* Buried deep in Rick Pearson’s must-read story about Bill Daley attacking Gov. Pat Quinn over, of all things, political patronage, is this nugget…

…the first Mayor Daley hired a firm to inspect parking meters for the city, which quickly decided to buy its insurance from a brokerage newly formed by Bill and John Daley.

* Dan Mihalopoulos has more…

Court testimony in one of the federal corruption cases that effectively dismantled Richard M. Daley’s political machine indicated that Bill Daley did not merely know what was being done for his brother’s sake. In the 2009 trial of the top Streets and San man Al Sanchez, the feds put a witness on the stand who said he saw Bill Daley take a hands-on role in helping his brother rebuild their father’s machine.

Under a grant of immunity, former city employee Roberto Medina told jurors he was at a meeting in the early 1990s in which Bill Daley and others directed him to form the North Side branch of the Hispanic Democratic Organization, whose best campaign workers got a leg up in the City Hall hiring process.

At the time, Bill Daley told me he had “no memory” of the witness, but added, “I’m not saying I didn’t meet him. Everybody meets a lot of people in politics.”

He also denied knowing how clout influenced hiring before throwing out another little caveat: “Times were different. You’re talking about 20 years ago. Even if it happened — and I’m not saying it did — things were different. There was nothing illegal about that stuff.”

* Daley, though, insists he’s a changed man. Back to Pearson’s piece…

“I’m standing here as my own person. You can make judgments about past administrations or relatives or whatever you want, but I’m telling you what I believe and how I’ll be as a leader,” said Daley, who called on the Illinois Senate to vote down the appointment if Quinn refuses to pull Zuccarelli’s name from consideration.

“This is the 21st century. This is not the 1950s. This is not 50, 40 years ago. This is the time when leaders have to step forward and do things differently,” he added. […]

“Some people may say, ‘Well, this is different for a Daley to do.’ But maybe people learn that I’m not what they think I am or what they think I would be,” Daley said. In another twist, Daley indicated that he might not seek the endorsement of Democratic county slate-makers, a ritual that his father once controlled with an iron fist.

He “might not seek” the county party’s endorsement probably because he’s either trying to convince the party to not slate or to delay a slating vote or because he figures Quinn will win it anyway.

* This is not the first time the tables have been turned on Pat Quinn the outsider reformer. Here’s a March, 1996 Tom Hardy piece from that year’s US Senate Democratic primary race which pitted Quinn against Dick Durbin…

During Democrat Pat Quinn’s 20 years in politics and throughout his numerous campaigns for public office, his calling card has been that of an outsider, a populist who speaks for the average citizen and doesn’t kowtow to special interests.

Pat Quinn puts the pop back into populism, he often says of himself.

Yet the sound we’ve heard from Pat the Populist this year is more of a fizzle.

To gauge just how far this unconventional, once-promising politician has fallen, look beyond the startling poll data that shows Quinn trailing U.S. Rep. Richard Durbin by a virtually insurmountable 22 percentage points in their U.S. Senate primary race.

You find that not only has Durbin’s heavy TV advertising erased the enormous advantage that Quinn, a former state treasurer, enjoyed in name recognition, but that it also usurped Quinn’s greatest political asset.

It is Durbin, not Quinn, who is considered to be more of a political outsider and more in touch with average people, according to the results of a new Tribune poll. This must have Durbin’s image mavens and the Democratic regulars who despise Quinn for his sanctimony doubled over with laughter.

* Meanwhile, Mark Brown talked to Frank Zuccarelli yesterday…

Zuccarelli said the CTA appointment grew out of him telling Quinn “I was looking for another position because I was leaving the [Cook County] Employee Appeals Board.”

Asked why he wanted a second government job, Zuccarelli said: “Because I’ve always been interested in working simultaneously. Since I was fifteen years old, I’ve had more than one position.”

“And I think my position at the township adds some, not only credibility, but my ability to understand the needs of the transportation requirements of the people who live out here in the south suburbs,” he added.

Zucccarelli said he was unaware of the law prohibiting most state and local elected officials and employees from serving on the transit board when he sought a position through the governor’s office. That law does not specifically address township officials.

He said he had mentioned his interest in transportation to the governor’s office, but it was the governor’s staff that suggested the spot on the CTA Board. The part-time position pays $25,000 annually. The Thornton Township website reports Zuccarelli’s total compensation as supervisor at $186,418. He also is the unpaid chairman of South Suburban College.

Asked if he would consider foregoing the CTA salary, Zuccarelli said: “At this point, I’m taking the money. I’ve been in public service for 35 years, and I’ve got about four or five more years left and I’m looking to retire. And I don’t have anything in savings. So at this point I’m not interested in really thinking about giving back the salary.”

Discuss.