“Pockets of resistance”
Wednesday, Dec 6, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
As the feds continue to close in, Mayor Daley continues to defend himself and his administration against claims of corruption.
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley on Tuesday defended his administration’s efforts to reform hiring after a court-appointed monitor said there remained “pockets of resistance†at city hall, but there also were improvements.
“We have done a very good job,†said Daley, who has had to deal with fallout from a federal investigation into illegal political patronage at city hall. He has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Daley was responding to a new report from attorney Noelle Brennan, who was appointed last year by a federal judge to make sure the city complied with a court-ordered ban on political patronage hiring. […]
Some “pockets of resistance,†the report said, are city employees and a small group of aldermen who “have openly expressed a preference for a patronage system,†where jobs are doled out based on political party loyalty.
- fedup dem - Wednesday, Dec 6, 06 @ 9:24 am:
Daley’s comments belong in the comic section, not the front page. What sensible person is going to belive him at this point in time. What we need now is to make an extra pot of coffee for the US Attorney and his staff so they can work late on bringing all of these scoundrels (including the Mayor) to justice.
- Danimal - Wednesday, Dec 6, 06 @ 9:32 am:
How pathetic is your administration if someone has to hire a babysitter for you. Now Daley is like the kid trying to convince his parents he’s responsible enough to stay up past his bed time. To top it off, it’s the taxpayers paying for the million dollar babysitter!
- VanillaMan - Wednesday, Dec 6, 06 @ 10:00 am:
The voters re-elected the pocket resistors. You can’t have reform when the crooks win the elections.
- Cassandra - Wednesday, Dec 6, 06 @ 10:08 am:
What does she mean by “city employees.” The city employees who do the patronage hiring? That’s hardly a pocket if it’s the people who do the hiring under Daley.
- The 'Broken Heart' of Rogers Park - Wednesday, Dec 6, 06 @ 10:20 am:
Too bad Shelia Nix just got a new job, the Mayor could use her right about now.
- Squideshi - Wednesday, Dec 6, 06 @ 10:32 am:
Why doesn’t Daley identify these city employees and aldermen? Can’t he fire the employees?
- Tom - Wednesday, Dec 6, 06 @ 10:35 am:
The pockets of resistance originate from the Fifth Floor of City Hall.
- Captain America - Wednesday, Dec 6, 06 @ 12:36 pm:
I think the feds are closing in on John Doerr (SP?) and Victor Reyes. Personally, I don’t believe that the feds are anywhere near closing in on Mayor Daley, and doubt that they will ever do so.
Daley will be compromised by the convictions of his politial enforcers and will not run for reelection in 2011. He’s had a good run as Mayor despite the Duffs, hired truck and HDO scandals.
- Lovie's Leather - Wednesday, Dec 6, 06 @ 1:05 pm:
Good lord, it makes you wish JJ Jr would run… just so Chicago wouldn’t have to be stuck with this tool for his entire life!!!
- Garp - Wednesday, Dec 6, 06 @ 1:34 pm:
This is called the waiting game. The alderman and pocket protectors pray every night that the feds and monitors will go away so they can get their drunk brother-in-laws onto the city payroll where they can hurt their backs and resume drinking in their basement while collecting their city disability checks.
How dare the feds put a wrench in the corruption machine. Daley of course hasn’t done a thing that wasn’t forced upon him, so I am sure once the feds identify the pockets of resistance he will scape goat them.
- Guy Fawkes - Wednesday, Dec 6, 06 @ 2:48 pm:
The Mayor Daley along with Governor Blagojevich are protected by Teflon and Kevlar.
Nothing will ever stick or penetrate!
They are to powerful…..
- Anon Sequitor - Wednesday, Dec 6, 06 @ 3:01 pm:
Put me in the pocket protectors pocket. Frankly, I think political patronage, even with all its baggage, is far better than giving the bureaucrats carte blanche to hire more clones. Bureaucratic patronage is far worse than political. Once in, they don’t give a d*** about you, your issue or doing their jobs. All they are concerned about is their pension, their benefits and their days off. At least a political guy can be fired.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Dec 6, 06 @ 3:12 pm:
Rich, I’m sorry to see that you, too, have followed the other media outlets in equating putative violations of the Shakman decree with “corruption.”
Ridiculous.
- NW Side - Wednesday, Dec 6, 06 @ 5:21 pm:
What’s sad, and despicable, is that Mayor Daley is letting Sorich go to prison for 4 years for following his directions. It’s like the mob. Zorich will do his time, keep his mouth shut, and his family will be taken care of. He’ll be taken care of when he gets out. What would he do for a living if he talked and the Daley’s abandoned him? It’s disgusting, and Daley will just keep going on like he’s as clean as a sheet and be praised for his “leadership.”
Meanwhile, his little minions will march off to prison one by one, leaving their children behind, out of fear and a misplaced loyalty to The Mayor, whose only loyalty is to power and himself.
- Javier T - Wednesday, Dec 6, 06 @ 10:08 pm:
Putative violations of Shakman may not be corruption.
HOWEVER, HIRED TRUCKS, HDO, HEROIN DEALERS, CONTRACT FIXING AT O’HARE AND MILLENIUM PARK ARE.
SO ARE CROOKED COPS.
Patronage exists and always has and is in many other places besides Chicago but few are as systematic with so many gang members running hired truck programs or 19 year old city inspectors or so much concentration of power into so few ethnic groups or geographic locations.
Daley has been a good Mayor in many ways, but the cost has been high in taxes and there is real corruption that is not justified because other good things are going on.
- Lassar - Wednesday, Dec 6, 06 @ 10:58 pm:
If Daley can get rid of Patrick Fitzgerald he may be OK.
- If it walks like a duck... - Thursday, Dec 7, 06 @ 6:14 am:
Daley’s staff are asking city employees for $35 CASH - NO CHECKS PLEASE for Da Mayor’s Christmas gift. I don’t call that a gift, it’s more like an extortion payment.
- beowulf - Thursday, Dec 7, 06 @ 7:40 am:
The likelihood of Rich Daley being replaced as Mayor of Chicago is about as great as Lake Michigan drying up.
As long as the minimal federal sentences for corporate fraud and political corruption continue to be as light as they are when handed down by federal judges, the risk/reward ratio dictates that corporate fraud and political corruption will continue.