeated.

Four years later, on November 25, 1987, Washington died in office of a heart attack. The succession problem after the death of Daley's father in office in 1976 had prompted the Chicago City Council to set up an alderman as a short-term replacement for a deceased mayor, creating the office of vice mayor. The Council had appointed Alderman David Orr to that position.^[8] Orr served as mayor from the day of Washington's death to December 2, 1987, when the City Council appointed Eugene Sawyer as mayor until a special election for the remaining two years of the term could be held in 1989.

As a result, Sawyer faced voters for the first time and Daley challenged him in the primary. After defeating Sawyer, Daley in the April 4, 1989 general election faced Aldermen Timothy C. Evans and Edward Vrdolyak, a former Democrat who had antagonized Washington on the city council while Washington served as mayor. After winning the general election, Daley took office as Mayor of Chicago on April 24, 1989, his 47th birthday.

Political positions

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley at the opening of the 2005 Revealing Chicago Exhibition in the Boeing Gallery and Chase Promenade in Millennium Park.

On national political issues, Daley may be characterized as a liberal Democrat. He opposed the war in Iraq and has endorsed same-sex marriage. Daley is an advocate of gun control, supporting Chicago's ban on handguns that was implemented in 1982.^[9] He is the CEO of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition,^[10] an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. However, on some issues Daley is conservative, seen by some as favoring the interests of downtown businesses over neighborhoods in Chicago. He is supported by Chicago's traditionally Republican business community, in part because of his generous corporate welfare programs.^[11]

Daley won control of the Chicago Public School system in 1995 and appointed Paul Vallas. When Vallas left the post to run for governor, Daley chose the relatively-obscure Arne Duncan, now the U.S. Secretary of Education, to lead the district.

Controversies

May 24, 2008 City of Chicago Memorial Day observance

Chief of Staff of the United States Army Gen. George W. Casey, Jr. and Daley recite the Pledge of Allegiance during a wreath laying ceremony at Daley Plaza.

Casey, Daley, and other officials walk during the State Street parade.

Daley has come under criticism for his tendency to focus city resources on the development of the downtown, the North Side, and the Near South and West sides, while neglecting large portions of the city, in particular the needs of low-income residents.^[11] Recently^[update], he has been in the public eye for having played a significant role in forwarding Chicago as the U.S. bid city for the 2016 Summer Olympics, although not without controversy.

Meigs Field

One of Daley's first major acts upon re-election on February 25, 2003 was the demolition of Meigs Field on March 30, 2003. A small lakefront airport adjacent to Soldier Field, it was used by general aviation aircraft and helicopters. Bulldozers carved large Xs into the runways to disable them. Since the airport was still operating when this happened, this left planes trapped with no way of flying out. Daley planned to make a prairie preserve and bandshell. A unilateral decision by the mayor without approval from the Chicago City Council or Federal Aviation Administration, the act resulted in public debate. Aviation interest groups unsuccessfully attempted to sue the city into reopening the airport, claiming Daley had been trying to close Meigs Field with non-safety-related reasons since 1995.

Daley and his supporters argued that the airport was a threat to Chicago's high-rise cityscape and its high profile skyscrapers, the Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower, and the John Hancock Center. Daley defended his decision with the now-infamous quote "Mickey Mouse has a no-fly zone", referring to the restrictions in place over Orlando, Florida, and it was his belief that Chicago should have similar restrictions. In reality, closing the airport made the airspace less restrictive. When the airport was open, downtown Chicago was within Meigs Field's Class D airspace, requiring two-way radio communication with the tower.^[12] The buildings in downtown Chicago are now in Class E/G airspace, which allows any airplane to legally fly as close as 1,000 feet (300 m) from these buildings with no radio communication at all.^[13]

After this episode, the only citation handed over to the city concerned a failure to notify the federal agency of the plans within a thirty-day time period, as required by law. The city was fined $33,000, the maximum allowable. The city has since agreed to a settlement with the FAA, the terms of which include both the $33,000 fine and the repayment of $1 million from taxes to federal airport development grants. The city admits no wrongdoing under this settlement. Daley defended his actions by claiming that the airport was abandoned, in spite of the fact that the Chicago Fire Department had several helicopters based on the field at the time, in addition to the dozens of private aircraft left stranded.^[14]

This closure led to the development of the current Northerly Island park venues, including the concert staging area, prairie preserve, and bird rehabilitation center.

Hired Truck Program

The Hired Truck Program involved hiring private trucks to do city work. A six-month investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times resulted in a three-day series of articles in January 2004 that revealed some participating companies were being paid for doing little or no work, had mob connections or were tied to city employees. Truck owners also paid bribes in order to get into the program. The program was overhauled in 2004 (and phased out beginning in 2005).^[15]

Patronage

The hired truck scandal eventually sparked a Federal investigation into hiring practices at Chicago City Hall, with Robert Sorich, Mayor Daley's former patronage chief, facing mail fraud charges for allegedly rigging city hiring to favor people with political connections. On July 5, 2006, Sorich was convicted on two counts of mail fraud for rigging city jobs and promotions.^[16] Daley said that "It is fair criticism to say I should have exercised greater oversight to ensure that every worker the city hired, regardless of who recommended them, was qualified and that proper procedures were always followed."^[17]

Leasing of city infrastructure (budget crisis)

In 2006, under Daley's leadership, Chicago leased the Chicago Skyway to the Skyway Concession Company, a joint venture between the Australian Macquarie Infrastructure Group and Spanish Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte S.A., which assumed operations on the Skyway on a 99–year operating lease. The deal was worth over $1.8 billion to the City of Chicago, which used the money primarily to repay debt.^[18]

In 2008, Chicago agreed to lease its parking meter system to a fund managed by Morgan Stanley in a 75-year, $1.16 billion deal as it struggled to close a yawning budget deficit. Daley was quoted as saying that the "agreement is very good news for the taxpayers of Chicago because it will provide more than $1 billion in net proceeds that can be used during this very difficult economy." However, the deal greatly increased rates that taxpayers pay to park at meters. Daley said the deal would not solve the city's budget problems, which depended on the depth of the economic recession that led him to lay off hundreds of workers, including police officers and paramedics, and several furlough days for city workers occurring after federal holidays.

In September 2008, Chicago accepted a $2.52 billion bid to lease Midway International Airport for 99 years to a group of private bidders that included Citigroup. The Midway deal later fell through when the private bidders were unable to secure adequate financing to fund the lease.^[19] In December 2006, Morgan Stanley closed a deal that paid the city $563 million for a 99-year lease of the city’s parking garages.^[20][21]

Gun remark

Daley caused controversy in May 2010 when, after Mick Dumke, a reporter for the Chicago Reader, questioned the effectiveness of the city's handgun ban, Daley picked up a gun and told him, "If I put this up your butt -- you'll find out how effective it is." He made the statement at a news conference where he was talking about gun control and a possible adverse decision in the McDonald v. Chicago case.^[22]

References

External links

• City of Chicago - Mayor's Office
• CityMayors profile
• Mayors Against Illegal Guns homepage
• campaign contributions
• The Mayor's Schedule, Quotes and Coverage in the Press
• Daley Family Tree (interactive graphic)
• [3]

Mayors of Chicago Ogden · Morris · Raymond · Lloyd · F. C. Sherman · Raymond · Garrett · A. Sherman · Garrett · Chapin · Curtiss · Woodworth · Curtiss · Gurnee · Gray · Milliken · Boone · Dyer · Wentworth · Haines · Wentworth · Rumsey · F. C. Sherman · Rice · Mason · Medill · Bond 1 · Colvin · Hoyne 2 · Heath · Harrison, Sr. · Roche · Cregier · Washburne · Harrison, Sr. · Swift · Hopkins · Swift · Harrison, Jr. · Dunne · Busse · Harrison, Jr. · Thompson · Dever · Thompson · Cermak · Corr · Kelly · Kennelly · R. J. Daley · Bilandic · Byrne · Washington · Orr · Sawyer · R. M. Daley 1 Acting officeholder.    2 Election declared null and void.

Mayors of cities with populations exceeding 100,000 in Illinois     Richard M. Daley (Chicago) Tom Weisner (Aurora) Larry Morrissey (Rockford) Arthur Schultz (Joliet) A. George Pradel (Naperville) Frank Kunz (acting) (Springfield) Jim Ardis (Peoria) Ed Schock (Elgin)