Richard M. Daley

Richard M. Daley
54th Mayor of Chicago
In office April 24, 1989 – May 16, 2011
Preceded by	Eugene Sawyer
Succeeded by	Rahm Emanuel
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 1972–1980
Personal details
Born	(1942-04-24) April 24, 1942 Chicago, Illinois
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Margaret C. Daley (deceased)
Children	Nora Daley Conroy Patrick Daley Elizabeth Daley Kevin Daley (deceased)
Residence	Chicago, Illinois
Alma mater	DePaul University Providence College
Signature
Military service
Branch/service	United States Marine Corps Reserves

Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942), sometimes known as "Richie" Daley, is a former Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He was the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his father, Richard J. Daley. Prior to serving as mayor, Daley served in the Illinois Senate and then as the Cook County State's Attorney.

Daley took over the Chicago Public Schools, developed tourism, 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. Mayor Daley expanded benefits to same-sex, domestic partners of City employees, and advocated for gun control. As Mayor of Chicago Daley was a national leader in privatization, the lease and sale of public assets to private corporations. Mayor Daley's budgets ran up the largest deficits in Chicago history.

Early and personal life

Richard M. Daley is the fourth of seven children and eldest son of Richard J. 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. He passed the Illinois Bar Examination on his third try. When asked about the subject, Daley said "I flunked the bar exam twice. I had to keep studying harder and harder and harder. I passed it the third time."

Mayor Daley was married to Margaret (née Corbett) until her death from a ten-year battle with mestastic breast cancer (that had spread to her bones and liver) on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 2011. They have four children: Nora, Patrick, Elizabeth and Kevin, all of whom were born at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago. Their second son, Kevin, was two years old when he died of complications of spina bifida in 1981.

Mayor Daley is brother to William M. Daley, former White House Chief of Staff and former United States Secretary of Commerce under President Bill Clinton; John P. Daley, a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Commissioners who also serves as its chairman of the County Board's Finance Committee; and Micheal Daley, an attorney with Daley & George, a law firm founded by their father Richard J. Daley, that specializes in zoning law and is often hired by developers to help get zoning changes from City Hall.

After his father died in 1976, Daley suceeded his father as the 11th Ward Democratic committeeman, a party post, until suceeded in the post by his brother John P. Daley in 1980. With John P. Daley holding the post from 1980 to the present, a Daley has held the post of 11th Ward Committeeman for 60 years.

Daley was elected to his first party office as a delegate to the 1969 Illinois Constitutional Convention.

Illinois State Senate (1972-1980)

On the strength of his father's political machine, Daley ran for and won a seat in the Illinois Senate, serving from 1972 to 1980.

Cook County State's Attorney (1981-1989)

Daley ran for Cook County State's Attorney, serving from 1981 to 1989.

Police torture reported to Daley, 1982 and Illinois Supreme Court overturn of murder convictions, 1987

In February 1982, Andrew Wilson was arrested for the murder of two Chicago police officers, William Fahey and Richard O'Brien. Wilson was taken to Area 2 detective headquarters on the South Side for interrogation under Chicago Police Detective Jon Burge. Dr. John Raba, Medial Director of Cermak Health Services, the prison hospital in the Cook County Hospital system, later examined Wilson, determined his patient Wilson had been tortured, and quickly complained to then Chicago Police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek in a letter:

"I examined Mr. Andrew Wilson on Feb. 15 & 16, 1982. He had multiple bruises, swellings and abrasions on his face and head. His right eye was battered and had a superficial laceration. Andrew Wilson had several linear blisters on his right thigh, right cheek and anterior chest which were consistent with radiator burns. He stated he'd been cuffed to a radiator and pushed into it. He also stated that electrical shocks had been administered to his gums, lips and genitals. All these injuries occurred prior to his arrival at the Jail. There must be a thorough investigation of this alleged brutality."

Brzeczek forwarded that letter to Daley. Daley never replied. Charges were never brought against any officers. Daley's prosecutors obtained murder convictions of Wilson and his brother Jackie, and Andrew Wilson was sentenced to death. On Thurday, April 2, 1987 the Illinois Supreme Court overturned the convictions, ruling that Wilson was forced to confess involuntarily after being beaten by police.

First campaign for Mayor, 1983: challenge to Jane Byrne

Daley's first mayoral campaign was in 1983. Daley finished an embarrassing third in the three-way primary including incumbent Mayor Jane Byrne, a former protege of Daley's father. Many of his father's old allies blamed the son for splitting the white vote with Byrne and allowing the relatively unknown legislator Congressman Harold Washington to become Chicago's first black mayor.

Second campaign for Mayor, 1989: challenge to Eugene Sawyer

On November 25, 1987 Mayor Washington died in office of a heart attack. On December 2, 1987 the Chicago City Council appointed Alderman Eugene Sawyer as mayor until a special election for the remaining two years of the term could be held in 1989.

Rahm Emanuel worked for the Daley campaign as a fundraiser, David Axelrod as campaign strategist, William Daley as chief strategist, and Forrest Claypool as a campaign aide.

Among four Daley campaign appearances on the Sunday a week before primary week was a rally of Polish Highlanders at 4808 S. Archer Ave. In a videotaped television newscast, it appears that Daley said, "You want a white mayor to sit down with everybody." Sawyer said he was "shocked." Daley explaining "It was my standard stump speech. I`m not maybe the best speaker in town, but I have never used the word [white]." That Friday, the campaign watchdog group CONDUCT determined that Daley said, "You want a white mayor to sit down with everybody," and censured Daley and commended Sawyer for his "rejection of racially inflammatory comments."

Daley defeated Sawyer in the primary. In the April 4, 1989 general election Daley faced Aldermen Timothy C. Evans, candidate of the newly created Harold Washington Party, and Republican candidate Edward Vrdolyak, a former Democrat who had antagonized Washington on the city council while Washington served as mayor. After winning the general election, Daley was inaugurated as Mayor of Chicago on April 24, 1989, his 47th birthday, at a ceremony in Orchestra Hall.

Mayor of Chicago (1989-2011)

First term (1989-1991)

In December, 1990 Amnesty International issued a report "Allegations of Police Torture in Chicago, Illinois" calling for a full inquiry into allegations that Area 2 Chicago Police tortured criminal suspects between 1972 and 1984.

Second term (1991-1995)

On April 2, 1991 Daley was re-elected to a second term, his first full, four-year term, with 70.7% of the vote over R. Eugene Pincham.

On September 10, 1991, Daley responded to a question about the city`s rising homicide rate by declaring "The more killing and homicides you have, the more havoc it prevents."

Third term (1995-1999)

Daley took 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.

On March 19, 1997, the Chicago City Council adopted the Domestic Partners Ordinance, which made available employee benefits to same-sex partners of City employees. Even as critics, many of them Catholics, derided the plan mostly on moral grounds, Daley stuck by it, calling it a fairness issue.

In October 1997, the mayor's City Council floor leader, Patrick Huels of the 11th Ward, the Daley family's home ward, resigned in disgrace amid allegations he used his aldermanic office to benefit his private security firm, which got a loan from city contractor and close Daley friend Michael Tadin. In the first major scandal of the Daley administration, Daley said Huels "did the right thing resigning." He also claimed no knowledge of Huels' business dealings. "I don't get into people's private lives. I am not into that."

Fourth term (1999-2003)

On February 23, 1999, Daley garnered 68.9 percent of the vote, defeating U.S. Congressman Bobby Rush to win a fourth term.

In August, 1999 the U.S. affiliate of Amnesty International issued a report "Race, Rights & Brutality: Portraits of Abuse in the USA," prompted by high-profile excessive-force cases involving local and state police in Chicago, New York and other cities, that called on federal officials to better document excessive-force cases and to ensure that the officers responsible are prosecuted. In October, 1999 the U.S. Affiliate of Amnesty International issued a report "Summary of Amnesty International's concerns on police abuse in Chicago" summarizing on-going concerns, including those relating to brutality and improper tactics or coercion during questioning; the detention and interrogation of children in police custody; allegations of excessive force against suspects; the shooting of unarmed suspects; the disproportionate number of victims who are members of ethnic or racial minorities; the inadequacy of police complaints and disciplinary procedures and the lack of any external oversight of the complaints process.

The well-connected Duff family, which held fundraisers for Daley, secured nearly $100 million from city-related contracts, partly by running a firm falsely listed as woman-owned. Daley denied steering any money to the Duffs, whose members had been linked to organized crime, and promised to "look into" issues raised by the investigation. Federal investigators mounted a probe that resulted in a Duff family member pleading guilty to racketeering, fraud and other charges.

By 2002, Daley had appinted more than a third of the 50 aldermen of the Chicago City Council. A 1978 state law designed by Illinois Democrats gave the Mayor the power to appoint to fill vacancies in the City Council rather than holding special elections. The Chicago City Council became even more of a rubber stamp than in Richard M. Daley’s first terms in office. In the 18 months from January 12, 2000 to June 6, 2001, there were only 13 divided roll call votes in the Chicago City Council, less than one a month. 32 aldermen supported the mayor from 90-100% of the time and another 14 gave the mayor 80-89% support.

Fifth term (2003-2007)

On February 26, 2003, Daley defeated Paul Jakes Jr., taking 78.5% of the vote.

2004, Daley's 16th year as mayor, was unusually turbulent, including developments that would prove to be headaches for Daley after coming to public prominence years later.

Daley endorsed same-sex marriage. On February 18, 2004 Daley said he would have "no problem" with Cook County issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, but stopped short of saying he would follow San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom by having the City of Chicago issue marriage licenses for same-sex couples, saying only the county clerk's office can issue marriage licenses.

Daley and Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich held a joint press conference on January 17, 2006 calling for a state-wide ban on the manufacture, possession, and delivery of semiautomatic assault weapons. "If we are really to make the progress that we want, we have to keep the most dangerous weapons that are right here off of our streets," Daley said.

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 Daley as having "imperial" style and power.

In May, 2006 in Geneva, Switzerland the United Nations Committee against Torture released a report, which, along with calling on the United States to close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and criticizing interrogation techniques, took note of the "limited investigation and lack of prosecution" in connection to accusations of torture in areas 2 and 3 of the Chicago Police Department. The report called on American authorities to "promptly, thoroughly and impartially" investigate the accusations, and provide the committee with more information.

Daley orders demolition of Meigs Field

Meigs Field Runway a few days after destruction ordered by Mayor Daley

Main article: Meigs Field

"The signature act of Richard Daley's 22 years in office was the midnight bulldozing of Meigs Field," according to Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn. Fresh off his huge re-electoral mandate, one of Daley's first major acts was ordering the demolition of Meigs Field, a small, downtown, lakefront airport used by general aviation aircraft and helicopters. On Sunday night, March 30, 2003, shortly before midnight, trucks bearing construction equipment rumbled into Meigs under Chicago Police guard. By early Monday, March 31, 2003 City crews had dug six huge X's into the runway, putting the airport out of commission. Those unaware of the plan to move under cover of darkness included the city's 50 aldermen, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Homeland Security officials and virtually everyone else in the metropolitan area. Since the airport was still operational when this happened, the demolition of the runway trapped planes. In the days following, many of those aircraft were able to take off using the remaining taxiway.

"To do this any other way would have been needlessly contentious," Daley explained at a news conference Monday morning. Daley argued that the airport was a threat to Chicago's high-rise cityscape and its high profile skyscrapers, the Willis Tower, known then 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. "He ruined Meigs because he wanted to, because he could," columnist John Kass wrote of Daley in the Chicago Tribune.

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.

The Federal Aviation Administration cited the City of Chicago for failure to comply with federal law requiring thirty-day advance notify to the FAA of plans for an airport closure. The city was fined $33,000, the maximum allowable. The city paid the $33,000 fine and returned $1 million in federal airport development grants. 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.

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 Scandal

Main article: Hired Truck Program

The $40 million-a-year Hired Truck program was the biggest scandal of Daley's first 15 years as Mayor.

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.

Between 1996 and 2004, companies in the Hired Truck Program gave more than $800,000 in campaign contributions to various politicians, from House Speaker Michael Madigan to Gov. Blagojevich to a host of Hispanic politicians. Mayor Daley got at least $108,575 and John Daley and his ward organization took in more than $47,500 from firms in the Hired Truck Program in the same period.

Mark Gyrion is the son of Daley's cousin. Gyrion is the grandson of the mayor's aunt, Rita Green. Rita Green was the sister of the mayor's mother, Eleanor "Sis" Daley. Gyron was a superintendent of garages for the City of Chicago's Water Management Department who was accused of "betraying the public trust" when he concealed the fact that his mother-in-law cashed in on the HiredTruck Program - to the tune of $1 million since 1998. Gyrion also neglected to disclose that his mother-in-law's firm, Jacz Transportation, bought a 1989 Ford dump truck three days after City Hall sold it to a Franklin Park dealership and then leased it back to the city. Gyron was fired and Jacz Transportationhas was suspended from the Hired Truck program.

The program was overhauled in 2004 (and phased out beginning in 2005).

Daley patronage chief among Daley adminstration officials convicted of fraud

On July 5, 2006, Robert Sorich, Daley's patronage chief and director of the Mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, and Timothy McCarthy, Sorich's aide, were each convicted on two counts of mail fraud connected to rigging blue-collar city jobs and promotions. Sorich also was acquitted of two counts of fraud. Sorich's best friend, former Streets and Sanitation official Patrick Slattery was convicted of one count of mail fraud. Former Streets and Sanitation managing deputy commissioner John Sullivan was found guilty of one count of lying to federal agents about political hiring and acquitted of another count for the same offense. Sorich, McCarthy and Slattery lived in the 11th Ward, the Daley family's longtime power base, and had strong ties to the 11th Ward Democrats, led by the mayor's brother John Daley. "I've never known them to be anything but hard working, and I feel for them at this difficult time," Mayor Daley said. "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," Daley admitted a few days later.

David Axelrod, a Democratic political consultant whose clients included Daley, contributed an op-ed to the Chicago Tribune in defense of patronage.

Daley son Patrick R. Daley city contracting

Patrick Daley and Daley nephew Robert G. Vanecko held hidden interest in city sewer inspection contract

Mayor Daley's son Patrick R. Daley and nephew Robert G. Vanecko had a hidden interest in a sewer-inspection company whose business with the City of Chicago rose sharply while they were owners. Patrick was an MBA student at the University of Chicago's Business School, working as an unpaid intern at Cardinal Growth, a Chicago venture-capital firm. In June, 2003 Patrick and Vanecko formed a Delaware company MSS Investors LLC and invested $65,000 each to acquire a 5% stake in Municipal Sewer Services. The mayor's son and nephew never publicly disclosed their ownership stake in Municipal Sewer Services, despite a city ordinance that requires such disclosure. Municipal Sewer Services partnered with a Hired Truck company in the sewer cleaning program, Brunt Brothers Transfer Inc., one of the largest black-owned companies in the Hired Truck Program. Five months after Patrick Daley and Vanecko became owners, Municipal Sewer Services got a $3 million contract extension from the city, the first of two lucrative, no-bid contract extensions. City Hall twice extended the deals, by a total of 23 months, rather than seeking new competitive bids, that gave the company an additional $4 million of work. Patrick Daley and Robert Vanecko cashed out their initial investment after about a year, as federal investigators were swarming City Hall in the early days of the Hired Truck scandal. Patrick Daley and Robert Vanecko got a $13,114 "tax distribution" in December 2004. After cashing out at a profit, Patrick Daley, then 29 and a recent University of Chicago MBA graduate, made an abrupt career change. He enlisted in the Army.

The day after the Mayor's son's and nephew's hidden involvement in a city contract was disclosed in the Chicago Sun-Times, Daley left for Fort Bragg, North Carolina to see his son deployed. "I did not know about [Patrick's] involvement in this company," Mayor Daley said, his voice cracking. "As an adult, he made that decision. It was a lapse in judgment for him to get involved with this company. I wish he hadn't done it. I know the expectations for elected officials, their families, are very high - rightfully so - especially for me." Fighting off tears, Daley said he hoped people understand "that Patrick is a very good son. I love him. Maggie [the mayor's wife] and I are very proud of him. I hope you respect I have nothing more to say on this." Mayor Daley also said he didn't know if there are other city contracts involving the younger Daley

The city's inspector general and federal authorities began investigations in December 2007. Patrick Daley and Robert Vanecko hired crimial defense attorneys. In January, 2011, Anthony Duffy, the president of Municipal Sewer Services, was charged with three counts of mail fraud in conjunction with minority-contracting; Jesse Brunt and his company, Brunt Brothers Transfer Inc., was also indicted on three counts of mail fraud; and Patrick Daley and Vanecko were not charged with any crime.

Patrick Daley profits from airport wi-fi deal

In 2005, Concourse Communications signed a potentially lucrative city contract for airport wi-fi service at city-owned O’Hare Airport and Midway Airport. Concourse disclosed its investors to the city, as required, and Mayor Daley's son Patrick R. Daley wasn’t one of them. Patrick Daley's role was as a middleman who lined up investors for Concourse. On June 27, 2006, nine months after it signed the contract, Concourse was sold, at a 33% profit, to Boingo Wireless Inc. for $45 million. Three days later, Patrick Daley got his first payment as a result of the sale, for $164,789. Over the next 17 months, Patrick Daley got four more payments resulting from the sale, totaling $544,210, for a total of $708,999. Shortly after Patrick Daley received the last of those payments, his father’s City Hall press secretary, Jacquelyn Heard, told a Chicago Sun-Times reporter in a December 3, 2007, interview, that Patrick Daley “has no financial interest with the Wi-Fi contract at O’Hare.”

Park Grill contracting scandal

Main article: Park Grill

In 2003 an operating company included over 80 investors, including some of Mayor Daley's friends and neighbors won, under controversial circumstances, a lucrative contract to operate the only restaurant in Millenium Park. In 2005 Daley criticized the Park Grill deal, saying that the city wanted to renegotiate the pact. The Chicago Sun-Times dubbed the Park Grill the "Clout Cafe" and included the contract award process in a year-end review of 2005 Daley administration scandals. The contract was never renegotiated, and after Daley announced he would not seek a seventh term, the owners of the Park Grill sought to sell.

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

Long-term leases of public infrastructure to private corporations

Leasing of Chicago Skyway for 99 years

In January, 2006, Skyway Concession Company, a joint venture between the Australian Macquarie Infrastructure Group and Spanish Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte S.A., paid the City $1.83 billion for rights to operate the Chicago Skyway and collect tolls for 99 years. The deal was the first of its kind in the U.S.

Leasing of parking garages for 99 years

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.

Sixth term (2007-2011)

The Chicago City Council approved, by a 41-6 vote on February 6, 2008, an increase in the City's real-estate transfer tax to bailout the Chicago Transit Authority. Voting in opposition were Aldermen Robert Fioretti (2nd), Sandi Jackson (7th), Sharon Denise Dixon (24th) and Rey Colón (35th), Brian Doherty (41st), and Bernard Stone (50th). Presiding over the meeting, Daley harshly chastized the dissenting aldermen.

On March 15, 2010 Daley appointed two aldermen in one day, bringing to 19 the number of Alderman initially appointed by Daley.

More long-term leases of public infrastructure to private corporations

Failed attempt to lease Midway Airport for 99 years

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.

Leasing of parking meters for 75 years

In 2008, Chicago agreed to lease its parking meter system to an operating company created 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 quadrupled the fees that taxpayers pay to park at meters in the first year alone, while the times between which people have to pay for parking were changed from 9am-6pm to 8am-9pm, on every day of the week in stead of Monday through Saturday. Additionally, any time any road on which parking meters can be found is closed by the city for anything from maintenance work to public festivals, the city has to compensate the new owners for loss of revenue. 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.

Failed Olympic bid

Main article: Chicago olympics

For months Daley rallied the city and its corporate community around a pitch to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, arguing that hosting was a way to ignite the economy. Many thought the games would be the capstone of his career.

Daley entered long-term, 10-year contracts with the city's unions in 2007 to eliminate any chance of labor strife as Chicago launched its bid for the 2016 Olympics. "By signing a 10-year (contract) with the Teamsters (and with over 30 other unions representing city employees), the current administration and City Council unduly hamstrung not only the current management of city government, but the next six years of management as well, a period that extends well beyond the elected terms of the incoming administration and City Council," according to a March, 2011 report from the Office of the Inspector General of the City of Chicago.

On October 2, 2009, in a stunning and embarrassing setback for the mayor, Chicago was the first of four finalists to be eliminated during selection ceremonies in Copenhagen.

Daley on gun control

Daley was a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.

Daley threatens reporter with rifle at press conference

McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U.S. 3025, 130 S.Ct. 3020 (2010), which challenged handgun bans in the Chicago and in the neighboring suburb of Oak Park, was taken up by the US Supreme Court. In May 2010, Daley held a press conference to address gun control and a pending possible adverse decision in McDonald v. Chicago. After Mick Dumke, a reporter for the Chicago Reader, questioned the effectiveness of the city's handgun ban, Daley picked up a rifle with a bayonet from a table of confisgated weapons and told him, "If I put this up your butt, you'll find out how effective it is." The remark placed first in a 2010 online pool of Chicago Tribune readers.

City gun control laws revised after Supreme Court ruling

On June 28, 2010, the US Supreme Court held, in a 5-4 decision in McDonald v. Chicago, that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution was incorporated under the Fourteenth Amendment, thus protecting the right of an individual to "keep and bear arms" from local governments, and all but declared Mayor Jane Byrne's 1982 handgun ban unconstitutional. "We'll publicly propose a new ordinance very soon," Daley said that afternoon at a press conference concerning the gun ban. "As a city we must continue to stand up...and fight for a ban on assault weapons...as well as a crackdown on gun shops," Daley said. "We are a country of laws not a nation of guns." Daley called a special meeting of the Chicago City Council, and four days later the Council approved a gun control ordinance revised to include City firearms permits.

Daley budget deficits and fund drawdowns

Daley inherited a city with revenue-generating assets, manageable debt and pension funds so flush with cash that he was able to use some of the money to provide a one-time property tax break, but he left behind a city literally on the brink of bankruptcy, with a structural deficit that Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel said could approach $1.2 billion when unfunded pension funds are factored in. The Daley administration’s spending outstripped its resources by hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Wall Street analysts noted that Daley began drawing on the city’s reserves as early as 2006, before the recession began. Even after the recession hit, the city’s budget continued to increase, to a total of more than $6 billion a year. Factoring in underfunded city employee pensions, the city’s real annual deficit exceeded $1 billion. The independent Fitch Ratings credit-rating agency downgraded the city of Chicago's bond rating in August, 2010, citing the Daley administration’s habit of drawing on reserve funds for general operating expenses and underpaying its pension funds since well before the recession kicked in, and pointed out the city lacks a plan for developing new revenue and faces a rising tide of fixed operating costs. “While there had been sound economic growth in years prior to 2008, there were still sizable fund balance drawdowns in both 2006 and 2007,” Fitch wrote. In January, 2011 Moody's Investors Service downgraded to a "negative" outlook from "stable" some of the revenue bonds that the Chicago Department of Aviation had issued to help pay for the $15 billion O'Hare Modernization Program and related capital-improvement projects. Moody's cited concern to investors about the city's latest gambit to postpone repayment of interest and principal on some construction bonds until at least 2018, resulting in much larger payments over the long run.

In his annual budget address in City Council Chambers on Wednesday, October 15, 2008, Daley proposed a 2009 budget totalling $5.97 billion, including not filling 1,350 vacancies on the 38,000-strong city payroll and $150 million in new revenue from a then-obscure parking meter lease deal to help erase a $469 million budget shortfall. In his annual budget address on Wednesday, October 21, 2009, Daley projected a deficit for 2009 of more than $520 million. Daley proposed a 2010 budget totaling $6.14 billion, including spending $370 million from the $1.15 billion proceeds from the parking meter lease. In his annual budget address on Wednesday, October 13, 2010, Daley projected a deficit for 2010 of $655 million, the largest in City history. Daley proposed a 2011 budget totaling $6.15 billion, including spending all but $76 million of what was left from the $1.15 billion proceeds from parking meter lease deal. Daley received a standing ovation from aldermen.

Daley public relations spending

In October, 2008, as Daley proposed cutting more than 1,000 workers to plug a $469 million deficit in the 2009 budget, he was spending millions to promote the city's image and manage the message coming from City Hall. The city employed more than 50 representatives across various departments in the Daley administration, at a cost of $4.7 million in 2008. In addition to that in-house army, the city funneled millions more to seven private public relations firms. "It's worth it," Daley said. On the first day of City Council hearings on Daley's 2009 budget proposal, several aldermen questioned why the administration was spending millions of dollars on public relations. On November 4, 2008 Jacquelyn Heard, the mayor's veteran press secretary, said the city would indefinitely stop all spending on 10 public relations contracts that could have paid as much as $5 million each.

Daley declines to run for seventh term

Daley's approval rating was at an all-time low of 35% by late 2009. On September 7, 2010, Daley announced that he would not seek a seventh term. "I've always believed that every person, especially public officials, must understand when it's time to move on. For me, that time is now," Daley said. On December 26, 2010, Daley surpassed his father as Chicago's longest-serving mayor. Daley chaired his final city council meeting on Wednesday morning, May 11th, 2011. His term ended May 16, 2011. Daley was succeeded by Rahm Emanuel.

Daley, David Orr, and Jane Byrne are currently the only living former Mayors of Chicago.

Legacy and homage

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 was supported by Chicago's traditionally Republican business community. He came under criticism for focussing city resources on the development of businesses downtown, the North, Near South, and Near West Sides, while neglecting neighborhoods in the other half of the city; in particular the needs of low-income residents.

According to Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman, "Daley lasted 22 years in office partly because he resolved to ingratiate himself with black Chicagoans. He appointed blacks to high positions, stressed his commitment to provide services to all neighborhoods, tore down scary public housing projects, and pushed reform of the minority-dominated public schools."

Daley focused on rebuilding Chicago as a destination city as opposed to a manufacturing base, improving and expanding parkland, adding flower planters along many primary streets, and overseeing the creation of Millennium Park on what had previously been an abandoned train yard. He also spearheaded the conversion of Navy Pier from an underused white elephant into a popular tourist destination, and openly supported immigration reform, and green building initiatives, for which he was presented with an Honor Award from the National Building Museum in 2009 as a "visionary in sustainability." While other midwest Rust Belt cities such as Detroit and Cleveland shrank, Chicago avoided this and managed to grow.

Post-mayoral career

Daley signed up for a speaker's bureau to give talks that could fetch tens of thousands of dollars an appearance.

On June 1, 2011 the international law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP announced that Daley would be of counsel to the firm. Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP was among the stable of law firms to which the Mayor had no-bid awarded the City's legal work. Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP negotiated the city's much-criticized long-term lease of its parking meters, and also the city's leases of the Chicago Skyway and City parking garages.

On May 24, 2011 the University of Chicago announced Daley's appointment as a "distinguished senior fellow" at the Harris School of Public Policy. The five-year, part-time appointment includes responsibility for coordinating a guest lecture series.

Daley was elected to the board of directors for The Coca-Cola Company. Daley is a managing principal of Tur Partners LLC, an investment firm, where Daley's son, Patrick Daley, is a principal.

External links

• CityMayors profile
• Campaign contributions
• Mayor Daley’s Mark – slideshow by The New York Times
• Daley archive at the Chicago Tribune
• Mayor Richard M. Daley archive at the Chicago Reader
• Daley archive at Chicagoist
• Mayor Daley Backgrounder: Our Best Stories About Richard M. Daley, From His Rise to Power Until Now at Chicago Magazine
• Richard M. Daley bio at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
• Bob Crawford Audio Archive
• The New Mayor Daley, long-form portrait by John Kass, Chicago Tribune Sunday magazine, 1996-08-25
• Richard M. Daley at the Harry Walker Agency speaker's agency
• Richard Michael Daley archive at the Chicago Public Library, including inaugural addresses

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