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Mixed bag for Daley

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More Tribune poll numbers.

Seven out of 10 Chicago voters don’t believe Mayor Richard Daley’s assertions that he was unaware of wrongdoing in city contracting and hiring, but more than half of voters still approve of the job he is doing, a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows.

A majority of the survey’s participants have concluded that Daley is responsible for personnel and contract decisions and aren’t satisfied with his past efforts to eliminate fraud and corruption in those areas. Still, the poll found that when it comes time to vote, most voters will view the scandals that have rocked City Hall as less important than what Daley has done to improve the city.

With one year before the next city mayoral balloting, the poll found that if Daley ran for re-election today against U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., the race would be up for grabs. In a three-way contest that also included U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, the poll showed Daley could be forced into a runoff. […]

Only 18 percent of voters in the poll said they believe Daley had no knowledge of how city contracts and jobs were awarded.

Sixty percent said they think the mayor is personally responsible for overseeing the selection of city contractors, and only about one in four said they were satisfied with Daley’s previous efforts to prevent corruption in contracting and city hiring. Nearly four out of five said they believe political loyalty should not determine who gets a city job, the poll found.

But half of the voters said they are satisfied with the mayor’s efforts since the City Hall scandals broke to eliminate favoritism, corruption and fraud in contracting and hiring. […]

Nearly 60 percent of respondents said improvements were more important to them than wrongdoing at City Hall when deciding whether to vote for Daley. Only 27 percent said they rated the scandals more important.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Feb 15, 06 @ 8:51 am

Comments

It will be interesting to see if the corruption allegations really mean anything. Like a lot of people, I care most about my ward. The 42nd is well run, and although I respect Rep. Jackson and Rep. Gutierrez, I doubt I would vote to change course.

Corruption? Sure. Welcome to Chicago. I wish it didn’t exist. But if it does — and I suspect that it will remain no matter who has the office — I would prefer corruption with clean streets and responsive government, and we’ve got that our ward.

I suspect that others are going to vote the same way: How are things in my ward? I just don’t see too much outrage over corruption as an issue.

Comment by Skeeter Wednesday, Feb 15, 06 @ 9:00 am
sketter nailed it. corruption is ok as long as services are delivered and the corruption doesn’t impact me. what skeeter doesn’t seem to comprehend is corruption raises the overall cost of doing business, which means reduced services and/or higher taxes. wake up skeeter. many is chicago suffer because of this corruption.

Comment by ron Wednesday, Feb 15, 06 @ 9:14 am
No big surprises here. If you live in Chicago or Cook County, corruption in government is the norm. The bar in Chicago politics was set as low as the last peg would allow it to be set over 50 years ago.
If you knew nothing else but having your thumb smashed daily by a sledge hammer, the fact that the guy doing the hammering always promises to start using a lighter weight hammer makes him look pretty benevolent to you, if that is all you have ever known. “In the Kingdom of the Blind, the One-Eyed is King.” Mayor Daley should be wearing an eye-patch. He always turns that “blind-eye” toward the corruption within his administration.

Comment by Beowulf Wednesday, Feb 15, 06 @ 9:54 am
Thus, as has been said, those who would have right without its correlative, wrong; or good government without its correlative, misrule, they do not apprehend the great principles of the universe nor the conditions to which all creation is subject. One might as well talk of the existence of heaven without that of earth, or of the negative principle without the positive, which is clearly absurd. Such people, if they do not yield to argument, must be either fools or knaves. Chuang Tzu

Comment by paddyrollingstone Wednesday, Feb 15, 06 @ 10:20 am
Ron,
Sure I recognize that corruption has costs. I fully support the actions of the A.G. to wipe it out. I just do not think that a change in the mayor’s office will have an impact on stopping it.

I thought we could wipe out corruption in the Sheriff’s office when we brought in O’Grady. I was wrong. It didn’t happen. Only the names changed. New pockets were lined. I learned my lesson.

If you do not live in Chicago, you might not know how well Mayor Daley has done. If your only view of Chicago is from the evening news, then you really should make a trip into the City.
You have to recognize that Mayor Daley really has does a very good job. Our streets are cleaned. Our potholes are filled. Michigan Ave. looks better now than it ever has. When I look out my window I see construction cranes and when I read the papers I read reviews of new buildings going up. Why should I vote for a new mayor or a new alderman when I suspect the new team will continue with the corruption, but they might not do as good of a job with the 42nd?

Comment by Skeeter Wednesday, Feb 15, 06 @ 10:21 am
skeeter you want to elect people that belong to the same party, with the same connections, the same donors and and the same patronage mentality. elect a republican and throw a monkey wrench in the SYSTEM. yea, i know a few republicans have not be the best citizens, ie. george ryan etal. chicago needs some balance in chicago to keep them honest. by the way, i notice the ward you live in is anything but poor or middle class. for goodness sakes, that is where all the tourist go. sure there going to keep you area looking good.

Comment by ron Wednesday, Feb 15, 06 @ 11:50 am
Change takes time, slowly in Chicago. The greatest feat is the awesome newspaper reporters that have redoubled their efforts. Reporters do not seem to just take the word from City of Chicago Spokespersons. Reporters do not seem to be cheerleaders for Daley. (Exception Sneed) I also think now the hiring practices are under must needed scrutiny. Daley should promote very experienced leadership, not young puppets to allow contractors to continue to run the Departments. Chicago needs more young people to run for office, idealists, were are they? Daley has to go, and take the crime with him. Patrick McDonough.

Comment by Patrick McDonough Wednesday, Feb 15, 06 @ 12:08 pm
If people don’t think the corruption isn’t hitting them, it is because they don’t know where to look. No doubt they are distracted by the repeated sight of top City employees being led away in handcuffs. Chicago is becoming a laughingstock across the country.

Chicago already has the highest municipal sales tax in the country over and above the plethora of taxes and fees the city charges. In 2004-5, the City raised taxes by $109 MILLION, and last September Daley casually sated that he needed to raise them $37 million more to meet the budget this year. In 2005, CPS had to address a $252 million budget deficit, which, though cuts and new federal money, went down to JUST $175 million. Anyone seeing the picture here?

Rest assured that much of the current facade maintenance rests on the Skyway lease. The Skyway lease itself is chilling, in a way: the City is now literally auctioning off its property rights to pay its way. What’s next, selling City Hall to raise some quick cash to plug a deficit?

Why is there no money? Reduced tax base. Doing business here is to expensive and too â€œcomplicated.â€ â€œEverything they do is aimed at chasing business out of Chicago. It’s like we have a building boom, and all the steps they take are to kill the building boom.” - Ald. Bernard Stone (50th).

I know businessmen that would put a plant in Antarctica before they would deal with government in Cook County or Chicago. They just don’t need to deal with our corrupt system.

But look at the beautiful improvements? Millenium Park is waaaaay underwater financially. Guess who is now taking up the burden of this “Don’t worry, its going to be privately funded!” project? Just guess! The City, of course, i.e. the taxpayer.

People can keep their heads in the sand, because the street lights still come on, their toilets still flush, and the flowers are pretty, and life on the North Side is pleasant, but the cost of that acceptance is slow rot in the economic foundation of a great city.

Comment by Bubs Wednesday, Feb 15, 06 @ 12:49 pm
Tribune just reported that Judge Coar denied the efforts of Sorich, Slatterly, et. al to dismiss the indictment against them for rigging hiring in Chicago.

The judge did not buy the argument that the U.S. Attorney is criminalizing politics nor that nothing bad happended because there was no personal gain by the defendants. Judge kept the indictment because they violated the public trust to provide honest and faithful services.

Apparently the judge wasn’t swayed by the fact that garbage gets picked up regularly. I am always amazed when people use that justification for supporting the Mayor. Most other cities get their garbage picked up without the massive corruption present in Chicago.

Comment by Navin Johnson Wednesday, Feb 15, 06 @ 4:13 pm
Bubs, your incorrect on the skyway money. The skyway deal was finalized in late 2004, almost eleven years after Daley took office. Any sane person in Chicago will tell you that the improvement projects throughout the city did not all miraculously occur over that two-year period. Secondly, a vast majority of the bond money has been set aside in reserves which have boosted the City’s municipal bond ratings significantly, which in turn lowers cost for the city and its taxpayers. Check Moody’s bond service or any other repuatble bond agency if you doubt this. Chicago upgrated to Aa3 this month.

Comment by savonarola Wednesday, Feb 15, 06 @ 4:44 pm
Greg Hinz in Crain’s from Novebmer 2004:

Of the $1.37 billion, $392 million will go to retire debt. That’s okay. But another $475 million is set to be spent over eight years on everything from “stabilizing” the city’s revenue flow to fighting homelessness and upgrading library computer systems. That leaves a $500-million “rainy day” bank fund. But the city will spend that fund’s interest this year, and likely for a few more years, too.

Bottom line: As soon as eight years from now, all that’s likely to be left of the stunning $1.37-billion windfall is $500 million, which won’t be worth today’s $500 million then because of inflation.

Last time I checked, 392/1370 = 28% whole percent. That’s a vast majority?

Comment by Bubs Wednesday, Feb 15, 06 @ 5:22 pm
Unfortunately Chicago is home to the last Political Machine, where clout and $$ stump democracy. There are reasons why the progressive era sought to destroy corruption, and political machines. If we are to live in a nation of laws we must have accountability of our elected officials. Our U.S. Senate is doing a fine job of conducting oversight over the execution of our laws (Warrant less Eavesdropping), and applying the needed pressure for ACCOUNTABLITY! Our City Council needs to conduct its oversight. No one is above our Laws including Mayor Richard M. Daley and his undemocratic tactics. They are illegal for appropriate reasons.

Comment by RobRey UIC Wednesday, Feb 15, 06 @ 7:35 pm
First off, you would divide 1.37 by 500 not 392 since the 500 million is the money we are talking about. Secondly, 500 million was put aside in reserves, 375 million was put in a mid term annuity fund that would be used to ease budgetary pressures caused by difficult economic periods. You are correct, vast may have been an overstatement, but if you subtract the 392 million that was immediatly addressed to elimanting debt, the 875 million in set asides look pretty good. These set asides have boosted bond ratings which according to Crains 2/9/06 “save taxpayers millions on interest.”
Moody’s, (Crains 2/9/06) categerozed its bond rating upgrade as “a solid vote of confidence on Chicago’s financial health and Mayor Daley fiscal management. If only we had these balanced budget problems at the federal level!
As for the CPS budget issues, any decent minded individual will agree that the school funding formula is the problem, a problem that the Mayor has repeatedly challenged the lawmakers in Springfield to address. Nary a politican would have even dared to take over the CPS, let alone revamp the system…..as for laughingstock, I think that may have something to do with the Cubs.

Comment by savonarola Wednesday, Feb 15, 06 @ 8:02 pm
McDonough…the word is they’re not there!

Comment by Anon Thursday, Feb 16, 06 @ 12:02 am